Global camera trap synthesis highlights the importance of protected areas in maintaining mammal diversity

Abstract

The establishment of protected areas (PAs) is a central strategy for global biodiversity conservation. While the role of PAs in protecting habitat has been highlighted, their effectiveness at protecting mammal communities remains unclear. We analyzed a global dataset from over 8671 camera traps in 23 countries on four continents that detected 321 medium‐ to large‐bodied mammal species. We found a strong positive correlation between mammal taxonomic diversity and the proportion of a surveyed area covered by PAs at a global scale (β = 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.19–0.60) and in Indomalaya (β = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.19–1.2), as well as between functional diversity and PA coverage in the Nearctic (β = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.09–0.85), after controlling for human disturbances and environmental variation. Functional diversity was only weakly (and insignificantly) correlated with PA coverage at the global scale (β = 0.22, 95% CI = −0.02–0.46), pointing to a need to better understand the functional response of mammal communities to protection. Our study provides important evidence of the global effectiveness of PAs in conserving terrestrial mammals and emphasizes the critical role of area‐based conservation in a post‐2020 biodiversity framework.

Behavioral “bycatch” from camera trap surveys yields insights on prey responses to human‐mediated predation risk

“…Indirect measures of behavior derived from CT “bycatch” data provide only an imperfect glimpse into this complexity, yet they remain a rich source of information to be explored. Sampling coverage by CT surveys has grown rapidly (Chen et al, 2022 ), and our simple index of behavior was easy to calculate from data collected to estimate species distributions and abundances. We note that our results were not always consistent across the three indicators we explored (Figures S14 and S15 in Appendix S1 ) and we encourage further inquiry into the strengths and weaknesses of different ways to measure behavior from CT data—for example, using video recordings to estimate movement speed (Rowcliffe et al, 2016 ) and machine learning to automate behavioral classifications (Palencia et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Camera traps have rapidly become a primary survey tool in wildlife research and management, with their sampling coverage expanding around the world (Chen et al, 2022 ). With the emergence of CT networks at regional (e.g., WildCAM, Granados et al, n.d. in review) and global (e.g., Wildlife Insights, Ahumada et al, 2020 ) scales, there is increasing coordination and synthesis of camera detection data across large spatial and temporal scales.…”

“…Indirect measures of behavior derived from CT "bycatch" data provide only an imperfect glimpse into this complexity, yet they remain a rich source of information to be explored. Sampling coverage by CT surveys has grown rapidly (Chen et al, 2022), and our simple index of behavior was easy to calculate from data collected to estimate species distributions and abundances. We note that our results…”

The Value of Protected Areas Ranger Service Personnel for Biodiversity Monitoring: Case Study in Paklenica National Park (Croatia)

“…lagomorphs, rodents) and primates. Furthermore, camera trap surveys can generate standardised data on many species within mammal communities in protected areas across varied ecosystems (Chen et al, 2022). As the monitoring of mammalian species via camera traps is not so dependent on the environment to be sampled, constant assistance or even experienced field staff (Silveira et al, 2003), the question is whether protected areas' ranger service personnel can be an added value of the usual nature protection tool through baseline survey monitoring.…”

“…To date, there has been very little research on the role and skills of protected area ranger service personnel. But according to Chen et al (2022), camera trap surveys conducted in protected areas can generate standardised data on many species within mammal communities across varied ecosystems; so, these surveys are very important for wildlife conservation. Rangers are usually mid-level employees who are primarily responsible for implementation of the plans and policies developed by the main office managers.…”