Search

Funder: AXA Research Fund; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001961, Funder: Sime Darby Plantation Bhd; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100009548, Camera trap surveys are a popular ecological monitoring tool that produce vast numbers of images making their annotation extremely time‐consuming. Advances in machine learning, in the form of convolutional neural networks, have demonstrated potential for automated image classification, reducing processing time. These networks often have a poor ability to generalise, however, which could impact assessments of species in habitats undergoing change. Here, we (i) compare the performance of three network architectures in identifying species in camera trap images taken from tropical forest of varying disturbance intensities; (ii) explore the impacts of training dataset configuration; (iii) use habitat disturbance categories to investigate network generalisability and (iv) test whether classification performance and generalisability improve when using images cropped to bounding boxes. Overall accuracy (72.8%) was improved by excluding the rarest species and by adding extra training images (76.3% and 82.8%, respectively). Generalisability to new camera locations within a disturbance level was poor (mean F1‐score: 0.32). Performance across unseen habitat disturbance levels was worse (mean F1‐score: 0.27). Training the network on multiple disturbance levels improved generalisability (mean F1‐score on unseen disturbance levels: 0.41). Cropping images to bounding boxes improved overall performance (F1‐score: 0.77 vs. 0.47) and generalisability (mean F1‐score on unseen disturbance levels: 0.73), but at a cost of losing images that contained animals which the detector failed to detect. These results suggest researchers should consider using an object detector before passing images to a classifier, and an improvement in classification might be seen if labelled images from other studies are added to their training data. Composition of training data was shown to be influential, but including rarer classes did not compromise performance on common classes, providing support for the inclusion of rare species to inform conservation efforts. These findings have important implications for use of these methods for long‐term monitoring of habitats undergoing change, as they highlight the potential for misclassifications due to poor generalisability to impact subsequent ecological analyses. These methods therefore need to be considered as dynamic, in that changes to the study site would need to be reflected in the updated training of the network.

Ranger-led law enforcement patrols are the primary, site-level response to – and the most common source of data on – illegal activity threatening wildlife in protected areas. Yet evidence that patrols effectively deter rule-breaking is limited, and common management metrics for evaluating deterrence, which use ranger-collected data, are particularly vulnerable to bias. “Differenced plots” (of the association between change in patrol effort and subsequent change in illegal activity) were recently proposed as a simple, new metric for deterrence, which, in tests with simulated patrol data, were more robust than the common alternatives. Here, we trial application of differenced plots to real patrol data collected in four protected areas, and explore methods for applying the metric in practice, using two indicators of rule-breaking: snares, and people. We find evidence which is consistent with deterrence in some but not all sites, over shorter timescales than observed hitherto: increases in patrol effort were associated with subsequent reductions in snaring in one site, and in the presence of people in two sites. However, whether pressure on wildlife had been reduced or merely displaced was unclear from differenced plots, nor could the metric confirm absence of deterrence, raising questions for future applications. Our findings suggest differenced plots can be a useful metric, particularly for exploring variation in deterrence within sites, but should be applied and interpreted with care, and further work is urgently needed to determine whether and how patrols deter illegal activity, and to evaluate the effect reliably.

Human activity in African tropical rainforests continues to threaten wild mammals. Many rural communities are dependent on hunting, yet there is a widespread lack of baseline data on ecology and the sustainability of hunting. We investigated the impacts of human activity on mammal species composition and distributions within a community forest surrounding a village in the buffer zone of the Dja Biosphere Reserve in south-east Cameroon. We conducted a camera-trap survey in August–November 2017 and detected 24 mammal species, including Critically Endangered western lowland gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla, Endangered central African chimpanzee Pan troglodytes troglodytes and Endangered tree pangolin Phataginus tricuspis. We used occupancy analysis to explore relationships between indicators of human activity (distance to a road and the Reserve), habitat quality (distance to the river and tree cover) and the distributions of species. We found that the local distribution of threatened mammals was not apparently limited by human activity, and proximity to the road did not negatively influence occupancy for any species. However, most of the Reserve's large species were not detected, including the African forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis and the largest ungulates, and the occupancy of two species commonly hunted for wild meat was positively correlated with distance from the village, indicating hunting may be unsustainable. Our results show that the community forest provides habitat for threatened species outside the Reserve and in close proximity to people. However, effective conservation management will require continued monitoring and research to determine whether current rates of hunting are sustainable.

Following the continual decline of the Cape vulture Gyps coprotheres since the 1960s, captive breeding and rehabilitation programmes have been established to reinforce populations across southern Africa. This study examines the spatial ecology of captive-bred and rehabilitated vultures following release. Our analysis used 253,671 GPS fixes from 20 captive-bred and 13 rehabilitated birds to calculate home range sizes using kernel density estimation. We found that home range size did not differ significantly between captive-bred and rehabilitated birds. The location of home ranges differed: captive-bred birds showed greater site fidelity, remaining close to their release site, whereas rehabilitated birds dispersed more widely across the species' native range. By remaining close to their release site within a protected area, captive-bred birds had a significantly higher per cent of their GPS fixes within protected areas than did rehabilitated birds. Despite fidelity to their release site, captive-bred birds demonstrated innate capabilities for natural foraging behaviours and the same habitat selection strategy as rehabilitated individuals. These findings suggest that captive breeding and reinforcement of populations at declining colonies could provide localized benefits. Future long-term studies should seek to analyse survivorship and identify the breeding behaviour of these captive-bred birds once they reach sexual maturity.

Interventions targeting consumer behavior may help to reduce demand for bushmeat in urban areas. Understanding the drivers of urban bushmeat consumption is crucial to guide such interventions; however the cultural and socio-psychological factors driving consumer behavior remain understudied. Through qualitative interviews with urban bushmeat consumers in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo, we investigated perceptions of bushmeat and other animal proteins, and social norms regulating urban demand for bushmeat. The perception of bushmeat as natural, tasty and healthy, and a rare luxury product functioning as a symbol of social status, underpins social norms to provide bushmeat. The main barriers to purchasing were cost and availability. Locally produced fish, meat, and poultry were positively perceived as organic and healthy, whereas frozen imported animal proteins were perceived negatively as transformed, of poor quality and taste, and unhealthy. Our findings provide an initial baseline understanding of social-psychological drivers shaping consumption that can inform the design of bushmeat demand reduction campaigns.

