Long-term monitoring of the relative density of genus Felis with track counts in Doñana National Park 2007-2022

Francisco Carro1, Isidro Román2, Rafael Laffite Alaminos2, David Paz2, Olga Ceballos3, Alfredo Chico2, Mizar Torrijo-Salesa4, Ricardo Díaz-Delgado4, Javier Bustamante5, Rocío Márquez-Ferrando1, Javier Bustamante6

1 Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), C/ Américo Vespucio 26,  Isla de la Cartuja, 41092, Sevilla, Spain; 2 Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Carretera de El Rocío - Matalascañas, A-483, km 40, 21760, Almonte, Spain; 3 ; 4 Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio 26 Isla de la Cartuja, 41092, Sevilla, Spain; 5 Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda. Américo Vespucio 26 Isla de la Cartuja, 41092, Sevilla; 6 Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), 41092, 

Corresponding author(s): Francisco Carro (pcarro@ebd.csic.es)Isidro RománRafael Laffite AlaminosDavid Paz (davidpaz@ebd.csic.es)Olga CeballosAlfredo ChicoMizar Torrijo-Salesa (mizar.torrijo@ebd.csic.es)Ricardo Díaz-Delgado (rdiaz@ebd.csic.es)Javier Bustamante (jbustamante@ebd.csic.es), Rocío Márquez-Ferrando (rociomarquez@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

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 of genus Felis with track counts in Doñana National Park 2007-2022. Version 1.1. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/oaffix https://doi.org/10.15470/oaffix

Abstract

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 Felis genus´ data is presented.

Keywords: Samplingevent, Observation, Long-term monitoring

Project details

Project title: Seguimiento a largo plazo de los procesos naturales en la Infraestructura Científica y Técnica Singular Reserva Biológica de Doñana
Personnel: Ricardo Díaz-Delgado, Javier Bustamante
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 descriptions/descriptor: Doñana LTSER Platform. Doñana Protected Area. Doñana National Park. Doñana Biological Reserve (RBD). 
https://deims.org/bcbc866c-3f4f-47a8-bbbc-0a93df6de7b2
Design description: The Doñana Long-Term Monitoring Program is carried by ICTS-RBD. It was started for certain monitoring features in the 1980s. 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.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=icts-rbd-felistracks_20230915

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Tracks are identified to the genus level.
Taxonomic ranks
Genus: Felis
Common names: Cat

Spatial coverage

General spatial 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.
Coordinates: 36°47'24''N and 37°8'60''N Latitude; 6°34'12''W and 6°19'48''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: October 30, 2007

Methods

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 Felis genus´ data is presented.
Study extent description: 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.
Sampling description: 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.
Quality control description: The protocol used has been supervised by ecological researchers and the data have been validated by the members who performed the transects.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Long-term monitoring of the relative density of genus Felis with track counts in Doñana National Park 2007-2022
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.es/archive.do?r=icts-rbd-felistracks_20230915
Publication date of data: 2023-11-20
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-11-07
Hierarchy level: Dataset