Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates
Assessing cat local abundance provides information on where wandering cat numbers are highest and what habitats or factors are associated with wandering cats. A variety of stakeholders can lead this research and then use the findings to make scientifically informed decisions to guide the physical lo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | FACETS |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2023-0033 |
| _version_ | 1797366211604905984 |
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| author | Elizabeth A. Gow Ben Aubrey Lydia Cossar Carter Mazerolle Edward Cheskey |
| author_facet | Elizabeth A. Gow Ben Aubrey Lydia Cossar Carter Mazerolle Edward Cheskey |
| author_sort | Elizabeth A. Gow |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Assessing cat local abundance provides information on where wandering cat numbers are highest and what habitats or factors are associated with wandering cats. A variety of stakeholders can lead this research and then use the findings to make scientifically informed decisions to guide the physical locations of cat management actions. Here, we document a framework that engages community members, uses minimal equipment (six trail cameras), and provides scientifically derived information for interested parties to inform, direct, or test the effectiveness of cat management practices. Using these methods in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, we demonstrate how we estimated cat population size and cat local abundances across a variety of co-variates while accounting for non-perfect detection by using 55 trail camera sites and N-mixture models. Urban areas had three-fold higher local wandering cat abundances than parkland areas, and neighbourhoods below the median income had the highest local abundances of wandering cats. We estimated there are between 8905 and 48,419 (mean 21,298) wandering cats in Gatineau, with 18%–73% of those cats being unowned. These findings can be used to identify locations for future cat management. If estimates of cat abundance are repeated, they can assess the effectiveness of management actions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:01:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b30102779b34c9ca8e3b50684851b86 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2371-1671 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:01:02Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Canadian Science Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | FACETS |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b30102779b34c9ca8e3b50684851b862024-01-04T12:00:11ZengCanadian Science PublishingFACETS2371-16712024-01-01911410.1139/facets-2023-0033Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimatesElizabeth A. Gow0Ben Aubrey1Lydia Cossar2Carter Mazerolle3Edward Cheskey4Wildlife Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, BC, CanadaNature Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaNature Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaNature Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaNature Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaAssessing cat local abundance provides information on where wandering cat numbers are highest and what habitats or factors are associated with wandering cats. A variety of stakeholders can lead this research and then use the findings to make scientifically informed decisions to guide the physical locations of cat management actions. Here, we document a framework that engages community members, uses minimal equipment (six trail cameras), and provides scientifically derived information for interested parties to inform, direct, or test the effectiveness of cat management practices. Using these methods in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, we demonstrate how we estimated cat population size and cat local abundances across a variety of co-variates while accounting for non-perfect detection by using 55 trail camera sites and N-mixture models. Urban areas had three-fold higher local wandering cat abundances than parkland areas, and neighbourhoods below the median income had the highest local abundances of wandering cats. We estimated there are between 8905 and 48,419 (mean 21,298) wandering cats in Gatineau, with 18%–73% of those cats being unowned. These findings can be used to identify locations for future cat management. If estimates of cat abundance are repeated, they can assess the effectiveness of management actions.https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2023-0033free-roaming catfree-ranging catcat managementcommunity engagementcommunity-led science |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth A. Gow Ben Aubrey Lydia Cossar Carter Mazerolle Edward Cheskey Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates FACETS free-roaming cat free-ranging cat cat management community engagement community-led science |
| title | Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| title_full | Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| title_fullStr | Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| title_short | Conducting community-led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| title_sort | conducting community led research using trail cameras to develop baseline wandering domestic cat local abundance estimates |
| topic | free-roaming cat free-ranging cat cat management community engagement community-led science |
| url | https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2023-0033 |
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