1) Camera trapping allows scientists to study activity patterns of animals under natural conditions. However, comparisons of activity patterns across seasons or latitudes can be biased, because activity is often attuned to sunrise and sunset, the timing of which varies with latitude and season. Existing transformation methods to solve this problem have limitations. (2) Here, we explore whether and how activity patterns can be transformed more accurately using two alternative ‘double anchoring’ transformations – equinoctial and average anchoring – that anchor activity time to two chosen anchor points during the study period. (3) Using simulated noisy datasets mimicking species with either crepuscular, diurnal or cathemeral activity patterns, we compared the ability of different transformation methods to extract the latent pattern and activity levels under different study conditions. We found that average anchoring best retrieved the original diel activity pattern and yielded accurate estimates of activity level. Two alternative transformation methods – single anchoring and equinoctial anchoring – performed less well. Bias in estimates from using untransformed clock times was most marked (up to 2.5-fold over-estimation) for longer studies covering 4-5 months either side of an equinox at high latitude, and focusing on crepuscular species. (4) We applied the average anchoring method to 9 months of data on Red deer (Cervus elaphus), Wild boar (Sus scrofa) and Mouflon (Ovis amon musimon) activity as captured by camera traps in National Park Hoge Veluwe, the Netherlands. Average anchoring revealed more pronounced peaks of activity after sunset than was apparent from untransformed data in red deer and wild boar, but not for mouflon, a cathemeral species. Similarly, activity level was lower when calculated using average-anchored time for red deer and wild boar, but no difference was observed for mouflon. (5) We conclude that transformation of time might not be necessary at latitudes below 20°, or in studies with a duration of less than a month (below 40° latitude). For longer study periods and/or higher latitudes, average-anchoring resolves the problem of variable day length. Code is provided. The transformation functions are incorporated in the R-package ‘activity’.

Compared to emblematic large carnivores, less charismatic or smaller carnivore species often receive little conservation attention, despite facing increasing anthropogenic pressure, and their status being poorly understood across much of their range. We employed systematic camera trapping and spatially explicit capture-recapture modelling to estimate variation in population density of serval, striped hyaena and aardwolf across the mixed-use Ruaha-Rungwa landscape in southern Tanzania. Three sites were selected as representative of different habitat types, management strategies, and levels of anthropogenic pressure: Ruaha National Park’s core tourist area, dominated by Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets; the Park’s miombo woodland; and the neighbouring community-run MBOMIPA Wildlife Management Area, also covered in Acacia-Commiphora.Our results show that the Park’s miombo woodlands supported a higher serval density than the core tourist area and Wildlife Management Area, with 5.56 [Standard Error = ±2.45], 3.45 [±1.04] and 2.08 [±0.74] individuals per 100 km2, respectively. This variation is likely driven by precipitation, the abundance of apex predators, and the level of anthropogenic pressure.Striped hyaena were detected only in the Wildlife Management Area and at low density (1.36 [±0.5] individuals per 100 km2), potentially due to the location of the surveyed sites at the edge of the species’ global range, high densities of sympatric competitors and anthropogenic edge effects.Finally, aardwolf were captured in both the Park’s core tourist area and the Wildlife Management Area, with a higher density in the Wildlife Management Area (13.25 [±2.48] versus 9.19 [±1.66] individuals per 100 km2), possibly as a result of lower intraguild predation and late fire outbreaks in the area surveyed.By shedding light on three understudied African carnivore species, this study highlights the importance of miombo woodland conservation and community-managed conservation, as well as the value of camera trap data to improve ecological knowledge of lesser-studied carnivores.

1.Population density estimations are essential for wildlife management and conservation. Camera traps have become a promising cost-effective tool, for which several methods have been described to estimate population density when individuals are unrecognizable (i.e. unmarked populations). However, comparative tests of their applicability and performance are scarce., 2.Here, we have compared three methods based on camera traps to estimate population density without individual recognition: Random Encounter Model (REM), Random Encounter and Staying Time (REST) and Distance Sampling with camera traps (CT-DS). Comparisons were carried out in terms of consistency with one another, precision and cost-effectiveness. We considered six natural populations with a wide range of densities, and three species with different behavioural traits (red deer Cervus elaphus, wild boar Sus scrofa and red fox Vulpes vulpes). In three of these populations, we obtained independent density estimates as a reference., 3. The densities estimated ranged from 0.23 individuals/km2 (fox) to 34.87 individuals/km2 (red deer). We did not find significant differences in terms of density values estimated by the three methods in five out of six populations, but REM has a tendency to generate higher average density values than REST and CT-DS. Regarding the independents’ densities, REM results were not significantly different in any population, and REST and CT-DS were significantly different in one population. The precision obtained was not significantly different between methods, with average coefficients of variation of 0.28 (REST), 0.36 (REM) and 0.42 (CT-DS). The REST method required the lowest human effort., 4. Synthesis and applications. Our results show that all of the methods examined can work well, with each having particular strengths and weaknesses. Broadly, Random Encounter and Staying Time (REST) could be recommended in scenarios of high abundance, Distance Sampling with camera traps (CT-DS) in those of low abundance while Random Encounter Model (REM) can be recommended when camera trap performance is not optimal, as it can be applied with less risk of bias. This broadens the applicability of camera trapping for estimating densities of unmarked populations using information exclusively obtained from camera traps. This strengthens the case for scientifically based camera trapping as a cost-effective method to provide reference estimates for wildlife managers, including within multi-species monitoring programmes., This work was partly funded by ENETWILD project (http://www.enetw ild.com). P.P. received support from the MINECO-UCLM through an FPU grant (FPU16/00039) and from the Society of Spanish Researches in the United Kingdom and UCLM through an ‘On the Move' grant.

Leopard (Panthera pardus) populations across Africa are increasingly exposed to high levels of anthropogenic disturbance, and information on habitat use responses of leopards in human-disturbed landscapes can help inform status assessments and guide conservation interventions. Unfortunately, however, few studies have investigated leopard ecology in human-disturbed landscapes, particularly in Africa. We employed camera-trapping and occupancy modelling to provide inferences on leopard habitat use in a National Park in Mozambique impacted by subsistence farming and bushmeat poaching. Replicated detection/non-detection occupancy surveys were used to estimate site use by leopards in a representative area of the park, and to investigate relative impacts of environmental, conspecific and anthropogenic factors on leopard occurrence. The proportion of sites used by leopards was estimated at 0.814 (SE = 0.093), which is approximately twice the occupancy previously reported for lion (44%) and cheetah (40%) in the same area. Leopard presence was not strongly predicted by any of the covariates, indicating there were no strong limiting factors. While leopards generally avoided human settlements and were positively predicted by prey, results suggest that there was sufficient prey and space for the species to use most available habitats. The greatest contributing factor to leopard habitat use was a positive correlation with bushmeat poachers and lions. It is possible that these other predators provide a more accurate indicator of prey availability than our single-species indicator based on camera trap data. This study provides important novel information on habitat use by leopards in a system disturbed by rural human subsistence activities in Africa.

