Avoiding the subject: the implications of avoidance behaviour for detecting predators

• Published in: Behavioral ecology and sociobiology Vol. 70; no. 9; pp. 1535 - 1546
• Main Author: Fancourt, Bronwyn A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer 01.09.2016; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal Ecology; Animal populations; avoidance behavior; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cameras; Carnivores; Cats; correlation; Depopulation; Dingoes; Felis catus; feral animals; home range; Life Sciences; neoplasms; Original Article; Population density; Predation; Predators; sand; Spotlights; Survey design; surveys; Sympatric species; sympatry; Tasmania; Trophic relationships; Wildlife conservation; Zoology; Tasmania; Tasmanian devil; Apex predator; Fear; Abundance indices; Mesopredator; Feral cat

Estimating predator abundance can be challenging. Many predators are inherently difficult to detect due to their low population densities, large home ranges and cryptic behaviour. Detection rates derived from camera traps, spotlight surveys and track counts in sand plots are often used as indices of...