Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras
Estimating animal abundance and density are fundamental goals of many wildlife monitoring programs. Camera trapping has become an increasingly popular tool to achieve these monitoring goals due to recent advances in modeling approaches and the capacity to simultaneously collect data on multiple spec...
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Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.13572 |
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ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 2023-05-15T13:13:34+02:00 Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras Becker, Marcus Huggard, David J. Dickie, Melanie Warbington, Camille Schieck, Jim Herdman, Emily Serrouya, Robert Boutin, Stan 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.13572 unknown arXiv Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode cc-by-sa-4.0 CC-BY-SA Quantitative Methods q-bio.QM Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Biological sciences Article CreativeWork article Preprint 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 2022-03-10T14:19:34Z Estimating animal abundance and density are fundamental goals of many wildlife monitoring programs. Camera trapping has become an increasingly popular tool to achieve these monitoring goals due to recent advances in modeling approaches and the capacity to simultaneously collect data on multiple species. However, estimating the density of unmarked populations continues to be problematic due to the difficulty in implementing complex modeling approaches, low precision of estimates, and absence of rigor in testing of model assumptions and their influence on results. Here, we describe a novel approach that uses still image camera traps to estimate animal density without the need for individual identification, based on the Time spent In Front of the Camera (TIFC). Using results from a large-scale multi-species monitoring program with nearly 3,000 cameras deployed over six years in Alberta, Canada, we provide a reproducible methodology to estimate parameters and we test key assumptions of the TIFC model. We compare moose (Alces alces) density estimates from aerial surveys and TIFC, including incorporating correction factors for known TIFC assumption violations. The resulting corrected TIFC density estimates are comparable to aerial density estimates. We discuss the limitations of the TIFC method and areas needing further investigation, including the need for long-term monitoring of assumption violations and the number of cameras necessary to provide precise estimates. Despite the challenges of assumption violations and high measurement error, cameras and the TIFC method can provide useful alternative or complementary animal density estimates for multi-species monitoring when compared to traditional monitoring methods. : 59 pages, 8 figures Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Canada |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Quantitative Methods q-bio.QM Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Biological sciences |
spellingShingle |
Quantitative Methods q-bio.QM Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Biological sciences Becker, Marcus Huggard, David J. Dickie, Melanie Warbington, Camille Schieck, Jim Herdman, Emily Serrouya, Robert Boutin, Stan Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
topic_facet |
Quantitative Methods q-bio.QM Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Biological sciences |
description |
Estimating animal abundance and density are fundamental goals of many wildlife monitoring programs. Camera trapping has become an increasingly popular tool to achieve these monitoring goals due to recent advances in modeling approaches and the capacity to simultaneously collect data on multiple species. However, estimating the density of unmarked populations continues to be problematic due to the difficulty in implementing complex modeling approaches, low precision of estimates, and absence of rigor in testing of model assumptions and their influence on results. Here, we describe a novel approach that uses still image camera traps to estimate animal density without the need for individual identification, based on the Time spent In Front of the Camera (TIFC). Using results from a large-scale multi-species monitoring program with nearly 3,000 cameras deployed over six years in Alberta, Canada, we provide a reproducible methodology to estimate parameters and we test key assumptions of the TIFC model. We compare moose (Alces alces) density estimates from aerial surveys and TIFC, including incorporating correction factors for known TIFC assumption violations. The resulting corrected TIFC density estimates are comparable to aerial density estimates. We discuss the limitations of the TIFC method and areas needing further investigation, including the need for long-term monitoring of assumption violations and the number of cameras necessary to provide precise estimates. Despite the challenges of assumption violations and high measurement error, cameras and the TIFC method can provide useful alternative or complementary animal density estimates for multi-species monitoring when compared to traditional monitoring methods. : 59 pages, 8 figures |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Becker, Marcus Huggard, David J. Dickie, Melanie Warbington, Camille Schieck, Jim Herdman, Emily Serrouya, Robert Boutin, Stan |
author_facet |
Becker, Marcus Huggard, David J. Dickie, Melanie Warbington, Camille Schieck, Jim Herdman, Emily Serrouya, Robert Boutin, Stan |
author_sort |
Becker, Marcus |
title |
Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
title_short |
Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
title_full |
Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
title_fullStr |
Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
title_full_unstemmed |
Applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
title_sort |
applying and testing a novel method to estimate animal density from motion-triggered cameras |
publisher |
arXiv |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.13572 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode cc-by-sa-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-SA |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2108.13572 |
_version_ |
1766259193293045760 |