Camera trapping is widely used in ecological studies to estimate animal density, although these studies are largely restricted to animals that can be identified to the individual level. The random encounter model, developed by Rowcliffe et al. (J Anal Ecol 45(4):1228–1236, 2008), estimates animal density from camera-trap data without the need to identify animals. Although the REM can provide reliable density estimates, it lacks the potential to account for the multiple sources of variance in the modelling process. The density estimator in REM is a ratio, and since the variance of a ratio estimator is intractable, we examine and compare the finite sample performance of many approaches for obtaining confidence intervals via simulation studies. We also propose an integrated random encounter model as a parametric alternative, which is flexible and can incorporate covariates and random effects. A data example from Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, Bedfordshire, south England, is used to demonstrate the application of these methods. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear on-line.

Animal sociality arises from the cumulative effects of both individual social decisions and environmental factors. While juveniles' social interactions with parents prior to independence shape later life sociality, in most bird and mammal species at least one sex undergoes an early life dispersal before first-year reproduction. The social associations from this period could also have implications for later life yet are rarely characterized. Here, we derived predictions from available examples of juvenile groups in the literature (mobile 'flocks', spatially stable 'gangs' or adult-associated 'creches') and then used three cohorts of juvenile hihi, Notiomystis cincta, a threatened New Zealand passerine, to demonstrate how multistate modelling and social network analysis approaches can be used to characterize group type based on residency, movement, relatedness and social associations. At sites where hihi congregated, we found that juveniles were resighted at a higher frequency than adults and associated predominantly with unrelated juveniles rather than siblings or parents. Movement between group sites occurred, but associations developed predominantly within the sites. We suggest therefore that juvenile hihi social structure is most similar to a 'gang', a group structure in which juveniles congregate without adults at predictable sites. Such gangs have previously only been described formally in ravens, Corvus corax. By combining spatial and social network analyses, our study demonstrates how social group structures can be described and therefore facilitate broader comparisons and discussion about the form and function of juvenile groups across taxa. (C) 2020 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Activity range – the amount of time spent active per day – is a fundamental aspect contributing to the optimization process by which animals achieve energetic balance. Based on their size and the nature of their diet, theoretical expectations are that larger carnivores need more time active to fulfil their energetic needs than do smaller ones and also more time active than similar‐sized non‐carnivores. Despite the relationship between daily activity, individual range and energy acquisition, large‐scale relationships between activity range and body mass among wild mammals have never been properly addressed. This study aimed to understand the scaling of activity range with body mass, while controlling for phylogeny and diet. We built simple empirical predictions for the scaling of activity range with body mass for mammals of different trophic guilds and used a phylogenetically controlled mixed model to test these predictions using activity records of 249 mammal populations (128 species) in 19 tropical forests (in 15 countries) obtained using camera traps. Our scaling model predicted a steeper scaling of activity range in carnivores (0.21) with higher levels of activity (higher intercept), and near‐zero scaling in herbivores (0.04). Empirical data showed that activity ranges scaled positively with body mass for carnivores (0.061), which also had higher intercept value, but not for herbivores, omnivores and insectivores, in general, corresponding with the predictions. Despite the many factors that shape animal activity at local scales, we found a general pattern showing that large carnivores need more time active in a day to meet their energetic demands. Introduction Activity range – the amount of time, in hours, spent active per day – is a fundamental outcome of the complex physiological and behavioral optimization process by which animals ensure that energy input keeps pace with energy output. In addition to basal metabolism, animals face costs of foraging, acquiring mates and shelter, building reserves for lean times and escaping predators (Carbone et al. 2007, Halle and Stenseth 2012). Environmental and ecological factors that vary through the day (e.g. luminosity, temperature, predation risk and competition avoidance) constrain activity to certain times, depending on morpho‐physiological limitations (Castillo‐Ruiz et al. 2012, Hut et al. 2012). In addition, animals need time to rest in order to recover their cognitive or physical condition (Siegel 2005). Thus, they must optimize their activity range to meet their resource requirements, while dealing with natural daily cycles and saving time for sleep/rest (Downes 2001, Siegel 2005, Cozzi et al. 2012). The resource requirements of mammals are related to basal metabolic rate, which scales positively with body mass (Kleiber 1932, Isaac and Carbone 2010), while predation risk decreases with body mass (Sinclair et al. 2003, Hopcraft et al. 2009). Because high predation risk constrains activity while high resource needs increases activity range (Cozzi et al. 2012, Suselbeek et al. 2014), the question arises whether and how activity range also scales with body mass. Day range (total distance travelled in a day) and home range (area in which animals perform their daily activities) scales positively with body mass and are key metrics to understand the resource requirements of an animal (McNab 1963, Kelt and Van Vuren 2001, Carbone et al. 2005, Tamburello et al. 2015). As activity range is related to space‐use metrics (i.e. home range and day range), it is hence, also related to the acquisition of energy. Given that, one might expect activity range to increase with body mass. However, we have a poor understanding of how this relationship actually looks. Previous work developed predictions of body mass scaling with day range (Garland 1983, Carbone et al. 2005) and travel speed (Carbone et al. 2007, Rowcliffe et al. 2016). From a simple physical viewpoint, activity range should equal the day range divided by average travel speed. It should thus be possible to infer the scaling of activity range with body mass from these relationships. Some of the variation in space use across species that is not explained by body mass is associated with different evolutionary histories and ecological traits (McNab 1963, Kelt and Van Vuren 2001, Price and Hopkins 2015, Tamburello et al. 2015). Diet is the most conspicuous of these, because primary and secondary productivity present different overall yields and accessibility for consumers (Jetz et al. 2004), which in turn influence individual movements (Carbone et al. 2005) and potentially activity range, when exploiting resources at different trophic levels. The nature of the diet aggravates the higher energetic demands of larger carnivores. Predators have considerable energetic constraints related to hunting and handling their prey (Gorman et al. 1998, Carbone et al. 1999) as animal prey can be rare, widely dispersed, unpredictable in time and space and not storable (Jetz et al. 2004, Carbone et al. 2007). Therefore, carnivores have the lowest energy supply rates (supply rate of usable resources available inside the home range), independent of body mass, when compared to other diet categories (Jetz et al. 2004) besides exploring larger areas and traveling greater daily distances (McNab 1963, Kelt and Van Vuren 2001, Carbone et al. 2005, Tamburello et al. 2015). Therefore, larger animals occupy larger areas than small ones, and carnivores occupy larger areas than do similar‐sized non‐carnivores (Jetz et al. 2004, Tamburello et al. 2015). To date, few studies have considered interspecific variation in activity range with body mass and other species traits. For example, van Schaik and Griffiths (1996) and Gomez et al. (2005) anecdotally suggested that larger mammal species are cathemeral (i.e. active day and night), which implies that they can be active during a larger proportion of the 24‐h cycle. Rowcliffe et al. (2014) found that activity range is positively correlated with body mass in tropical forest mammals in Panama. Ramesh et al. (2015) found a negative relationship between body mass and activity concentration (i.e. how concentrated in few hours is the activity of an animal during the day) in Indian mammals, also equating to a positive association between activity range and body mass. However, no study has explored variation in activity range across a diverse range of species, while controlling for phylogeny and diet. This has been, at least in part, due to a lack of consistent data available on a wide range of species. Recent work using camera traps (Oliveira‐Santos et al. 2013, Rowcliffe et al. 2014), however, has demonstrated that accurate estimates of activity range can be obtained from photographic records from camera traps. Given the large and rapidly increasing volume of camera‐trapping data available globally (Burton et al. 2015), these approaches, consistently applied across a wide range of studies, can provide an important basis for the large‐scale study of activity. Here, we provided simple empirical predictions for the scaling of activity range with body mass for mammals of different trophic guilds. To test these predictions, we estimated the activity range for 249 populations of 128 terrestrial mammal species across 19 tropical forests, and used a phylogenetically controlled mixed model to determine how activity range scales with body mass by diet. As larger animals occupy larger areas than small ones, and carnivores occupy larger areas than do similar‐sized non‐carnivores (Jetz et al. 2004), we hypothesize that carnivores will present a higher scaling of activity range with body mass and also higher activity ranges for a given mass (higher intercept) when compared to herbivores, omnivores and insectivores.

