Spatial capture-recapture: a promising method for analyzing data collected using artificial cover objects
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Abstract
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) is a relatively recent development in ecological statistics that provides a spatial context for estimating abundance and space use patterns, and improves inference about absolute population density. SCR has been applied to individual encounter data collected noninvasively using methods such as camera traps, hair snares, and scat surveys. Despite the widespread use of capture-based surveys to monitor amphibians and reptiles, there are few applications of SCR in the herpetological literature. We demonstrate the utility of the application of SCR for studies of reptiles and amphibians by analyzing capture–recapture data from Red-Backed Salamanders, Plethodon cinereus, collected using artificial cover boards. Using SCR to analyze spatial encounter histories of marked individuals, we found evidence that density differed little among four sites within the same forest (on average, 1.59 salamanders/m2) and that salamander detection probability peaked in early October (Julian day 278) reflecting expected surface activity patterns of the species. The spatial scale of detectability, a measure of space use, indicates that the home range size for this population of Red-Backed Salamanders in autumn was 16.89 m2. Surveying reptiles and amphibians using artificial cover boards regularly generates spatial encounter history data of known individuals, which can readily be analyzed using SCR methods, providing estimates of absolute density and inference about the spatial scale of habitat use.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Spatial capture-recapture: a promising method for analyzing data collected using artificial cover objects |
| Series title | Herpetologica |
| DOI | 10.1655/Herpetologica-D-15-00027 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Herpetologists' Leaguee |
| Publisher location | Chicago |
| Contributing office(s) | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center |
| Description | 7 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Herpetologica |
| First page | 6 |
| Last page | 12 |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| City | Ithaca |
| Other Geospatial | Polson Nature Area |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |