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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2007

Matthew J. Kauffman ,
M. Sanjayan ,
Jacob Lowenstein ,
Adam Nelson ,
Richard M. Jeo  and
Kevin R. Crooks
Matthew J. Kauffman
Affiliation:
Current address: Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA. E-mail mkauffm1@uwyo.edu
M. Sanjayan
Affiliation:
The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA
Jacob Lowenstein
Affiliation:
Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
Adam Nelson
Affiliation:
Current address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840, USA Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
Richard M. Jeo
Affiliation:
Current address: The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA Round River Conservation Studies, 284 West 400 North, Suite 105, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
Kevin R. Crooks
Affiliation:
Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, 115 Wagar, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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Abstract

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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.

Keywords

Abundance indexcamera-trapcarnivoreslocal extinctionNamibiarangeland managementspatial correlationvisitation rate
Type
Articles
Information
Oryx , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 70 - 78
Copyright
© 2007 Fauna & Flora International