Rigorous status estimates of populations of large carnivores are necessary to inform their management and help evaluate the effectiveness of conservation interventions. The African leopardPanthera pardusfaces rising anthropogenic pressures across most of its contracting sub-Saharan range, but the scarcity of reliable population estimates means that management decisions often have to rely on expert opinion rather than being based on sound evidence. This is particularly true for Mozambique, where little is known about the ecology or conservation status of leopard populations as a result of prolonged armed conflict. We used camera trapping and spatially explicit capture–recapture models to provide a leopard density estimate in Xonghile Game Reserve in southern Mozambique, which is part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier conservation initiative. The estimated population density was 2.60 ± SE 0.96 leopards/100 km2. Our study provides a baseline leopard density for the region and the first empirical density estimate for southern Mozambique. Our results also suggest that current methods used to set trophy hunting quotas for leopards, both in Mozambique and elsewhere in Africa, may be leading to unsustainable quotas, which highlights the importance of robust empirical data in guiding conservation policy.

Hunting with wire snares is rife within many tropical forest systems, and constitutes one of the severest threats to a wide range of vertebrate taxa. As for all threats, reliable monitoring of snaring levels is critical for assessing the relative effectiveness of management interventions. However, snares pose a particular challenge in terms of tracking spatial or temporal trends in their prevalence because they are extremely difficult to detect, and are typically spread across large, inaccessible areas. As with cryptic animal targets, any approach used to monitor snaring levels must address the issue of imperfect detection, but no standard method exists to do so. We carried out a field experiment in Keo Seima Wildlife Reserve in eastern Cambodia with the following objectives: (1) To estimate the detection probably of wire snares within a tropical forest context, and to investigate how detectability might be affected by habitat type, snare type, or observer. (2) To trial two sets of sampling protocols feasible to implement in a range of challenging field conditions. (3) To conduct a preliminary assessment of two potential analytical approaches to dealing with the resulting snare encounter data. We found that although different observers had no discernible effect on detection probability, detectability did vary between habitat type and snare type. We contend that simple repeated counts carried out at multiple sites and analyzed using binomial mixture models could represent a practical yet robust solution to the problem of monitoring snaring levels both inside and outside of protected areas. This experiment represents an important first step in developing improved methods of threat monitoring, and such methods are greatly needed in southeast Asia, as well as in as many other regions.

Camera trap data are increasingly being used to characterise relationships between the spatiotemporal activity patterns of sympatric mammal species, often with a view toinferring inter-specific interactions. In this context, we attempted to characterise thekleptoparasitic and predatory tendencies of spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) and lions (Panthera leo) from photographic data collected across 54 camera trap stationsand two dry seasons in Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park. We applied four differentmethods of quantifying spatiotemporal associations, including one strictly temporal approach (activity pattern overlap), one strictly spatial approach (co-occupancymodelling), and two spatio temporal approaches (co-detection modelling and temporalspacing at shared camera trap sites). We expected a kleptoparasitic relationship between spotted hyaenas and lions to result in a positive spatiotemporal association, and further hypothesised that the association between lions and their favourite prey in Ruaha, the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) and the zebra (Equus quagga), would be stronger than those observed with non-preferred prey species (the impala Aepyceros melampus and the dikdik Madoqua kirkii). Only approaches incorporating both the temporal and spatial components of camera trap data resulted in significant associative patterns. The latter were particularly sensitive to the temporal resolution chosen to define species detections (i.e. occasion length), and only revealed a significant positive association between lion on spotted hyaena detections, as well as a tendency for both species to follow each other at camera trap sites, during the dry season of 2013, but not that of 2014. In both seasons, observed spatiotemporal associations between lions and each of the four herbivore species considered provided no convincing or consistent indications of any predatory preferences. Our study suggests that, when making inferences on inter-specific interactions from camera trap data, due regards should be given to the potential 74" behavioural and methodological processes underlying observed spatiotemporal patterns.

In the face of rapid tropical agricultural expansion, preservation of tropical forest remnants is crucially important. Forest remnants often abut the edges of new or established plantations, so landscape-level conservation requires an understanding of the balance between ecosystem services and disservices provided by forest, including potential crop yield reductions caused by species such as rodents, an important pest group in oil palm plantations. However, very little is known about the scale of any spillover of native species which inhabit forest into adjacent agricultural areas. We examined the distribution and behaviour of small mammals across an edge separating logged tropical forest and oil palm plantations in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, using a dual approach. We used a trapping grid to reveal patterns of species relative abundance across the forest-plantation edge, and tracked individuals of forest species using a spool-and-line. We uncovered little evidence that the native forest small mammal community crosses the edge and uses the plantation, although two invasive small mammal species were found across the whole edge gradient. Of 10 forest species detected, we found only the adaptable murid Maxomys whiteheadi in the plantation, where it persisted at low abundances across all sampling points, including in the plantation interior control site. This pattern is more consistent with persistence of M. whiteheadi throughout plantations than with spill-over from forest fragments. On the forest side, observed species richness of small mammals increased with distance into the interior, suggesting a negative edge effect may exist within forest remnants. Of 23 successfully tracked small mammals, only one M. whiteheadi crossed the forest-plantation edge, and overall, this species was significantly repelled from crossing into plantation habitat. Our results suggest that spillover of native small mammals contributes little to oil palm damage close to forest-plantation edges, but that oil palm negatively impacts small mammal populations within adjacent forest remnants.

