A citizen science based survey method for estimating the density of urban carnivores

Globally there are many examples of synanthropic carnivores exploiting growth in urbanisation. As carnivores can come into conflict with humans and are potential vectors of zoonotic disease, assessing densities in suburban areas and identifying factors that influence them are necessary to aid manage...

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Published in:PloS one 2018-05, Vol.13 (5), p.e0197445-e0197445
Main Authors: Scott, Dawn M, Baker, Rowenna, Charman, Naomi, Karlsson, Heidi, Yarnell, Richard W, Mill, Aileen C, Smith, Graham C, Tolhurst, Bryony A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal populations
Animals
Badgers
Biodiversity
Biology and Life Sciences
Carnivora - physiology
Carnivores
Cities
Clustering
Density
Disease
Distribution
Earth Sciences
Echinococcus multilocularis
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Environmental protection
Forecasts and trends
Foxes
Foxes - physiology
Geography
Influence
Meles meles
Methods
Mitigation
Mustelidae - physiology
People and places
Population
Population Density
Rabies
Research and Analysis Methods
Residential density
Science
Suburban areas
Surveying
Surveys
Surveys and Questionnaires
Towns
United Kingdom
Urban areas
Urbanization
Vulpes vulpes
Wildlife conservation
Zoonoses
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cited_by cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c758t-2f59a83c4c234e2faf01e4f641bb9357d5f24970cc4dc62d8cc404ee4e1e01943
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container_issue 5
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Baker, Rowenna
Charman, Naomi
Karlsson, Heidi
Yarnell, Richard W
Mill, Aileen C
Smith, Graham C
Tolhurst, Bryony A
description Globally there are many examples of synanthropic carnivores exploiting growth in urbanisation. As carnivores can come into conflict with humans and are potential vectors of zoonotic disease, assessing densities in suburban areas and identifying factors that influence them are necessary to aid management and mitigation. However, fragmented, privately owned land restricts the use of conventional carnivore surveying techniques in these areas, requiring development of novel methods. We present a method that combines questionnaire distribution to residents with field surveys and GIS, to determine relative density of two urban carnivores in England, Great Britain. We determined the density of: red fox (Vulpes vulpes) social groups in 14, approximately 1km2 suburban areas in 8 different towns and cities; and Eurasian badger (Meles meles) social groups in three suburban areas of one city. Average relative fox group density (FGD) was 3.72 km-2, which was double the estimates for cities with resident foxes in the 1980's. Density was comparable to an alternative estimate derived from trapping and GPS-tracking, indicating the validity of the method. However, FGD did not correlate with a national dataset based on fox sightings, indicating unreliability of the national data to determine actual densities or to extrapolate a national population estimate. Using species-specific clustering units that reflect social organisation, the method was additionally applied to suburban badgers to derive relative badger group density (BGD) for one city (Brighton, 2.41 km-2). We demonstrate that citizen science approaches can effectively obtain data to assess suburban carnivore density, however publicly derived national data sets need to be locally validated before extrapolations can be undertaken. The method we present for assessing densities of foxes and badgers in British towns and cities is also adaptable to other urban carnivores elsewhere. However this transferability is contingent on species traits meeting particular criteria, and on resident responsiveness.
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0197445
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As carnivores can come into conflict with humans and are potential vectors of zoonotic disease, assessing densities in suburban areas and identifying factors that influence them are necessary to aid management and mitigation. However, fragmented, privately owned land restricts the use of conventional carnivore surveying techniques in these areas, requiring development of novel methods. We present a method that combines questionnaire distribution to residents with field surveys and GIS, to determine relative density of two urban carnivores in England, Great Britain. We determined the density of: red fox (Vulpes vulpes) social groups in 14, approximately 1km2 suburban areas in 8 different towns and cities; and Eurasian badger (Meles meles) social groups in three suburban areas of one city. Average relative fox group density (FGD) was 3.72 km-2, which was double the estimates for cities with resident foxes in the 1980's. Density was comparable to an alternative estimate derived from trapping and GPS-tracking, indicating the validity of the method. However, FGD did not correlate with a national dataset based on fox sightings, indicating unreliability of the national data to determine actual densities or to extrapolate a national population estimate. Using species-specific clustering units that reflect social organisation, the method was additionally applied to suburban badgers to derive relative badger group density (BGD) for one city (Brighton, 2.41 km-2). We demonstrate that citizen science approaches can effectively obtain data to assess suburban carnivore density, however publicly derived national data sets need to be locally validated before extrapolations can be undertaken. The method we present for assessing densities of foxes and badgers in British towns and cities is also adaptable to other urban carnivores elsewhere. 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1932-6203
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source Publicly Available Content Database; PubMed Central
subjects Animal behavior
Animal populations
Animals
Badgers
Biodiversity
Biology and Life Sciences
Carnivora - physiology
Carnivores
Cities
Clustering
Density
Disease
Distribution
Earth Sciences
Echinococcus multilocularis
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Environmental protection
Forecasts and trends
Foxes
Foxes - physiology
Geography
Influence
Meles meles
Methods
Mitigation
Mustelidae - physiology
People and places
Population
Population Density
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Research and Analysis Methods
Residential density
Science
Suburban areas
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Urbanization
Vulpes vulpes
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Zoonoses
title A citizen science based survey method for estimating the density of urban carnivores
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