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Does variation between dry and wet seasons affect tropical forest mammals' occupancy and detectability by camera traps? Case study from the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Author(s) -
Martin Emanuel H.,
Ndibalema Vedasto G.,
Rovero Francesco
Publication year - 2017
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.12312
Subject(s) - occupancy , dry season , wet season , forestry , tanzania , geography , ecology , environmental science , biology , environmental planning
The increasing use of camera trapping coupled to occupancy analysis to study terrestrial mammals has opened the way to inferential studies that besides estimating the probability of presence explicitly consider detectability. This in turn allows considering factors that can potentially confound the estimation of occupancy and detection probability, including seasonal variations in rainfall. To address this, we conducted a systematic camera trapping survey in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania by deploying twenty camera traps for 30 days in dry and wet seasons and used dynamic occupancy modelling to determine the effect of season on estimated occupancy and detection probability for species with >10 capture events. The sampling yielded 7657 and 6015 images in dry and wet seasons, respectively, belonging to 21 mammal species. Models with no season dependency and with season‐dependent detectability were best supported, indicating that neither colonization nor extinction varied with seasons and hence occupancy did not vary. Only bush pig ( Potamochoerus larvatus ) showed a significant decrease in detectability from dry to wet seasons. Our study indicates that seasonal variation in rainfall may have limited effect on occupancy and detectability of resident mammals in Udzungwa rainforests; however, it remains a factor to consider when designing future studies.