Carnivores have long been used as model organisms to examine mechanisms that allow coexistence among ecologically similar species. Interactions between carnivores, including competition and predation, comprise important processes regulating local community structure and diversity. We use data from an intensive camera-trapping monitoring program across eight Neotropical forest sites to describe the patterns of spatiotemporal organization of a guild of five sympatric cat species: jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Puma concolor), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margay (Leopardus wiedii). For the three largest cat species, we developed multi-stage occupancy models accounting for habitat characteristics (landscape complexity and prey availability) and models accounting for species interactions (occupancy estimates of potential competitor cat species). Patterns of habitat-use were best explained by prey availability, rather than habitat structure or species interactions, with no evidence of negative associations of jaguar on puma and ocelot occupancy or puma on ocelot occupancy. We further explore temporal activity patterns and overlap of all five felid species. We observed a moderate temporal overlap between jaguar, puma and ocelot, with differences in their activity peaks, whereas higher temporal partitioning was observed between jaguarundi and both ocelot and margay. Lastly, we conducted temporal overlap analysis and calculated species activity levels across study sites to explore if shifts in daily activity within species can be explained by varying levels of local competition pressure. Activity patterns of ocelots, jaguarundis and margays were similarly bimodal across sites, but pumas exhibited irregular activity patterns, most likely as a response to jaguar activity. Activity levels were similar among sites and observed differences were unrelated to competition or intraguild killing risk. Our study reveals apparent spatial and temporal partitioning for most of the species pairs analyzed, with prey abundance being more important than species interactions in governing the local occurrence and spatial distribution of Neotropical forest felids. © 2019 Santos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Tables S1, S2, S4 and S5

Living in groups comes with many potential benefits, especially for juveniles. Naïve individuals may learn how to forage, or avoid predators through group vigilance. Understanding these benefits, however, requires an appreciation of the opportunities juveniles have to associate with (and learn from) others. Here we describe social groups in terms of residency, movement, relatedness, and social associations from the perspective of juvenile hihi, a threatened New Zealand passerine bird. Over three years, we identified individuals in groups, their relatedness, and behavioural interactions. Using multistate analysis, we compared movement and residency of adults and juveniles and found that groups were composed predominately of juveniles which remained at group sites for longer than more transient adults. Movement of juveniles between groups did occur but was generally low. There was no evidence that siblings and parents were likely to be seen in groups together. With an initial understanding of group structure, we next asked what characteristics predicted assortment in social network associations. By identifying groups of co-occurring juveniles from time-stamped observations of individual hihi and building a social network, we found that juveniles were most likely to associate with other juveniles. Associations were also predominantly based on locations where hihi spent the most time, reflecting limited movement among separate groups. We suggest groups are best described as “gangs” where young hihi have little interaction with adults. These spatially-separated groups of juveniles may have consequences for social information use during the first few months of independence in young birds.

In order to buffer the risks climate change poses to biodiversity, managers need to develop new strategies to cope with an increasingly dynamic environment. Supplementary feeding (SF) is a commonly-used form of conservation management that may help buffer the impacts of climate change. However, the role of SF as an adaptation tool is yet to be fully understood. Here we used the programme MARK to quantify the relationship between weather (average temperature and total precipitation) and vital rates (survival and recruitment) of an island bird population, the hihi Notiomystis cincta, for which long term demographic data are available under periods of little and ad libitum SF. We then used predictive population modelling to project this population's dynamics under each management strategy and several climate change scenarios in accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions. Our stochastic population projections revealed that ad libitum SF likely buffers the population against heavier rainfall and more stochastic precipitation patterns; no buffering effect on temperature was detected. While the current SF approach is unlikely to prevent local extinction of the population under increasing temperatures, SF still presents itself as a valuable climate change adaptation tool by delaying extinction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the interaction between climate and SF intensity of a threatened population. We call for on-going critical evaluation of management measures, and suggest that novel adaptation solutions that combine current approaches are required for conserving species with limited opportunity for dispersal.

1.The assembly of species communities at local scales is thought to be driven by environmental filtering, species interactions, and spatial processes such as dispersal limitation. Little is known about how the relative balance of these drivers of community assembly changes along environmental gradients, especially man-made environmental gradients associated with land-use change. 2.Using concurrent camera- and live-trapping, we investigated the local-scale assembly of mammal communities along a gradient of land-use intensity (old-growth forest, logged forest and oil palm plantations) in Borneo. We hypothesised that increasing land-use intensity would lead to an increasing dominance of environmental control over spatial processes in community assembly. Additionally, we hypothesised that competitive interactions among species might reduce in concert with declines in α-diversity (previously documented) along the land-use gradient. 3.To test our first hypothesis, we partitioned community variance into the fractions explained by environmental and spatial variables. To test our second hypothesis, we used probabilistic models of expected species co-occurrence patterns, in particular focussing on the prevalence of spatial avoidance between species. Spatial avoidance might indicate competition, but might also be due to divergent habitat preferences. 4.We found patterns that are consistent with a shift in the fundamental mechanics governing local community assembly. In support of our first hypothesis, the importance of spatial processes (dispersal limitation and fine-scale patterns of home-ranging) appeared to decrease from low to high intensity land-uses, whilst environmental control increased in importance (in particular due to fine-scale habitat structure). Support for our second hypothesis was weak: whilst we found that the prevalence of spatial avoidance decreased along the land-use gradient, in particular between congeneric species pairs most likely to be in competition, few instances of spatial avoidance were detected in any land-use, and most were likely due to divergent habitat preferences. 5.The widespread changes in land-use occurring in the tropics might be altering not just the biodiversity found in landscapes, but also the fundamental mechanics governing the local assembly of communities. A better understanding of these mechanics, for a range of taxa, could underpin more effective conservation and management of threatened tropical landscapes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Understanding temporal change and long-term persistence of species and communities is vital if we are to accurately assess the relative values of human-modified habitats for biodiversity. Despite a large literature and emerging consensus demonstrating a high conservation value of selectively logged tropical rainforests, few studies have taken a long-term perspective. We resampled small mammals (≤ 1 kg) in a heavily logged landscape in Sabah, Borneo between 2011 and 2016 to investigate temporal patterns of species-level changes in population density. We found that small mammal population density in heavily logged forest was highly variable among years, consistent with patterns previously observed in unlogged forest, and uncovered evidence suggesting that one species is potentially declining towards local extinction. Across nine species, population densities varied almost sevenfold during our 6-year study period, highlighting the extremely dynamic nature of small mammal communities in this ecosystem. Strictly terrestrial murid species tended to exhibit strong temporal dynamics, whereas semi-arboreal foraging species such as treeshrews had more stable dynamics. We found no relationships between population density and fruit/seed mass, and therefore no evidence that our patterns represent responses to inter-annual mast fruiting of the dominant canopy dipterocarp trees. This may be due to the removal of most of the canopy during logging, and hence the dipterocarp seed resource, although it possibly also reflects spatiotemporal limitations of our data. Our results underline the importance of understanding long-term variability in animal communities before developing conservation and management recommendations for human-altered ecosystems.

