Count Surveys Research Articles

A survey of deep learning methods for density estimation and crowd counting

Abstract Accurately estimating the number of objects in a single image is a challenging yet meaningful task and has been applied in many applications such as urban planning and public safety. In various object counting tasks, crowd counting is particularly prominent due to its specific significance to social security and development. Fortunately, the development of the techniques for crowd counting can be generalized to other related fields such as vehicle counting and environment survey, if without taking their characteristics into account. Therefore, many researchers are devoting to crowd counting, and many excellent works have spurted out and significantly promote the development of crowd counting. However, one question we should consider is how far are we from solving the counting problem?. Limited by the costs of time and energy, we cannot analyze all algorithms. In this paper, we have surveyed 300+ works to comprehensively and systematically study the crowd counting models, mainly involving CNN-based density map estimation methods. Finally, according to evaluation metrics, we select the top three performers on their crowd counting datasets and analyze their merits and drawbacks. Through our analysis, we expect to make a reasonable inference and prediction for the future development of crowd counting, and meanwhile, it can also provide feasible solutions for the problem of object counting in other fields. We provide density maps and prediction results of some mainstream algorithms on the validation set of NWPU dataset for comparison and testing. Meanwhile, density map generation and evaluation tools are also provided. All the codes and evaluation results are made publicly available at https://github.com/gaoguangshuai/survey-for-crowd-counting.

African cichlid fishes: morphological data and taxonomic insights from a genus-level survey of supraneurals, pterygiophores, and vertebral counts (Ovalentaria, Blenniiformes, Cichlidae, Pseudocrenilabrinae).

The iconic freshwater cichlid fishes (Cichlidae) comprise about 1750 validly named species and hundreds more that are known, but not yet described and named. Cichlids are an important source of protein for millions of people on several continents, are model organisms in studies of evolution, speciation, ecology, development, behaviour and physiology and are popular as aquarium fishes. Yet, comparative studies of cichlid internal anatomy are rare. Even their osteology has not been taxonomically surveyed. The cichlid postcranial skeleton has been especially neglected. Here, I provide the first survey in cichlids of the considerable variation in numbers of vertebrae, supraneurals and dorsal- and anal-fin supports (pterygiophores), as well as the patterns with which the pterygiophores insert between the neural or haemal spines. The study includes some 1700 specimens of nearly 400 cichlid species. Focusing on the largest subfamily, the African cichlids or Pseudocrenilabrinae, the survey furnishes data from species in all but one of its 166 genera. Limited data from species in the other cichlid subfamilies (Etroplinae, Ptychochrominae and Cichlinae) and from the related leaffishes, Polycentridae, are also presented. Key examples of pterygiophore insertion patterns from throughout the range of variation are illustrated and discussed. Detailed analytical tables and all raw data are provided in supplementary files.A bizarre specialisation in Cyprichromis is noted, evidently for the first time. Uniquely in this Lake Tanganyikan genus, five to seven anal pterygiophores are abdominal in position, located anterior to the anal fin and inserting toward or between successive pairs of pleural ribs.Taxonomic changes: The most speciose tribe of African cichlids, currently known as Haplochromini, is correctly called Pseudocrenilabrini. Based chiefly on the molecular phylogenetic findings of other workers, I propose four pseudocrenilabrine subtribes, one occurring in rivers and three endemic to Lake Malawi. I also re-assign the Lake Tanganyikan tribe Tropheini as another subtribe of Pseudocrenilabrini, in line with numerous molecular studies placing tropheines firmly within this tribe. The remaining genera of Pseudocrenilabrini remain incertae sedis in this tribe pending clarification of their phylogenetic relationships.The character complex here surveyed is a promising source of taxonomically and phylogenetically informative characteristics distinguishing or uniting cichlid taxa at multiple hierarchical levels, from species through subfamily. This reference set of novel character data can also provide information for palaeontological studies of African cichlids. These attributes are skeletal features potentially available for study in well preserved fossils and may help determine their correct taxonomic placement.

