Comparative efficacy of sign surveys, spotlighting and audio playbacks in a landscape-scale carnivore survey
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Date
Authors
Thorn, Michelle
Green, Matthew
Bateman, Philip W.
Cameron, Elissa Z.
Yarnell, Richard W.
Scott, Dawn M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Southern African Wildlife Management Association
Abstract
Many carnivores are difficult and labour-intensive to detect, often leading to prohibitively
high effort and cost in large-scale surveys.However,such studies provide information that is
important for effective management and conservation. Here, we evaluate the suitability of
three survey methods for landscape-scale multi-species monitoring. We compare sign
surveys, spotlighting, and audio playbacks in terms of detection efficiency, precision, effort,
and cost. Sign surveys out-performed the other methods in all comparison criteria, although
supplementary methods were needed for some species and sites. We found that using
established analysis techniques, robust landscape-scale abundance estimates would
require unrealistically high effort and cost. Occupancy estimation required considerably
lower sample sizes and was therefore more economical. We conclude that sign-based
occupancy estimates constitute a versatile and efficient option for future large-scale,
multi-species carnivore surveys.
Description
Keywords
Africa, Caracal, Carnivore, Hyaena, Jackal, Landscape, Monitoring, Survey
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Thorn, M, Green, M, Bateman, PW, Cameron, EZ, Yarnell, RW & Scott, DM 2010, 'Comparative efficacy of sign surveys, spotlighting and audio playbacks in a landscape-scale carnivore survey', South African Journal of Wildlife Research, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 77-86. [http://www.sawma.co.za/]