Wildlife Researchers Uses Arboreal Camera Traps to Study Elusive, Tree-Dwelling Animals

Many of us have resorted to technology to connect with other people and nature as a result of the epidemic.

Camera traps, which are stationary cameras like trail cams that capture still photos or videos of animals that pass their path, are becoming more popular as windows into the daily lives of birds, mammals, insects, and other creatures.

The research was published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Arboreal Camera Traps

Jennifer Moore, who conducted a recent review study on the method's next evolution: arboreal camera traps, said, "Wildlife researchers have been utilizing video traps to catalog flora and wildlife for decades."

"Ground-based camera traps have been used for a long time, but arboreal video traps are a more recent development. They capture what's going on at the tree canopy level, "Moore, a postdoctoral associate in the UF/IFAS department of animal ecology and conservation, explained his findings.

Wildlife biologists studying animal species that spend their lives in the trees benefit greatly from a canopy-level view.

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Tree-Dwelling Creatures

Moore, whose current study focuses on animal protection in Rwanda's national parks, said, "Sometimes we don't even know a species is in an area until we capture it on video up in the trees."

Moore said, "And you can't conserve something you don't know is there."

The study's authors discovered that wildlife researchers have been employing arboreal video traps for nearly 30 years. However, their use has grown substantially in recent years, based on a review of the scientific literature.

"The increase has been exponential," said Tremaine Gregory, a conservation scientist and co-author of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation and Sustainability research.

Advantages

"Arboreal camera traps have several advantages. For one thing, they allow us to observe species that would be virtually difficult to see from the ground, even with binoculars, if we were looking up, "Gregory stated his opinion. "They're also less intrusive than the usual technique of animal surveys, which involves walking transects across the environment. Finally, they allow us to better document wildlife at night, which is important because many of the creatures that dwell in the woods are nocturnal."

However, like with many new technologies, camera trapping has a high learning curve, according to the study's authors.

"Camera traps provide a lot of benefits, but there are a few frequent blunders that individuals make. We outline several best practices in our work to assist researchers in avoiding these problems, "Moore remarked.

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The study's 18 authors also offer special mini-guides on issues related to arboreal camera traps, such as how to mount cameras and how to deal with interference from animals in the canopy. Best procedures for correctly placing cameras in trees are also included in the mini-guides.

"These best practices may also be beneficial for wildlife enthusiasts who want to set up a camera trap in their own backyards," Gregory noted.

Nest Cameras and Promoting Awareness

Nest cams trained on the nests of species like ospreys, typically placed on the tops of towering urban structures, were some of the first usages of camera traps in urban settings. In addition, live camera feeds of animals in their most natural settings may now be found on sites like YouTube.

Moore stated, "Camera traps are an excellent instrument for raising public awareness about the environment and conservation activities."

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