ABSTRACT
Widely used to study wildlife, camera trapping involves automated devices that
record pictures or videos using infrared sensors that detect motion. Camera trapping
has greatly improved scientific investigation as it can gather data on rare, cryptic, or
nocturnal species. On the American University of Nigeria campus in Adamawa State,
northeastern Nigeria, I used camera trapping to determine the presence and
distribution of wildlife species and the habitat use of two nocturnal mammals, whitetailed mongoose (Ichneumia albicauda) and giant-pouched rat (Cricetomys
gambianus). I surveyed 29 sampling points for three trap nights, resulting in a total of
87 trap nights. Using occupancy modeling, I evaluated the influence of covariates on
presence and habitat use of these two mammals. Results indicated that the presence
of nature areas and domestic goats positively influenced the presence and habitat use
of white-tailed mongoose. These factors were also important for the giant pouched
rat, whose habitat use was positively associated with nature areas, but negatively
associated with the presence of goats. These results indicate that white-tailed
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mongoose and giant pouched rat prefer less disturbed habitats on campus. The
adaptable mongoose, though, appears to also tolerate more disturbed areas and may
even be excluded from areas where other mongoose species occur (in this study,
banded mongoose). The pouched rat appears to avoid disturbed environments. My
findings may be affected by the short survey period and limited number of cameras. I
recommend the university enhance natural vegetation and increase awareness about
the ecological importance of having such wildlife on campus.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION…………………………………………………………………….ii
READERS’ APPROVAL………………………………………………………………iii
DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………….iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………..v
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..vi
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………x
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………….xi
CHAPTER 1………………………………………………………………………….1
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..1
Presence………………………………………………………………………6
Distribution……………………………………………………………………….8
Occupancy……………………………………………………………………9
Habitat use…………………………………………………………………..10
Abundance/Density…………………………………………………………..11
Key advantages………………………………………………………………12
Non-lethal method…………………………………………………….12
Data documentation………………………………………………….13
Disadvantages………………………………………………………………..13
Device malfunction……………………………………………………14
Cost…………………………………………………………….……14
Other restrictions..……………………………………………….……..15
American University of Nigeria………..………………………..………….…………15
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AIMS & OBJECTIVES…………..……………………………….………………….17
CHAPTER 2…………………………………………………………………………18
MATERIALS & METHODS………………………………………………..18
Study site……………………………………………………………………….18
GPS units..…….……………………………………………………………..19
Sampling……………………………………………………………………20
Modeling……………………………………………………………………..22
CHAPTER 3…………………………………………………………………………24
RESULTS……………………………………………………………………24
White-tailed mongoose………………………………………………………26
Giant pouched rat……………………………………………………………27
CHAPTER 4………………………………………………………………………….29
DISCUSSION………………………………………………………….……29
White-tailed mongoose…………………………………………………………………………29
Giant pouched rat…………………………………………………..……….31
Limitation…………………………………………………………………….32
Recommendation……………………………………………………………..33
CHAPTER 5………………………………………………………………………….35
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………35
APPENDIX I…………………………………………………..…………….36
History of photography in wildlife studies…………………………………..36
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………….………38
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Impact of survey effort (number of camera days) on the number of animals
detected in four studies (sourced from Rovero et al., 2010) …………………………7
Table 2. Results of model selection for habitat use and detection probability of
white-tailed mongoose using Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC), corrected for
sample size and overdispersion (QAICc)……………………………………………27
Table 3. Results of model selection for habitat use and detection probability of
Giant-pouched rat proportional to sampling points using Akaike’s Information
Criterion (AIC) with a small sample size correction (AICc)………………………………..28
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1. A Camera trap attached to a tree for wildlife detection……………..…………2
Fig. 2. Camera trap installed and checked by Indonesia’s Tiger Research Team in
Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau Province, Indonesia. The Indonesia’s researchers are
seeking to record tigers in the Sumatran jungle………………………………..……..5
Fig. 3. The location of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) situated in a low
dense populated area in Yola, Adamawa state………………………………………18
Fig. 4. Camera traps mounted on plane woods in a marsh-side animal trail………..19
Fig. 5. Four sampling zones in this study were underdeveloped areas within the
AUN main campus.…………………………………………………………………..20
Fig. 6. The proportional sampling points of each of the four study zones…………….21
Fig. 7. Location of mammal species detected by camera traps in each of the four
zones during this study……………………………………………………………….25
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There have been challenges for wildlife ecologists and managers to develop reliable
methods that can be used to assess and gain a better understanding of wildlife
(Caughley, 1977). A wide variety of methods and analytical approaches have been
developed. The advent of camera-trap technology has greatly improved ecologists’
and managers’ ability to study and monitor wildlife within natural habitats
(O’Connell, Nichols, & Karanth, 2011). A camera trap is an automated device that
takes pictures or videos using infrared sensors that detect motion. As a result of
technological advancements, camera-trap devices are now more cost effective. They
provide a non-invasive way to study wildlife. Camera traps also can take High
Definition (HD) photographs (Kucera & Barrett, 2011). In addition, camera trapping
has improved wildlife studies mostly in terms of assessing and understanding elusive
wildlife (Kucera & Barrett, 2011).
In recent years, camera trapping has become a tool to study wildlife with little or no
human disturbance (Rovero, Martin, Rosa, Ahumada, & Spitale, 2014). Camera
trapping is used for different purposes, such as monitoring and documenting the
occurrence of animal species. In addition, the results obtained from a camera-trap
study can also be used for designing statistical models for assessing and investigating
the animal population’s characteristics, such as abundance, presence, and distribution
in a particular area (Karanth, Nichols, Kumar, & Hines, 2006; Karanth & Nichols,
1998). Camera trapping is often used to collect data on species that are difficult to
study or detect. In recent years, camera trapping has provided profound results in
understanding population characteristics and ecological relationships of animals,
2
ranging from common animal species (e.g. raccoons) to rare, elusive, and enigmatic
animal species (e.g. African golden cats) (O’Connell et al., 2011).
Camera trapping has become so well known that several ‘camera trap’ articles
published in the Web of Science database boosted journal citation rates to more than
180 over the past five years (O’Connell et al., 2011). In addition, camera trapping
has allowed scientists to more often use non-invasive sampling techniques, which do
not disturb wildlife (Long, MacKay, Zielinski, & Ray, 2008). Technological
engineering advancements, such as camera-system automation, system networking,
device simplicity, and other modern camera system features, have also improved the
technological aspect of camera-trapping (O’Connell et al., 2011)
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