A post‐processing framework for assessing BirdNET identification accuracy and community composition

Passively collected acoustic data have become increasingly common in wildlife research and have prompted the development of machine‐learning approaches to extract and classify large sets of audio files. BirdNET is an open‐source automatic prediction model that is popular because of its lack of training requirements for end users. Several studies have sought to test the accuracy of BirdNET and illustrate its potential in occupancy modelling of single or multiple species. However, these techniques either require extensive statistical knowledge or computational power to be applied to large datasets. In addition, there is a lack of comparisons of occupancy and community composition calculated using BirdNET and typical field methods. Here we develop a framework for assessing the accuracy of BirdNET using generalized linear mixed models to determine species‐specific confidence score thresholds. We then compare community composition under our model and another post‐processing approach to field data collected from co‐located point count surveys in northeastern Vermont. Our framework outperformed the other post‐processing method and resulted in species composition similar to that of point count surveys. Our work highlights the potential mismatch between accuracy and confidence score and the importance of developing species‐specific thresholds. The framework can facilitate research on large acoustic datasets and can be applied to output from BirdNET or other automatic prediction models.

Health Needs Assessment of Unhoused Youth in Charleston, South Carolina.

Over 35000 youth experience homelessness on any given night in the United States (US). Unhoused youth experience unique physical and mental health challenges and face barriers in every social determinant of health (SDoH), which may be amplified in the LGBTQ+population. The objective of this study was to define characteristics of the unhoused youth population and their utilization of healthcare to inform programs to meet their needs. Secondary analysis of data from the College of Charleston's YOUth Count survey was conducted, focusing on health-related characteristics, challenges, healthcare utilization, and SDoH of youth aged 18 to 25 experiencing homelessness in Charleston, SC. Almost three-quarters of respondents (74.6%) reported mental health challenges and 35% reported physical health challenges. A significantly higher proportion of those who engaged in survival sex were LGBTQ+. More than half (68.4%) visited the emergency department (ED) and 29.3% were admitted to the hospital in the past 12months. Housing status, safety, food insecurity, sexual orientation, prior foster care, and survival sex were all significantly associated with ED utilization. Housing status and survival sex were significantly associated with hospital admission. Addressing SDoH is essential to improving health outcomes and healthcare utilization among unhoused youth, particularly in the LGBTQ+population.

Time-series metagenomics reveals changing protistan ecology of a temperate dimictic lake

BackgroundProtists, single-celled eukaryotic organisms, are critical to food web ecology, contributing to primary productivity and connecting small bacteria and archaea to higher trophic levels. Lake Mendota is a large, eutrophic natural lake that is a Long-Term Ecological Research site and among the world’s best-studied freshwater systems. Metagenomic samples have been collected and shotgun sequenced from Lake Mendota for the last 20 years. Here, we analyze this comprehensive time series to infer changes to the structure and function of the protistan community and to hypothesize about their interactions with bacteria.ResultsBased on small subunit rRNA genes extracted from the metagenomes and metagenome-assembled genomes of microeukaryotes, we identify shifts in the eukaryotic phytoplankton community over time, which we predict to be a consequence of reduced zooplankton grazing pressures after the invasion of a invasive predator (the spiny water flea) to the lake. The metagenomic data also reveal the presence of the spiny water flea and the zebra mussel, a second invasive species to Lake Mendota, prior to their visual identification during routine monitoring. Furthermore, we use species co-occurrence and co-abundance analysis to connect the protistan community with bacterial taxa. Correlation analysis suggests that protists and bacteria may interact or respond similarly to environmental conditions. Cryptophytes declined in the second decade of the timeseries, while many alveolate groups (e.g., ciliates and dinoflagellates) and diatoms increased in abundance, changes that have implications for food web efficiency in Lake Mendota.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that metagenomic sequence-based community analysis can complement existing efforts to monitor protists in Lake Mendota based on microscopy-based count surveys. We observed patterns of seasonal abundance in microeukaryotes in Lake Mendota that corroborated expectations from other systems, including high abundance of cryptophytes in winter and diatoms in fall and spring, but with much higher resolution than previous surveys. Our study identified long-term changes in the abundance of eukaryotic microbes and provided context for the known establishment of an invasive species that catalyzes a trophic cascade involving protists. Our findings are important for decoding potential long-term consequences of human interventions, including invasive species introduction.BaNPxYigHXA7H5uqkH8sryVideo

Enhancing bird conservation in tropical urban parks through land sparing and sharing strategies: Evidence from occupancy data

