Volunteer-run cameras as distributed sensors for macrosystem mammal research

摘要

Variation in the abundance of animals affects a broad range of ecosystem processes. However, patterns of abundance for large mammals, and the effects of human disturbances on them are not well understood because we lack data at the appropriate scales. We created eMammal to effectively camera-trap at landscape scale. Camera traps detect animals with infrared sensors that trigger the camera to take a photo, a sequence of photos, or a video clip. Through photography, camera traps create records of wildlife from known locations and dates, and can be set in arrays to quantify animal distribution across a landscape. This allows linkage to other distributed networks of ecological data.