IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Harris, G.; Thompson, R.; Childs, J.L.; Sanderson, J.G. | |
| Automatic Storage and Analysis of Camera Trap Data | |
| 2010 Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America: 352-360 | |
Imagery from camera traps supports ecological investigations, inventory and monitoring networks, and cataloging biodiversity. Such use of camera traps continues to expand in the number of cameras deployed and images taken. Yet this increase creates a paradox. While practitioners seek more data to improve analyses, they buckle under mounds of imagery piling up before them. This situation engenders four problems. First, because cataloging imagery is slow, image identification lags behind acquisition, and many images remain unidentified. Second, user entry is tedious, causing errors Third, inconsistent filing and naming conventions complicate data retrieval and sharing. Fourth, the struggle to keep pace with the acquisition and management of data from existing camera traps slows the deployment of additional cameras (and subsequent data acquisition). These four problems stem from two general issues: inability to address volumes of imagery, and the lack of systematic organization. With few tools presently available, users have addressed them by either storing raw images, or using ad hoc labeling and cataloging. The former means much data sits unanalyzed, and the latter complicates data retrieval, analysis, and collaboration. Across-site comparisons and meta-analyses are nearly nonexistent. The few software tools now available offer limited data analysis capability. As a result, camera trapping is an underutilized tool. To address these issues we offer a three-step, standardized procedure to retrieve, label, store, analyze, and disseminate camera trap data. The methodology relies solely on open-source software and two computer programs we created. Our procedure is fast and simple and does not require hand data entry, thus greatly reducing data entry errors. Output from our analysis software can be directly imported to other analysis programs, and standard spreadsheets used elsewhere. The analysis program also calculates 18 popular parameters commonly examined by ecologists and wildlife managers. These 18 parameters serve as examples, as the potential for expansion is self-evident. We illustrate these parameters by summarizing the analysis of data obtained from a camera-trapping project in south-central Arizona (~30,000 images) and Suriname, South America (~75,000 images). |
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