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Calibrating a camera trap–based biased mark–recapture sampling design to survey the leopard population in the N 'wanetsi concession, K ruger N ational P ark, S outh A frica
Author(s) -
Maputla Nakedi W.,
Chimimba Christian T.,
Ferreira Sam M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/aje.12047
Subject(s) - leopard , camera trap , carnivore , population , geography , trap (plumbing) , abundance (ecology) , survey methodology , mark and recapture , zoology , demography , ecology , biology , predation , statistics , meteorology , mathematics , sociology
Estimating large carnivore abundance can be challenging. A biased leopard ( P anthera pardus ) population survey was conducted in the N'wanetsi concession in the K ruger N ational P ark ( KNP ), S outh A frica, using motion‐sensitive camera traps from April to August 2008. Survey effort included 88 trapping occasions and 586 trap days. The survey yielded 24 leopard photographs, comprising fourteen adults of eleven males and three females. The capture rate was determined to be 24.4 trap days per leopard. Estimates of population abundance stabilized at approximately 500 trap days. Precision of population estimates began to stabilize after 378 trap days. We estimated that there were nineteen leopards in an area of 150 km 2 . Leopard density was estimated at 12.7 leopards per 100 km 2 . We explore the possibility of employing the methods used in this study to survey the leopard population in the KNP and surrounding areas.