Use of camera traps for wildlife studies. A review

Abstract

As human threats continue to impact natural habitats, there is an increasing need to regularly monitor the trends in large vertebrate populations. Conservation efforts must be directed appropriately, but field work necessary for data collection is often limited by time and availability of people. Camera traps are used as an efficient method to insure continuous sampling and to work in difficult to access areas. In the present study, we illustrate how this instrument is serving a diverse field of studies, such as animal behavior, population monitoring and fauna-flora interaction. By looking at the material and technical aspects of various models of camera trap for implementation in different field studies in animal ecology, we highlight the need to choose appropriate camera trap models for the target species and to set up solid sampling protocols to successfully achieve study objectives.

Keywords

• Wildlife management
• population census
• animal behaviour
• photography
• traps
• surveillance systems