Resumen

BLAKE, John G  y  MOSQUERA, Diego. Camera trapping on and off trails in lowland forest of eastern Ecuador: does location matter?. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2014, vol.21, n.1, pp.17-26. ISSN 0327-9383.

Camera traps are increasingly important in studies of mammals throughout the world. Typically, cameras are placed along trails or other travel routes. Yet, species composition and photographic rate may dif­fer between cameras set along trails and those set off trails. We tested this idea in eastern Ecuador. Pairs of cameras were placed at 10 locations along narrow (< 1 m wide) trails in lowland forest and approximately 50 m away from trail sites in adjacent forest. Excluding people, there was little difference in total number of records between trail (333 photographs, 506 trap days) and off-trail sites (306 photographs, 509 trap days). Capture rates varied among locations (11 to 148/100 trap days on trails; 19 to 217/100 trap days off trails) and were not correlated between pairs of cameras on and off trails (r = 0.37, P = 0.29). People were only photographed along trails but capture rates of other species on trails were not correlated with numbers of people photographed at the same site (r = -0.10, P > 0.75). Twenty-three species were photographed, including 21 on trails and 22 off trails; Panthera onca was only photographed along trails whereas Tinamus major and Priodontes maximus were only photographed off trails. Species accumulation curves were similar for both sets of cameras; in both cases, curves approached an asymptote after about 200 records. Latency to first detection (LTD) varied from < 1 day (e.g., Mazama americana in trail and off-trail cameras) to 294 days (Procyon cancrivorus in on-trail cameras). Overall, LTD values were correlated between pairs of cameras on and off trails (rs = 0.66, P < 0.01); means did not differ between cameras on and off trails. Species composition varied among trap locations but trail and off-trail cameras did not form distinct groups based on species composition.

Palabras clave : Activity; Mammals; Photographic rate; Tropical forests; Yasuní.

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