Data, R Code, and Output Supporting: Evaluating species-specific responses to camera-trap survey designs

Abstract

These files contain data, R code and associated output supporting results presented in "Iannarilli, F., Erb, J., Arnold, T. W., and Fieberg, J. R. (2020). Evaluating species-specific responses to camera-trap survey designs. Wildlife Biology". In this paper, we assess species-specific responses by ten medium-to-large North-American carnivores to different survey design strategies commonly applied in camera-trap studies. Data were collected in northern Minnesota, USA, between 2016 and 2018 (23 337 active trap-days). We compared responses to: 1) two different survey-design frameworks (random- versus road-based), 2) two different lure types (salmon oil versus fatty acid scent oil), 3) two different placement strategies (completely random versus randomly-selected sites with feature-based placement), 4) survey timing (spring versus fall) and 5) temporal trends in daily encounter probabilities. Our results show that even species morphologically and taxonomically similar respond differently to survey-design strategies, and, thus, species-specific responses to design choices should be carefully considered in camera trap studies focused on multiple species.