Programmes to reintroduce predatory birds are resource intensive and expensive, yet there are few long-term studies on the health of these reintroduced birds following release. A total of 326 red kites (Milvus milvus) were released at four sites in England between 1989 and 2006 as part of efforts to reintroduce this species to England and Scotland, resulting in the establishment of several rapidly expanding populations in the wild. Detailed post-mortem examinations were carried out on 162 individuals found dead between 1989 and 2007, involving both released and wild-fledged birds. Toxicological analysis of one or more compounds was performed on 110 of the 162 birds. Poisoning was diagnosed in 32 of these 110 kites, 19 from second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, 9 from other pesticides and 6 from lead. Criteria for diagnosing anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning included visible haemorrhage on gross post-mortem examination and levels of anticoagulant rodenticide exceeding 100 ng/g, but levels were elevated above 100 ng/g in a further eight red kites without visible haemorrhages, suggesting poisoning may have occurred in more birds. The anticoagulant rodenticides difenacoum and bromadiolone were the most common vertebrate control agents involved during this period. Poisoning of red kites may be slowing their rate of population recovery and range expansion in England. Simple modifications of human activity, such as best practice in rodent control campaigns, tackling the illegal use of pesticides and the use of non-toxic alternatives to lead ammunition, can reduce our impact on red kites and probably other populations of predatory and scavenging species.

Hunting with snares is indiscriminate and wasteful, and this practice is currently one of the gravest threats to terrestrial vertebrates in the tropics. However, as snares are difficult to detect and often dispersed widely across large, inaccessible areas it is problematic to reliably estimate their prevalence and no standard survey methods exist. Conservation managers need reliable, timely, information on the spatio-temporal patterns of hunting and on responses to interventions, and we present an innovative sampling and analysis framework that allows for the rigorous estimation of snare detectability and ‘abundance’, but which can be feasibly implemented in challenging field contexts. This new approach was used to undertake a large-scale systematic snare survey in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, in Eastern Cambodia, and the resulting data were analysed using a novel application of N-mixture models. A range of environmental and management factors were examined as potential determinants of snare abundance and detectability, and proximity to the Vietnamese border was shown to be overwhelmingly the most influential factor. Snares were more common in the wet season rather than the dry season, and the detection probability of snares was shown to be low (~ 0.33), as predicted. No clear relationships between snaring levels, anti-poaching patrol effort and ungulate densities were evident from these data. There was clear evidence that certain factors, such as the percentage of dense forest cover, will exert confounding effects on both detectability and abundance, highlighting the critical need to take account of the imperfect detection when designing threat monitoring systems.

The random encounter model (REM) is a novel method for estimating animal density from camera trap data without the need for individual recognition. It has never been used to estimate the density of large carnivore species, despite these being the focus of most camera trap studies worldwide. In this context, we applied the REM to estimate the density of female lions (Panthera leo) from camera traps implemented in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, comparing estimates to reference values derived from pride census data. More specifically, we attempted to account for bias resulting from non-random camera placement at lion resting sites under isolated trees by comparing estimates derived from night versus day photographs, between dry and wet seasons, and between habitats that differ in their amount of tree cover. Overall, we recorded 169 and 163 independent photographic events of female lions from 7,608 and 12,137 camera trap days carried out in the dry season of 2010 and the wet season of 2011, respectively. Although all REM models considered over-estimated female lion density, models that considered only night-time events resulted in estimates that were much less biased relative to those based on all photographic events. We conclude that restricting REM estimation to periods and habitats in which animal movement is more likely to be random with respect to cameras can help reduce bias in estimates of density for female Serengeti lions. We highlight that accurate REM estimates will nonetheless be dependent on reliable measures of average speed of animal movement and camera detection zone dimensions. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Wildlife Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.

In social groups, individuals' dominance rank, social bonds, and kinship with other group members have been shown to influence their foraging behavior. However, there is growing evidence that the particular effects of these social traits may also depend on local environmental conditions. We investigated this by comparing the foraging behavior of wild chacma baboons, Papio ursinus, under natural conditions and in a field experiment where food was spatially clumped. Data were collected from 55 animals across two troops over a 5-month period, including over 900 agonistic foraging interactions and over 600 food patch visits in each condition. In both conditions, low-ranked individuals received more agonism, but this only translated into reduced foraging performances for low-ranked individuals in the high-competition experimental conditions. Our results suggest one possible reason for this pattern may be low-ranked individuals strategically investing social effort to negotiate foraging tolerance, but the rank-offsetting effect of this investment being overwhelmed in the higher-competition experimental environment. Our results also suggest that individuals may use imbalances in their social bonds to negotiate tolerance from others under a wider range of environmental conditions, but utilize the overall strength of their social bonds in more extreme environments where feeding competition is more intense. These findings highlight that behavioral tactics such as the strategic investment of social effort may allow foragers to mitigate the costs of low rank, but that the effectiveness of these tactics is likely to be limited in certain environments.

The availability of vertebrate hosts is a major determinant of the occurrence of ticks and tick-borne zoonoses in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems and thus drives disease risk for wildlife, livestock, and humans. However, it remains challenging to quantify the availability of vertebrate hosts in field settings, particularly for medium-sized to large-bodied mammals. Here, we present a method that uses camera traps to quantify the availability of warm-bodied vertebrates to ticks. The approach is to deploy camera traps at questing height at a representative sample of random points across the study area, measure the average photographic capture rate for vertebrate species, and then correct these rates for the effective detection distance. The resulting "passage rate" is a standardized measure of the frequency at which vertebrates approach questing ticks, which we show is proportional to contact rate. A field test across twenty 1-ha forest plots in the Netherlands indicated that this method effectively captures differences in wildlife assemblage composition between sites. Also, the relative abundances of three life stages of the sheep tick Ixodes ricinus from drag sampling were correlated with passage rates of deer, which agrees with the known association with this group of host species, suggesting that passage rate effectively reflects the availability of medium- to large-sized hosts to ticks. This method will facilitate quantitative studies of the relationship between densities of questing ticks and the availability of different vertebrate species-wild as well as domesticated species-in natural and anthropogenic settings.

