Use of camera traps are as follows:
1. Species present.
2. Species numbers.
3. Appreciation and education of wildlife
4. Breeding status.
5. Condition of animals (e.g. Devil Facial Tumour Disease or DFTD).
6. Gender and gender ratio.
7. Species composition; that is, percentage of different species present.
8. Age classes.
9. Seasonal fluctuations in species and numbers.
10. Time period when a particular species or animal is active and traveling (very useful when targeting introduced animals).
11. Movement linked with weather conditions.
12. Cohabitation of species (e.g. wombats and devils in same den).
13. Increased understanding of what animals are in an area.
14. Addition of new species for GIS data.
ADVANTAGES
1. Minimal disturbance to wildlife.
2. Operate continually and silently.
3. Infrared flash cameras have low disturbance and visibility.
4. Degree of certainty of species in an area.
5. Provides proof of species present-quantitative not qualitative.
6. Can teach what prints and scats go with which species.
7. Can provide evidence for management and policy decisions and policies (e.g. introduced animal control in certain areas-reserves etc).
8. Cost effective monitoring tool.
9. Takes little time and resources input to set and retrieve compared to amount of information received. More invasive and intensive survey and monitoring tools such as live trap and release; hair traps etc. take more time and resources.
10. Monitoring tool that is entirely repeatable and therefore can be used as a baseline tool and then used to quantify changes in species and numbers over time.
11. Easy to use tool that is interesting and fun.
12. Can not be easily seen by other people when using an infrared flash.
13. Can replace the use of more invasive survey and monitoring techniques such as live trap and release.
14. Shows species or individuals that may be untrappable with other methods.
15. Can be left for up to six months as battery power and SD card size allows.
16. Take off the shelf hardware such as normal ‘D’, ‘AA’ size batteries and SD cards.
17. New models are now compatible with most digital cameras which allows field viewing of photos including zooming in on photos and functions such as photo deleting to clear SD cards.
Some issues found while using camera traps are:
1. Moving vegetation in front of the infrared beam will set the camera off. It is important that the beam is placed in an area where there is no vegetation drooping across. Heavy rain can also set off the cameras.
2. I have had the cameras ripped off their anchoring points or moved enough to affect operation by devils and possums on a number of occasions. Make sure that the cameras are securely attached to a stable and secure anchor.
3. Setting the camera low makes them accessible to devils which tend to chew on them.
4. Camera traps are water-resistant and NOT water-proof so taking steps to ensure water does not interfere with electronics is essential.
5. I have found that the Scoutguard cameras have a very bright infrared flash and this can over expose photos if the images are triggered close to the camera.
WHERE AND HOW TO SET CAMERA TRAPS For general monitoring of species in an area some basic rules apply:
- Set on a well used animal track, preferably where a number of tracks merge into one.
- Set in a reasonably clear area where you can get clear images not interrupted by vegetation.
- Set at focus points or access to focus points like watering points or clear areas where animals can rest and sun themselves.
- Try to set where animals are moving from one habitat type to another to maximise opportunities of observing different species.
- Use roads and walking tracks as animals tend to use these as access.
Camera Trap Buyers Guide: http://www.trailcampro.com/
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