Description
The long-term monitoring of carnivore tracks in Doñana is part of a harmonised protocol for the Long-term Ecological Monitoring Program of Natural Resources and Processes targeting mammals' populations. The general aim of this protocol is to study the temporal evolution of the relative density of the main species of carnivores in the main habitats of the Doñana National Park. Tracks surveys were done annually after the first rains of the hydrological year, i.e. the first autumn rains, usually in October. Due to climate change, in recent years the rainy season has been delayed until the beginning of the year. This protocol has stablished in 2007 and it has done annually until the present (2022), except in 2021 when due to logistical problems no census was made. Censuses are carried out through 12 prefixed transects, with sand substrate, in Doñana National Park. Each transect consists of a 2 km of length and 1.5 m of width that is done by a car at a constant speed between 10 and 15 km/h. Transects are cleaned the day before of the census with a metal beam to facilitate the read of the tracks and to ensure that the foot prints were from the previous day. Each transect is repeated in three consecutive days, and during the transect the sand is cleaned for the next day. In the census an expert in mammals’ tracks identifies all the tracks, i.e. groups of carnivore foot prints, and he/she records them in Cybertracker. That way, tracks' information like coordinates, hour, species identification and observation was recorded; and also the information of each transect was recorded: surveyors, drivers, date, start and end (hour and coordinates). This method enables to calculate Kilometric Abundance Indexes (KAI) for each species and transect. In order to clarify all carnivore datasets, the data was separated by species, this allows concrete analysis by species. In this dataset domestic dog´s (Canis lupus familiaris) data is presented.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 444 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Carro F, Román I, Laffite Alaminos R, Paz D, Ceballos O, Chico A, Torrijo-Salesa M, Díaz-Delgado R, Bustamante J, Márquez-Ferrando R (2023). Long-term monitoring of the relative density in the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) with track counts in Doñana National Park 2007-2022. Version 1.1. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/zmqncw
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 6c1a7df0-8ef7-444e-a499-a858cc36cc80. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Observation; Long-term monitoring
Contacts
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
https://orcid.org/https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1634-9074
- Originator
- Originator
- Originator
- Originator
- Originator
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator
- Originator ●
- Principal Investigator
- Originator ●
- Principal Investigator
- Metadata Provider
- Point Of Contact
Geographic Coverage
The study area is located in southwest Spain in the Guadalquivir Basin and covers Doñana Protected Area (542.51 km2). Climate is Mediterranean sub-humid with Atlantic coast influence deriving in wet mild winters and dry warm summers. The rainy season occurs between October and April, with a peak in December–January (average rainfall is about 550 mm). Doñana Protected Area includes seven ecosystems types (coastal waters, beach, dunes, forest, shrubland, sandy lakes and marshes) and 21 habitat types, 11 of them of high conservation importance – such as the Bulrush and Glasswort marsh, floodplain lakes, sandy lakes, grassland ecotones, Cork-Oak forest, shrubland, coastal Juniper forest and dunes.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [36.79, -6.57], North East [37.15, -6.33] |
|---|
Taxonomic Coverage
Tracks are identified to the species level.
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2007-10-31 / 2022-11-30 |
|---|
Project Data
The aim of this project is to provide information about the evolution of the conservation status of Doñana. To do that, it has been designed a monitoring program of the dynamic of natural processes and the distribution and abundance of species and communities. This monitoring is generating time series of data which is being used to analyse long-term trends.
| Title | Seguimiento a largo plazo de los procesos naturales en la Infraestructura Científica y Técnica Singular Reserva Biológica de Doñana |
|---|---|
| Identifier | 202030E286 |
| Funding | We acknowledge financial support from National Parks Autonomous Agency (OAPN) in 2007; the Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry (ICTS-MICINN); the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development from the Regional Government of Andalusia (CAGPDES-JA) since 2011; the Doñana Biological Station from the Spanish National Research Council (EBD-CSIC) since all the study period (2011); Ministry of Science and Innovation (Recovery, Transformation and Resilence Plan); and the European Comision with the Long-term Ecosystem Research in Europe (eLTER) (a HORIZON funding coordination of the European funding programme for research and innovation) and NextGenerationEU funding. |
| Study Area Description | Doñana LTSER Platform. Doñana Protected Area. Doñana National Park. Doñana Biological Reserve (RBD). https://deims.org/bcbc866c-3f4f-47a8-bbbc-0a93df6de7b2 |
| Design Description | Initially it focused on birds and endangered species such as the Iberian Lynx or the Imperial Eagle. Formally, it started in 2003, when it was extended and funded to monitor biodiversity and ecological processes targeting species, habitats and populations, as well as ecosystem structure and function. As a summary, data analysis and assessment are made to enhance management decisions with baseline information to minimize the impact of global change drivers. Results are annually reported to the National Park Managers and Practitioners and to the regional authorities as scientific reports. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
The long-term monitoring of carnivore tracks in Doñana started in 2008 by setting 12 permanent transects across the Doñana National Park. The transects have a length of 2 km and 1.5 m of width. Each transect is sampled three times during the sampling campaign in autumn (between October and November) always after the first rains of the hydrological year. Before each census the sand substrate was cleaned with a metal beam to facilitate the read of tracks and to ensure that the foot prints were from the previous day. Carnivores tracks, i.e. groups of carnivore foot prints, were identified and recorded in a Cybertracker sequence, that allows note coordinates information automatically. This census and his method enables esteem relative densities and also the calculation of Kilometric Abundance Indexes (KAI) of each species according to each transect of sampling period.
| Study Extent | The study area is located in southwest Spain in the Guadalquivir Basin and covers Doñana Protected Area (542.51 km2). Climate is Mediterranean sub-humid with Atlantic coast influence deriving in wet mild winters and dry warm summers. The rainy season occurs between October and April, with a peak in December–January (average rainfall is about 550 mm). Four main ecosystems are monitored in the area: freshwater marshes, mobile sand dunes, Mediterranean shrublands and woodlands and Doñana shoreline of 30 km. This monitoring protocol is carried out in 12 permanent and prefixed transects along Doñana National Park. Each transect was sampled three (3 consecutive days) times per year, after the first autumn rains. |
|---|---|
| Quality Control | The protocol used has been supervised by ecological researchers and the data have been validated by the members who performed the transects. |
Method step description:
- The annual survey of each transect is composed by three different censuses on consecutive days. Furthermore, the day before of the first census day a metal beam of 1.5 m was passed along the transect of 2 km to eliminate previous old tracks, ensuring that the foot prints were from the previous day. During each census the metal beam was also passed cleaning the sand to the next day. That way, the detected tracks on each census belonged to the previous 24 hours, so each census is different to the ones made in the same period (3 consecutive days). An expert in mammals’ tracks identified all footprints in the transect area (2km x 1.5m), they were noted in Cybertracker that recorded the hour and the coordinates for each one. Data was download as Excel or csv files and then was validated, cleaned and prepared for the analysis. In order to clarify all carnivore datasets, the data was separated by species, this allows concrete analysis by species. In this dataset domestic dog´s (Canis lupus familiaris) data is presented.
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 10.15470/zmqncw |
|---|---|
| 6c1a7df0-8ef7-444e-a499-a858cc36cc80 | |
| https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=icts-rbd-canistracks_ev_20230915 |