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Optimizing the size of the area surveyed for monitoring a Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) population in the Swiss Alps by means of photographic capture–recapture
Author(s) -
ZIMMERMANN Fridolin,
BREITENMOSERWÜRSTEN Christine,
MOLINARIJOBIN Anja,
BREITENMOSER Urs
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
integrative zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 1749-4877
DOI - 10.1111/1749-4877.12017
Subject(s) - mark and recapture , population density , population size , sampling (signal processing) , camera trap , range (aeronautics) , population , geography , statistics , home range , ecology , physical geography , environmental science , biology , habitat , demography , mathematics , physics , materials science , sociology , composite material , detector , optics
We studied the influence of surveyed area size on density estimates by means of camera‐trapping in a low‐density felid population (1–2 individuals/100 km 2 ). We applied non‐spatial capture–recapture (CR) and spatial CR (SCR) models for Eurasian lynx during winter 2005/2006 in the northwestern Swiss Alps by sampling an area divided into 5 nested plots ranging from 65 to 760 km 2 . CR model density estimates (95% CI) for models M 0 and M h decreased from 2.61 (1.55–3.68) and 3.6 (1.62–5.57) independent lynx/100 km 2 , respectively, in the smallest to 1.20 (1.04–1.35) and 1.26 (0.89–1.63) independent lynx/100 km 2 , respectively, in the largest area surveyed. SCR model density estimates also decreased with increasing sampling area but not significantly. High individual range overlaps in relatively small areas (the edge effect) is the most plausible reason for this positive bias in the CR models. Our results confirm that SCR models are much more robust to changes in trap array size than CR models, thus avoiding overestimation of density in smaller areas. However, when a study is concerned with monitoring population changes, large spatial efforts (area surveyed ≥760 km 2 ) are required to obtain reliable and precise density estimates with these population densities and recapture rates.