Best bait for your buck: bait preference for camera trapping north Australian mammals

Abstract

Critical evaluations of bait attractiveness for camera trapping wildlife are scant even though use of the most attractive bait should improve detection of cryptic, threatened species. We aimed to determine the most attractive bait for camera trapping the northern hopping-mouse (Notomys aquilo) and sympatric mammals. We also tested the effectiveness of overhead camera trap orientation in identifying individual northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) as this could be used to define a camera trap event for analysis purposes. Using white-flash camera traps, the attractiveness of four baits (peanut butter with oats, corn, sesame oil and sunflower kernels) and a control were compared for N. aquilo, D. hallucatus, the northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus) and the agile wallaby (Notamacropus agilis). Spot patterns of D. hallucatus were compared to determine the visitation rate of individuals. Peanut butter– and sesame oil–based baits were significantly more attractive to D. hallucatus, while I. macrourus strongly preferred the peanut butter bait. Bait type did not affect the mean number of events for N. aquilo or N. agilis. The consistently identifiable images of individual D. hallucatus were used to determine the optimal event delineator of 15 min. The improved techniques for camera trapping D. hallucatus should be valuable for future capture–recapture studies of this species. Camera trapping is a viable replacement for the ineffective method of indexing the abundance of N. aquilo using indirect signs.

Framing pictures: A conceptual framework to identify and correct for biases in detection probability of camera traps enabling multi‐species comparison

“…Meek, Dixon, Dickman and Leung, 2016;Satterfield et al, 2017; Suárez-Tangil and Rodríguez, Reis et al, 2017;Lesmeister et al, 2015;Pease, Nielsen and Holzmueller, 2016;Welbourne et al, 2016 Welbourne et al, ) al., 2017aHowe et al 2017; Rowcliffe et al.al., 2007;Wearn et al, 2017) Landscape features channeling animal movement (e.g.,…”

Bangers and cash: Baiting efficiency in a heterogeneous population.

“…Cameras were secured to trees or rocky ledges approximately 1 m from the ground and aligned to face directly downwards (Hohnen et al 2013; Diete et al 2016). Cameras were set to take five consecutive photographs for each trigger with no delay between triggers.…”

Ecology and conservation of the northern hopping-mouse and sympatric vertebrates of Groote Eylandt

“…Detailed methods are outlined in Diete et al (2016c;Chapter 3a) and Chapter 4). Two broad habitat types were sampled: woodland dominated by Eucalyptus tetrodonta with sandy top soil; and coastal tussock grass and shrubland with sandy top soil.…”

“…Some investigation was conducted into the optimal event delineators for Groote Eylandt mammals (Diete et al 2016c;Chapter 3a). In the absence of any further information to assist in determining these, the same delineators were used for analysis in the current study.…”

“…For the rodents, N. aquilo, P. delicatulus and M. burtoni, images of the same species more than 5 min apart were counted as discrete events. For the larger species, I. macrourus and D. hallucatus, the interval was increased to 15 min, as per observations by Diete et al (2016c;Chapter 3a). Due to the large size of the data set and to reduce the risk of human error, counting of events was automated in Microsoft Excel.…”