Using a Portable Reader for Non-invasive Detection of PIT-tagged Skinks Under Coverboards

摘要

A variety of methods exist for uniquely marking animals for mark-recapture studies. Due to its directness and accura-cy, the mark-recapture method is an effective technique used to assess demographic parameters and life history and be-havioral data such as density, survivorship, growth rate, and individual patterns of space use and social behavior (Fox and Shipman 2003; Hokit and Branch 2003; Tinkle et al. 1993). For lizards such as North American skinks, which are often se- cretive, delicate, cryptically colored, and difficult to capture, demographic studies can be problematic and produce in- complete and unsatisfactory results due to lack of recaptures (Cavalieri 2010; Somma 1985). Coverboards are the most reli- able way to repeatedly observe such skinks (Cavalieri 2010; Sutton et al. 1999), but the success of actual capture using this method depends more on prowess than other tech- niques such as passive trapping. Thus, the family Scincidae, with the exception of a few species (Cooper 1999; Cooper and Vitt 1989, 1993; Fitch 1954), has remained an under-studied taxon in North America. Due to the difficulty of attaining re- captures and the risk of stress or injury to the lizard during hand capture, we strove to develop an alternative methodol- ogy to augment relocations of marked individuals.