Biological conservation researchers have increasingly
found camera traps to be a useful tool in collecting data on elusive species of
interest. A camera trap is not a
physical trap; rather it is a camera set up, usually on a tree in a remote area
where a species of interest is believed to exist. Animal body heat activates an infrared sensor
that triggers the camera to take a picture of the animal when it is near (WWF Camera Traps, 2015). Members of Felidae, the cat family, are a
particularly troublesome group of animals on which to collect data. This is due to an interplay of factors such as
large home range, mysterious behavior, and low population density to name a few
(Silver et al., 2004). The World Wildlife fund reports that camera
traps have been used in Indonesia to gain a greater understanding of tigers;
their behavior and specific threats to their survival as a species (WWF Camera Traps, 2015). Watch the embedded YouTube-World Wildlife Fund video clips below to get an idea of the type of footage that camera traps have captured.
In 2013 biological researchers Maputla,
Chimimba, & Ferreira used camera traps to conduct a mark recapture population
survey of the leopard population in Kruger National Park, South Africa. These researchers cited that camera traps
were appropriate for surveying leopards because of their mysterious and
independent behaviors, which make them hard to find (Maputla, Chimimba, &
Ferreira, 2013). Using camera traps, the
team estimated that there were nineteen leopards within a 150 km2 area of Kruger National Park (Maputla,
Chimimba, & Ferreira, 2013). Maputla,
Chimimba, Ferreira (2013) discussed several challenges to the precision of
their population estimates using camera traps; resulting in “unequal
catchability”. Some of these challenges
were: the cameras were too far apart and the camera placements were biased to
preferred paths of male leopards Park (Maputla, Chimimba, & Ferreira,
2013). Finally, Maputla, Chimimba,
Ferreira (2013) stated that similar research on tigers suggest that they had
the inclination to avoid the camera locations.
Another team of researchers, Silver, Ostro, Marsh, Maffei, Noss, Kelly,
& Ayala (2004) used
camera traps to conduct a mark recapture abundance estimation of populations of
jaguars in the forest of Belize and Bolivia.
Using camera traps, the Silver et al research team (2004) was able to estimate population
densities of jaguars in these areas to be between 2.4 and 8.8 per 100 km2. Silver et al explain that using camera traps
for estimating population density provides precious data that conservation
managers can use to make decisions pertaining to minimum viable population
sizes and habitat/range estimates that can be used to support and justify
conservation arguments in efforts to allot more protected areas for Jaguars (Silver et
al., 2004).
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| Jaguar roves near Rosemont mine site; Arizona Daily Star (Davis, 2013) |
A topic of interest to me
is environmental degradation due to mining for sulfide oar. Camera traps are being used to provide
justification for protecting wilderness in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast
of Tucson, Arizona. This is the location
of a proposed Rosemont Copper Mine site. In 2013 Tony Davis of the Arizona Daily Star
reported that camera traps, set up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, took
five photos of a Jaguar roaming in an that has been federally proposed as critical
habitat for the endangered jaguar (Davis, 2013). The photos provide evidence of the existence
of this endangered species and help to propel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
argument that the Rosemont Copper Mine site is “likely to adversely affect
the jaguar” (Davis, 2013). Camera Traps have great potential to provide invaluable data and indisputable evidence to justify protection of big cats and their habitat.
References
WWF Camera Traps. (2015).
Retrieved February 19, 2015, from
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/species/camera_traps/
Maputla, N. W., Chimimba,
C. T., & Ferreira, S. M. (2013). Calibrating a camera trap-based biased
mark-recapture sampling design to survey the leopard population in the
N'wanetsi concession, Kruger National Park, South Africa. African Journal Of Ecology, 51(3), 422-430. doi:10.1111/aje.12047
Silver, S., Ostro, L., Marsh,
L., Maffei, L., Noss, A., Kelly, M., & ... Ayala, G. (2004). The use of
camera traps for estimating jaguar Panthera onca abundance and density using
capture/recapture analysis. Oryx, 38(2), 148-154.
Davis, T (2013) Jaguar
roves near Rosemont mine site. (2013, June 28). Retrieved February 19, 2015,
from
http://m.tucson.com/news/science/environment/jaguar-roves-near-rosemont-mine-site/article_e8573513-b55b-553e-934c-e8951555f14e.html?mobile_touch=true