The aggregative responses and habitat preferences of a generalist herbivore, the dark-bellied brent goose Branta bernicla bernicla, feeding on salt marshes are examined in relation to vegetation community characteristics and the abundances of individual plant species. In the autumn, feeding was strongly concentrated on the low marsh, which had the highest biomass of the preferred food plant, Salicornia europaea. There was a strong aggregative response of the geese to the abundance of S. europaea. A decline in the availability of S. europaea led to an increase in the pattern of aggregation in relation to the two other major food plants on the low marsh, Aster tripolium and Puccinellia maritima. The availability of these food plants, however, reached critically low levels in mid-winter and the geese abandoned the low marsh for the high marsh. Within the high marsh, the plant communities selected tended to be dominated by the inedible species Limonium vulgare. The food plants selected were P. maritima in the winter and P. maritima and Triglochinmaritimum in the spring. On the high marsh, aggregative responses were shown to both P. maritima and T. maritimum, but in both cases, aggregation increased up to a critical level of biomass, and then declined. The prevention of grazing with exclosures for 3 years led to an increase in the abundance of P. maritima on both high and low marshes. This change was slight on high marsh but pronounced on low marsh, where S. europaea showed a decrease in abundance in the exclosures over this time. The implications of the aggregative responses for the population dynamics of P. maritima and S. europaea are discussed.

Estimates of animal abundance are essential for understanding animal ecology. Camera traps can be used to estimate the abundance of terrestrial mammals, including elusive species, provided that the sensitivity of the sensor, estimated as the effective detection distance (EDD), is quantified. Here, we show how the EDD can be inferred directly from camera trap images by placing markers at known distances along the midline of the camera field of view, and then fitting distance-sampling functions to the frequency of animal passage between markers. EDD estimates derived from simulated passages using binned detection distances approximated those obtained from continuous detection distance measurements if at least five intervals were used over the maximum detection distance. A field test of the method in two forest types with contrasting vegetation density, with five markers at 2.5 m intervals, produced credible EDD estimates for 13 forest-dwelling mammals. EDD estimates were positively correlated with species body mass, and were shorter for the denser vegetation, as expected. Our findings suggest that this simple method can produce reliable estimates of EDD. These estimates can be used to correct photographic capture rates for difference in sampling effort resulting from differences in sensor sensitivity between species and habitats. Simplifying the estimation of EDD will result in less biased indices of relative abundance, and will also facilitate the use of camera trap data for estimating animal density.

Introduction: Wildlife is an important source of protein for many people in developing countries. Yet wildlife depletion due to overexploitation is common throughout the humid tropics and its effect on protein security, especially for vulnerable households, is poorly understood. This is problematic for both sustainable rural development and conservation management. Methods: This study investigates a key dimension of protein security in a cash-crop farming community living in a wildlife-depleted farm-forest landscape in SW Ghana, a region where protein–energy malnutrition persists. Specifically, we monitored protein sufficiency, defined as whether consumption met daily requirements, as benchmarked by recommended daily allowance (RDA). We focus on whether more vulnerable households were less likely to be able to meet their protein needs, where vulnerability was defined by wealth, agricultural season and gender of the household head. Our central hypothesis was: (a) vulnerable households are less likely to consume sufficient protein. In the context that most plant proteins were home-produced, so likely relatively accessible to all households, while most animal proteins were purchased, so likely less accessible to vulnerable households, we tested two further hypotheses: (b) vulnerable households depend more on plant protein to cover their protein needs; and (c) vulnerable households are less likely to earn sufficient cash income to meet their protein needs through purchased animal sources. Results: Between 14% and 60% of households (depending on plant protein content assumptions) consumed less than the RDA for protein, but neither protein consumption nor protein sufficiency co-varied with household vulnerability. Fish, livestock and food crops comprised 85% of total protein intake and strongly affected protein sufficiency. However, bushmeat remained an important protein source (15% of total consumption), especially during the post-harvest season when it averaged 26% of total protein consumption. Across the year, 89% of households experienced at least one occasion when they had insufficient income to cover their protein needs through animal protein purchases. The extent of this income shortage was highest during the lean season and among poorer households. Conclusions: These findings indicate that despite wildlife depletion, bushmeat continues to make a substantial contribution to protein consumption, especially during the agricultural lean season. Income shortages among farmers limit their ability to purchase bushmeat or its substitutes, suggesting that wildlife depletion may cause malnutrition.

Emerging zoonotic pathogens from wildlife pose increasing public health threats globally. Bats, in particular, host an array of zoonotic pathogens, yet there is little research on how bats and humans interact, how people perceive bats and their accompanying disease risk, or who is most at risk. Eidolon helvum, the largest and most abundant African fruit bat species, is widely hunted and eaten in Ghana and also carries potentially zoonotic pathogens. This combination raises concerns, as hunting and butchering bushmeat are common sources of zoonotic transmission. Through a combination of interviews with 577 Ghanaians across southern Ghana, we identified the characteristics of people involved in the bat-bushmeat trade and we explored their perceptions of risk. Bat hunting, selling and consumption are widely distributed across regional and ethnic lines, with hotspots in certain localities, while butchering is predominantly done by women and active hunters. Interviewees held little belief of disease risk from bats, saw no ecological value in fruit bats and associated the consumption of bats with specific tribes. These data can be used to inform disease and conservation management plans, drawing on social contexts and ensuring that local voices are heard within the larger global effort to study and mitigate outbreaks.

There is little information on the changing role of bushmeat hunting in the agricultural areas of West Africa. We assessed the status and role of bushmeat hunting and rural consumption in three communities in Ghana, through household surveys (n = 250), and interviews with hunters (n = 69), eatery owners (n = 18) and bushmeat traders (n = 3). Hunting was embedded within dynamic livelihood strategies, with two broad categories of hunters identified: a large group who targeted pests on their own farms using traps, and a smaller group of professional hunters. The professional hunters included a group of young men who hunted with dogs, and another group of older firearm hunters who tended to be members of Hunters’ Associations. All professional hunters reported a decline in bushmeat availability and expressed concerns about the viability of hunting as a livelihood. The frequency of consumption of bushmeat increased with distance from the region's main urban centre, Kumasi, but bushmeat was not found to be a major component of the diet in any of the villages. Few men self-identified as hunters, although bushmeat hunting continued to play an important role in the rural economy, primarily for crop protection. Conservation efforts need to consider the full spectrum of hunting behaviours. Specific measures should target forest-based hunters, who are more likely to damage forest ecosystems than crop pest hunters but also show more concern for the sustainability of hunting, and commitment to hunting as an institution.

Parasites have the capacity to affect animal populations by modifying host survival, and it is increasingly recognized that infectious disease can negatively impact biodiversity. Populations of the house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) have declined in many European towns and cities, but the causes of these declines remain unclear. We investigated associations between parasite infection and house sparrow demography across suburban London where sparrow abundance has declined by 71% since 1995. Plasmodium relictum infection was found at higher prevalences (averaging 74%) in suburban London house sparrows than previously recorded in any wild bird population in Northern Europe. Survival rates of juvenile and adult sparrows and population growth rate were negatively related to Plasmodium relictum infection intensity. Other parasites were much less prevalent and exhibited no relationship with sparrow survival and no negative relationship with population growth. Low rates of co-infection suggested sparrows were not immunocompromised. Our findings indicate that P. relictum infection may be influencing house sparrow population dynamics in suburban areas. The demographic sensitivity of the house sparrow to P. relictum infection in London might reflect a recent increase in exposure to this parasite.

