• Home
  •  >
  • Oryx
  •  >
  • Volume 41
  •  >
  • Issue 01
  •  >
  • Remote camera-trap methods and analyses reveal impacts of rangeland management on Namibian carnivore communities

Oryx

Table of Contents - 2007 - Volume 41, Issue 01  


Articles

Remote camera-trap methods and analyses reveal impacts of rangeland management on Namibian carnivore communities

Matthew J. Kauffman a1a2p1, M. Sanjayan a3, Jacob Lowenstein a4a5, Adam Nelson a4a5p3, Richard M. Jeo a4a5p2 and Kevin R. Crooks a6
a1 Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA
a2 Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA. E-mail mkauffm1@uwyo.edu
a3 The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA
a4 Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA
a5 Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
a6 Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, 115 Wagar, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Article author query
kauffman mj   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
sanjayan m   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
lowenstein j   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
nelson a   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
jeo rm   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
crooks kr   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

Assessing the abundance and distribution of mammalian carnivores is vital for understanding their ecology and providing for their long-term conservation. Because of the difficulty of trapping and handling carnivores many studies have relied on abundance indices that may not accurately reflect real abundance and distribution patterns. We developed statistical analyses that detect spatial correlation in visitation data from combined scent station and camera-trap surveys, and we illustrate how to use such data to make inferences about changes in carnivore assemblages. As a case study we compared the carnivore communities of adjacent communal and freehold rangelands in central Namibia. We used an index of overdispersion to test for repeat visits to individual camera-trap scent stations and a bootstrap simulation to test for correlations in visits to camera neighbourhoods. After distilling our presence-absence data to the most defensible spatial scale, we assessed overall carnivore visitation using logistic regression. Our analyses confirmed the expected pattern of a depauparate fauna on the communal rangelands compared to the freehold rangelands. Additionally, the species that were not detected on communal sites were the larger-bodied carnivores. By modelling these rare visits as a Poisson process we illustrate a method of inferring whether or not such patterns are because of local extinction of species or are simply a result of low sample effort. Our Namibian case study indicates that these field methods and analyses can detect meaningful differences in the carnivore communities brought about by anthropogenic influences.

(Published Online March 5 2007)
(Received January 25 2005)
(Revised October 11 2005)
(Accepted March 20 2006)


Key Words: Abundance index; camera-trap; carnivores; local extinction; Namibia; rangeland management; spatial correlation; visitation rate.

Correspondence:
p1 Current address: Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
p2 Current address: The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA
p3 Current address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840, USA

Metrics
0Comments
Related Content