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Estimating population densities of Peromyscus maniculatus, Clethrionomys rutilus, Lepus americanus, and Tamiasciurus hudsonicus using remote cameras in the boreal forest of Yukon Territory, Canada.

University of British Columbia

Population density estimation of small mammals often involves live trapping, a procedure that can be stressful on the captured animals, time consuming, and expensive. Encounter or “hit” rates between animals and remote cameras have been suggested as a method for using remote cameras to estimate the population density of species when individuals cannot be identified; this method has not yet been tested on rodents. Live trapping and filming of four species of small mammal was conducted in the boreal forest of Yukon Territory during the summers of 2010, 2011 and 2012 to determine if hit rates can be used to estimate the population density of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), northern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys rutilus), snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Microtus spp. were also observed, but at numbers too low for analysis; density estimates and video counts are presented. The first objective was to determine if the hit window or protocol used to group videos suspected of being generated in the same encounter affects the correlation between hit rates and live-trapping-based population density estimates for these four species. Hit window duration had little effect on the correlation between hit rates and live-trapping-based population density estimates for deer mice, a moderate effect for northern red-backed voles, and major effects for snowshoe hares and red squirrels. The second objective of this research was to determine if, given the “best” hit window for each species, hit rates and live-trapping-based population density estimates are correlated such that hit rates could be used in place of live trapping to estimate the population density of these species. Strong correlations between hit rates and trap-based density estimates suggest that remote cameras are an accurate and rapid non-invasive alternative to live trapping for estimating the population density of all four species.

Text

2014-01-02

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/45692

Zoology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/