Thorn, MichelleGreen, MatthewBateman, Philip W.Cameron, Elissa Z.Yarnell, Richard W.Scott, Dawn M.2010-10-272010-10-272010-04Thorn, 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/] 0379-4369http://hdl.handle.net/2263/15082Many 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.enSouthern African Wildlife Management AssociationAfricaCaracalCarnivoreHyaenaJackalLandscapeMonitoringSurveyCarnivora -- MonitoringWildlife conservationWildlife monitoringArticle