NDLI: Critical evaluation of a long-term, locally-based wildlife monitoring program in West Africa

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Burton, A. Cole
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	Effective monitoring programs are required to understand and mitigate biodiversity declines, particularly in tropical ecosystems where conservation conflicts are severe yet ecological data are scarce. “Locally-based” monitoring has been advanced as an approach to improve biodiversity monitoring in developing countries, but the accuracy of data from many such programs has not been adequately assessed. I evaluated a long-term, patrol-based wildlife monitoring system in Mole National Park, Ghana, through comparison with camera trapping and an assessment of sampling error. I found that patrol observations underrepresented the park’s mammal community, recording only two-thirds as many species as camera traps over a common sampling period (2006–2008). Agreement between methods was reasonable for larger, diurnal and social species (e.g., larger ungulates and primates), but camera traps were more effective at detecting smaller, solitary and nocturnal species (particularly carnivores). Data from patrols and cameras corresponded for some spatial patterns of management interest (e.g., community turnover, edge effect on abundance) but differed for others (e.g., richness, edge effect on diversity). Long-term patrol observations were influenced by uneven sampling effort and considerable variation in replicate counts. Despite potential benefits of locally-based monitoring, these results suggest that data from this and similar programs may be subject to biases that complicate interpretation of wildlife population and community dynamics. Careful attention to monitoring objectives, methodological design and robust analysis is required if locally-based approaches are to satisfy an aim of reliable biodiversity monitoring, and there is a need for greater international support in the creation and maintenance of local monitoring capacity.
Starting Page	3079
Ending Page	3094
Page Count	16
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09603115
Journal	Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume Number	21
Issue Number	12
e-ISSN	15729710
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2012-08-15
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	West Africa Camera trap Detection bias Locally-based monitoring Law enforcement patrols Mammal monitoring Protected area management Sampling error Survey methods Wildlife conservation Tree Biology Plant Sciences Evolutionary Biology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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