Abstract
Alpine and arctic bird populations have shown an unmistakable decrease over the last three decades, and the need for conservation is highly necessary. We investigated the use of five privately-owned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a non-invasive tool to determine the presence of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), through sniffing out faecal pellets, using a yes/no training regime. We carried out 36 double-blind experimental trials per dog and hypothesised that dogs could discriminate the rock ptarmigan from similar species, such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), western capercaillie (T. urogallus) and willow grouse (L. lagopus). Our dogs detected differences between the avian species with an average accuracy of 65.9%, sensitivity of 66.7% and specificity of 65.3%. We showed that privately-owned dogs have the potential to be used as biodetectors for conservational work within controlled laboratory conditions for declining species, but overall, only one dog was considered proficient enough. We concluded that dogs could be used as a non-invasive tool to detect the rock ptarmigan, and with further field training and testing, operate in the field for detection surveys.
Highlights
Alpine and arctic bird populations have shown a global and unmistakable decrease over the last three decades [1, 2]
Canines as biodetectors for conservation work ptarmigan occupies habitats in higher altitudes than the willow grouse [4], but in arctic areas, the rock ptarmigan is found breeding at sea level [9]
Species-identified faecal pellets from 85 rock ptarmigans, 85 willow grouse, 20 western capercaillie and 20 black grouse were collected from spring 2015 to winter 2016
Summary
Alpine and arctic bird populations have shown a global and unmistakable decrease over the last three decades [1, 2]. Canines as biodetectors for conservation work ptarmigan occupies habitats in higher altitudes than the willow grouse [4], but in arctic areas, the rock ptarmigan is found breeding at sea level [9]. A possible non-invasive tool for faecal detection could be the use of dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) They have a highly sensitive nose and have been used as field assistants for humans in conservation, research and management for many years [21,22,23]. We investigated the potential to use dogs as a non-invasive conservational tool to determine the presence or absence of the rock ptarmigan through sniffing out faecal pellets in laboratory conditions. We hypothesised that the dogs would recognise the rock ptarmigan and discriminate it from the closely related willow grouse, as well as other related species such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) and western capercaillie (T. urogallus)
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