Mammals camera trap survey in eastern Sierra Nevada (Spain)

Ariadna Sanglas1, Francisco Palomares2, Ariadna Sanglas3, Francisco Palomares3

1 Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio 26, 41092, Sevilla, Spain; 2 Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio 26, 41092, Sevilla, Spain; 3 Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio, 26, 41092, Sevilla, Spain

Corresponding author(s): Ariadna Sanglas (ariadna.sanglas@gmail.com)Francisco Palomares (ffpaloma@ebd.csic.es)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Sanglas A, Palomares F (2023). Mammals camera trap survey in eastern Sierra Nevada (Spain). Version 2.2. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/mb6rlk https://doi.org/10.15470/mb6rlk

Abstract

The current data set provides all mammals recorded during a camera-trap survey performed in eastern Sierra Nevada (Southeastern Iberian peninsula) in order to detect wildcats (Felis silvestris) within the subproject "Feral Cats" of the SUMHAL macroproject. Forty-seven camera-traps were deployed between April 2022 and December 2022.

Keywords: camera trap, carnivores, distribution, mammals, Mediterranean region, mountainous area, occurrence, protected area, survey, wildcat, Samplingevent

General description

Purpose: The dataset can be used to model distributions of mammal species (including domestic carnivores) and study the presence-absence of certain species in natural areas.

Project details

Project title: Sustainability for Mediterranean Hotspots in Andalusia integrating LifeWatch ERIC (SUMHAL). Work package 4 (WP4): Combining field data, citizen science and loT to monitor anthropogenic impacts on Andalusian biodiversity and society
Personnel: Ariadna Sanglas, Francisco Palomares
Funding: This study was funded by MICINN through European Regional Development Fund [SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-4, POPE 2014-2020]
Study area descriptions/descriptor: SUMHAL focuses in Andalusia (Southern Spain), as a representation of the western Mediterranean ecosystems. However, each subproject that belongs to WP4 has its own study area at a more local level.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=ebd-csic-feralcatscameratrapping

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: N/A
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia, Carnivora, Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae, Muridae, Mustelidae, Suidae, Bovidae, Felidae, Canidae

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: The study area was located in the east of the National and Natural park of Sierra Nevada (Spain), and includes the municipalities of Abrucena, Abla, Ohanes and Las Tres Villas.
Coordinates: 37°4'1.2''N and 37°7'55.2''N Latitude; 2°51'39.6''W and 2°43'22.8''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: April 25, 2022 - December 13, 2022

Methods

Method step description: Pictures were sorted following the methodology of R package CamtrapR (Niedballa et al. 2016) in order to extract metadata (date and time of the picture).
Consecutive pictures of the same species within a 30 min interval were considered as the same event unless individuals could be identified by their fur patterning or other features (injuries, marks, spots). Mammals belonging to domestic animal herds or other species of vertebrates such as birds or reptiles were not included.
Study extent description: The study was carried out in the eastern part of Sierra Nevada National and Natural Park (southeastern Iberian peninsula), within the municipal boundaries of Abrucena, Abla, Ohanes and Las Tres Villas. The area surveyed comprises an altitudinal range between 942 and 2215 m a.s.l. Vegetation in the area can be separated into three different habitats: the high mountain habitat dominated by rocky outcrops and natural crevices, the mid-mountain habitat occupied by deciduous forests such as oak, maple and cherry, and the lower areas, where oak and riverside forests can be found mixed with almond orchards. A woodland ring formed by autochthonous oak forest (Quercus sp.) and pine plantations (Pinus pinaster, P. nigra and P. sylvestris) is a characteristic of the area that appears below 2400 m a.s.l
Sampling description: Each camera trap was left at the same point for an average of two months and then moved to another location. Cameras deployed on the same date were separated by each other by a mean distance of 900 m approximately. However, in order to maximize the possibility to record wildcats, in each new deployment of several cameras, old positions were not taken into account, meaning that some positions might be very close to each other, but correspond to different sampling periods.
We used two different models of camera traps (Bushnell Trophy Cam HD Black Led and Acorn LTL5310) similarly programmed to take 3 pictures per trigger at the minimum speed trigger available. Cameras were tied to trees at 0.20–1 m above ground and Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) urine was used as an attractant for wildcats at a distance of 2-4 m from camera traps.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Mammals camera trap survey in eastern Sierra Nevada (Spain)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.es/archive.do?r=ebd-csic-feralcatscameratrapping
Publication date of data: 2023-09-19
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-03-24
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Niedballa J, Sollmann R, Courtiol A, Wilting A (2016). “camtrapR: an R package for efficient camera trap data management.” Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 7(12), 1457–1462. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12600