Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia.
The conservation of gray wolf (Canis lupus) and its coexistence with humans presents a challenge and requires continuous monitoring and management efforts. One of the non-invasive methods that produces high-quality wolf monitoring datasets is camera trapping. We present a novel monitoring approach w...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7079463a7fb74e77b0a8993803865049 2023-05-15T15:49:55+02:00 Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. Lidija Šver Ana Bielen Josip Križan Goran Gužvica 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 https://doaj.org/article/7079463a7fb74e77b0a8993803865049 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4915698?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 https://doaj.org/article/7079463a7fb74e77b0a8993803865049 PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 6, p e0156748 (2016) Medicine R Science Q article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 2023-01-08T01:25:30Z The conservation of gray wolf (Canis lupus) and its coexistence with humans presents a challenge and requires continuous monitoring and management efforts. One of the non-invasive methods that produces high-quality wolf monitoring datasets is camera trapping. We present a novel monitoring approach where camera traps are positioned on wildlife crossing structures that channel the animals, thereby increasing trapping success and increasing the cost-efficiency of the method. In this way we have followed abundance trends of five wolf packs whose home ranges are intersected by a motorway which spans throughout the wolf distribution range in Croatia. During the five-year monitoring of six green bridges we have recorded 28 250 camera-events, 132 with wolves. Four viaducts were monitored for two years, recording 4914 camera-events, 185 with wolves. We have detected a negative abundance trend of the monitored Croatian wolf packs since 2011, especially severe in the northern part of the study area. Further, we have pinpointed the legal cull as probable major negative influence on the wolf pack abundance trends (linear regression, r2 > 0.75, P < 0.05). Using the same approach we did not find evidence for a negative impact of wolves on the prey populations, both wild ungulates and livestock. We encourage strict protection of wolf in Croatia until there is more data proving population stability. In conclusion, quantitative methods, such as the one presented here, should be used as much as possible when assessing wolf abundance trends. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus gray wolf Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 11 6 e0156748 |
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Medicine R Science Q Lidija Šver Ana Bielen Josip Križan Goran Gužvica Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The conservation of gray wolf (Canis lupus) and its coexistence with humans presents a challenge and requires continuous monitoring and management efforts. One of the non-invasive methods that produces high-quality wolf monitoring datasets is camera trapping. We present a novel monitoring approach where camera traps are positioned on wildlife crossing structures that channel the animals, thereby increasing trapping success and increasing the cost-efficiency of the method. In this way we have followed abundance trends of five wolf packs whose home ranges are intersected by a motorway which spans throughout the wolf distribution range in Croatia. During the five-year monitoring of six green bridges we have recorded 28 250 camera-events, 132 with wolves. Four viaducts were monitored for two years, recording 4914 camera-events, 185 with wolves. We have detected a negative abundance trend of the monitored Croatian wolf packs since 2011, especially severe in the northern part of the study area. Further, we have pinpointed the legal cull as probable major negative influence on the wolf pack abundance trends (linear regression, r2 > 0.75, P < 0.05). Using the same approach we did not find evidence for a negative impact of wolves on the prey populations, both wild ungulates and livestock. We encourage strict protection of wolf in Croatia until there is more data proving population stability. In conclusion, quantitative methods, such as the one presented here, should be used as much as possible when assessing wolf abundance trends. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lidija Šver Ana Bielen Josip Križan Goran Gužvica |
author_facet |
Lidija Šver Ana Bielen Josip Križan Goran Gužvica |
author_sort |
Lidija Šver |
title |
Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
title_short |
Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
title_full |
Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
title_fullStr |
Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Camera Traps on Wildlife Crossing Structures as a Tool in Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Management - Five-Years Monitoring of Wolf Abundance Trends in Croatia. |
title_sort |
camera traps on wildlife crossing structures as a tool in gray wolf (canis lupus) management - five-years monitoring of wolf abundance trends in croatia. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 https://doaj.org/article/7079463a7fb74e77b0a8993803865049 |
genre |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 6, p e0156748 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4915698?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 https://doaj.org/article/7079463a7fb74e77b0a8993803865049 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156748 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0156748 |
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