Unsustainable hunting is a threat to conservation and rural livelihoods that depend on bushmeat for food and income. To reduce the pressure on forest-dependent vulnerable species, hunting in farmland might complement offtake from forests and provide a sustainable source of bushmeat. To explore this possibility, we investigated patterns of hunting and wildlife depletion, and integration of hunting into agricultural livelihoods, in an intensively managed farm-forest mosaic landscape. Surveys were conducted across 63 households over a year in a Ghanaian cocoa-farming community surrounded by a timber production forest. The findings indicated a high level of wildlife depletion in the landscape and the local extinction of the largest species, especially in farmland. Most hunting occurred in forests and offtake from farmland was low, yet hunting in farmland was disproportionately common relative to its coverage in the landscape. Most farmland hunting was opportunistic and integrated with agricultural activities. Our findings suggest that intensively used farmland provides little opportunity to reduce hunting pressure in forests.

A social group's time budget is an emergent property of individual-level decisions about how to allocate time. One fundamental determinant of these time allocation decisions is foraging success. Yet while there is a growing appreciation of how social animals optimize their foraging behaviour, our understanding of the mechanisms that link this behaviour with individual time use, and thus group-level time budgets, is relatively poor. In this review, we explore the current understanding of social foraging behaviour and time budgets at the individual level and emergent group-level time budgets. We highlight how research into individual-level differences in time budgets is comparably limited. We then explore how individual-based mechanistic modelling may provide a useful tool for elucidating how social foraging behaviour drives individual time budget patterns, and how these patterns in turn give rise to group-level time budgets. An improved understanding of the links between these three phenomena will not only allow us to address more challenging evolutionary questions, but also enable us to better predict and manage the impacts of a changing environment on social animals in the future.

Eidolon helvum is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa where it forms large, dense colonies. The species is migratory and satellite telemetry studies have demonstrated that individuals can migrate over 2,500 km. It is a common source of bush meat in West Africa and evidence of infection with potentially zoonotic viruses has been found in West African colonies. The species, therefore, is of interest to both ecologists and those interested in public health. Despite this, demographic parameters of the species are unknown. We focused our study primarily on a colony of up to 1,000,000 bats that roost in trees in Accra, Ghana to obtain estimates of birth rate and survival probability. Aging of bats by examination of tooth cementum annuli allowed use of life tables to indicate an annual survival probability for juveniles of 0.43 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.16–0.77) and for adults of 0.83 (95% CI 0.73–0.93). Additionally, an annual adult survival probability of 0.63 (95% CI 0.27–0.88) was estimated by following 98 radiocollared bats over a year; capture–recapture data were analyzed using multistate models to address the confounding factor of emigration. True survival probabilities may be in between the 2 estimates, because permanent emigration may lead to underestimation in the capture–recapture study, and population decline may lead to overestimation in the life table analysis. Birth rates (0.96 young per female per year, 95% CI 0.92–0.98) and colony size changes were also estimated. Estimation of these key parameters will allow future analyses of both infection dynamics within, and harvest sustainability of, E. helvum populations.

There is increasing evidence that the global spread of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been facilitated by the international trade in amphibians. Bd was first detected in the UK in 2004, and has since been detected in multiple wild amphibian populations. Most amphibians imported into the UK for the pet trade from outside the European Union enter the country via Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC), where Bd positive animals have been previously detected. Data on the volume, diversity and origin of imported amphibians were collected for 59 consignments arriving at HARC between November 2009 and June 2012, along with a surveillance study to investigate the prevalence of Bd in these animals. Forty three amphibian genera were recorded, originating from 12 countries. It was estimated that 5000 – 7000 amphibians are imported through HARC into the UK annually for the pet trade. Bd was detected in consignments from the USA and Tanzania, in six genera, resulting in an overall prevalence of 3.6%. This suggests that imported amphibians are a source of Bd within the international pet trade.

Travel speed (average speed of travel while active) and day range (average speed over the daily activity cycle) are behavioural metrics that influence processes including energy use, foraging success, disease transmission and human-wildlife interactions, and which can therefore be applied to a range of questions in ecology and conservation. These metrics are usually derived from telemetry or direct observations. Here, we describe and validate an entirely new alternative approach, using camera traps recording passing animals to measure movement paths at very fine scale. Dividing the length of a passage by its duration gives a speed observation, and average travel speed is estimated by fitting size-biased probability distributions to a sample of speed observations. Day range is then estimated as the product of travel speed and activity level (proportion of time spent active), which can also be estimated from camera-trap data. We field tested the procedure with data from a survey of terrestrial mammals on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Travel speeds and day ranges estimated for 12 species scaled positively with body mass, and were higher in faunivores than in herbivores, patterns that are consistent with those obtained using independent estimates derived from tracked individuals. Comparisons of our day range estimates with independent telemetry-based estimates for three species also showed very similar values in absolute terms. We conclude that these methods are accurate and ready to use for estimating travel speed and day range in wildlife. Key advantages of the methods are that they are non-invasive, and that measurements are made at very high resolution in time and space, yielding estimates that are comparable across species and studies. Combined with emerging techniques in computer vision, we anticipate that these methods will help to expand the range of species for which we can estimate movement rate in the wild.

Summary 1. The distance travelled by animals is an important ecological variable that links behaviour, energetics and demography. It is usually measured by summing straight-line distances between intermittently sampled locations along continuous animal movement paths. The extent to which this approach underestimates travel distance remains a rarely addressed and unsolved problem, largely because true movement paths are rarely, if ever, available for comparison. Here, we use simulated movement paths parameterized with empirical movement data to study how estimates of distance travelled are affected by sampling frequency. 2. We used a novel method to obtain fine-scale characteristics of animal movement from camera trap videos for a set of tropical forest mammals and used these characteristics to generate detailed movement paths. We then sampled these paths at different frequencies, simulating telemetry studies, and quantified the accuracy of sampled travel distance estimation. 3. For our focal species, typical telemetry studies would underestimate distances travelled by 67– 93%, and extremely high sampling frequencies (several fixes per minute) would be required to get tolerably accurate estimates. The form of the relationship between tortuosity, sample frequency, and distance travelled was such that absolute distance cannot accurately be estimated by the infrequent samples used in typical tracking studies. 4. We conclude that the underestimation of distance travelled is a serious but underappreciated problem. Currently, there is no reliable, widely applicable method to obtain approximately unbiased estimates of distance travelled by animals. Further research on this problem is needed.