A comparison of passive monitoring methods for gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alberta, Canada

• Author / Creator

  Garland, Laura

• Remote camera traps are often applied to large mammal conservation and management programs because they are cost-effective, allow for repeat surveys, and can be deployed for long time periods. Additionally, statistical advancements in calculating population metrics, such as density, from camera trap data has increased the popularity of camera usage in mammal studies. However, drawbacks to camera traps include their limited spatial coverage and tendency for animals to notice the devices. In this study, we compared autonomous recording units (ARUs) to cameras in their detectability of gray wolves (Canis lupus) through a paired study design in northeastern Alberta. The use of ARUs to survey for large, low-density predators, like wolves, is just now emerging as a viable passive monitoring method, but to our knowledge, a comparison of ARU and camera detectability for wolves has never been done. We also tested the random encounter and staying time model (REST), a new means of estimating the density of an unmarked population, using human volunteers and simulated camera surveys. We found ARUs to be comparable in their detectability of wolves to cameras, despite only operating a fraction of the time that cameras were active. We also found the REST method to produce unbiased estimates of density, regardless of changes in human abundance, movement rates, home range sizes, or simulated camera effort. These advances in surveying technology and statistical methods provide innovative avenues of large mammal monitoring that have the potential to be applied to a broad spectrum of conservation and management studies, provided assumptions for these methods are rigorously tested and met.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Wolf
  • Bioacoustics
  • Passive
  • Monitoring
  • Density
  • Camera

• Graduation date

  Spring 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-vk0g-1j86

• License

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