A picture is worth a thousand data points: an imagery dataset of paired shrub-open microsites within the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Issue 1 (27th September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Noble, Taylor J.; Lortie, Christopher J.; Westphal, Michael; Butterfield, H. Scott
• Is Part Of: GigaScience. Volume 5:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 7
• Publication Date: 2016-09-27
• Subjects: Blunt-nosed leopard lizard -- Camera trapping -- Carrizo plain national monument -- Ephedra californica -- Facilitation -- San Joaquin desert -- San Joaquin kit fox -- San Joaquin valley -- San Luis Obispo county; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Research -- Periodicals; Biology -- Research -- Periodicals; Medical sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Database management -- Periodicals; 570.285
• DOI: 10.1186/s13742-016-0145-2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2047-217X

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Carrizo Plain National Monument (San Joaquin Desert, California, USA) is home to many threatened and endangered species including the blunt-nosed leopard lizard ( Gambelia sila ). Vegetation is dominated by annual grasses, and shrubs such as Mormon tea ( Ephedra californica ), which is of relevance to our target species, the federally listed blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and likely also provides key ecosystem services. We used relatively nonintrusive camera traps, or trail cameras, to capture interactions between animals and these shrubs using a paired shrub-open deployment. Cameras were placed within the shrub understory and in open microhabitats at ground level to estimate animal activity and determine species presence. Findings: Twenty cameras were deployed from April 1st, 2015 to July 5th, 2015 at paired shrub-open microsites at three locations. Over 425, 000 pictures were taken during this time, of which 0.4 % detected mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles including the blunt-nosed leopard lizard. Trigger rate was very high on the medium sensitivity camera setting in this desert ecosystem, and rates did not differ between microsites. Conclusions: Camera traps are an effective, less invasive survey method for collecting data on the presence or absence of desert animals in shrub and open microhabitats. A more extensive array of cameras within an arid region would thus be an effective tool to estimate the presence of desert animals and potentially detect habitat use patterns.