Urban green spaces such as parks, play a vital role in relieving pressure on urban biodiversity. In Southeast Asia, urban park management often prioritises aesthetic appeal over urban biodiversity conservation. Management of wildlife habitat at the stand and landscape scales is necessary to support land-sharing and land-sparing conservation strategies in urban environments. To date, few studies have looked at the occurrence of urban birds in the context of land sharing and sparing strategies. We investigated how resident and migratory birds utilise urban parks based on stand-level habitat characteristics and landscape metrics. We conducted point count surveys at 49 points to estimate site occupancy and detection probability in 40 parks within highly urbanised Klang Valley, Peninsular Malaysia. Out of 90 species recorded, 14 species had more than 50 % site occupancy. The abundance of palm trees, percentage of shrub, and height of ground vegetation and woody trees positively influenced the occupancy of Black-naped Oriole, Javan Myna, House Crow, Oriental Magpie-Robin, and Yellow-vented Bulbul. While the number of woody trees and elevation negatively influenced the occupancy of Asian Glossy Starling, Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, and Common Myna. Our findings can contribute to the effective management of urban parks, considering both stand and landscape-level characteristics to support urban biodiversity, ultimately benefiting both resident and migratory bird populations. Our research emphasises the significance of implementing both land-sparing and land-sharing strategies in urban park management. By doing so, we can promote greater avian biodiversity, preserve diverse habitats for birds, and establish crucial ecological corridors within urban landscapes.

Bird Species Use of Bioenergy Croplands in Illinois, USA—Can Advanced Switchgrass Cultivars Provide Suitable Habitats for Breeding Grassland Birds?

Grassland birds have sustained significant population declines in the United States through habitat loss, and replacing lost grasslands with bioenergy production areas could benefit these species and the ecological services they provide. Point count surveys and autonomous acoustic monitoring were used at two field sites in Illinois, USA, to determine if an advanced switchgrass cultivar that is being used for bioenergy feedstock production could provide suitable habitats for grassland and other bird species. At the Brighton site, the bird use of switchgrass plots was compared to that of corn plots during the breeding seasons of 2020–2022. At the Urbana site, the bird use of restored prairie, switchgrass, and Miscanthus × giganteus was studied in the 2022 breeding season. At Brighton, Common Yellowthroat, Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Sedge Wren occurred on switchgrass plots more often than on corn; Common Yellowthroat and Dickcissel increased on experimental plots as the perennial switchgrass increased in height and density over the study period; and the other two species declined over the same period. At Urbana, Dickcissel was most frequent in prairie and switchgrass; Common Yellowthroat was most frequent in miscanthus and switchgrass. These findings suggest that advanced switchgrass cultivars could provide suitable habitats for grassland birds, replace lost habitats, and contribute to the recovery of these vulnerable species.

Harnessing Drones for Snow Leopard Conservation

Censusing snow leopard prey species like argali, ibex or blue sheep, is time-consuming, expensive, and challenging. We tested thermal-sensor-equipped drones to census ungulate populations in Mongolia’s Ikh Nart Nature Reserve. In 2019 and 2022 we used drones to detect wild ibex and argali. Here we report on 2022 findings: ~400 km along 5 fixed transects totaling forty-three missions, including several double count surveys. Drones detected 259 prey animals and 265 livestock; on average, 34% of all sightings were in areas obscured by topographic features from ground-based observers. Overall, tests reinforced the utility of drones for counting ungulates, along with highlighting important issues and future advances for supporting largely autonomous prey surveys. We recommend biologists build upon existing technology to attain an inexpensive, easy to use, and field ready set of equipment and procedures that can reliably improve or replace traditional walking or transect count methods for large prey species.

Comparison of environmental DNA and underwater visual count surveys for detecting juvenile Coho Salmon in small rivers

Abstract Objective This study compares the probability of detecting juvenile Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch using both environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques and underwater visual count (UVC) surveys in northern California rivers. Here, UVC surveys commonly have detection probabilities (p) surpassing 0.90, providing an ideal setting to examine the performance of newer eDNA methods. We also evaluate the potential for using eDNA concentrations to predict the count of Coho Salmon within pool habitats. Methods We conducted paired eDNA and UVC surveys in 96 pools across 25 stream reaches within the Smith River basin, California. Method-specific p and the effect of environmental covariates were estimated using multiscale occupancy modeling. We used generalized linear models to evaluate the relationship of fish counts to eDNA concentrations and habitat covariates. Result The eDNA and UVC methods showed a high degree of agreement in detecting the presence of Coho Salmon within a pool (93% agreement) and survey reach (80% agreement). Detection probabilities for eDNA (peDNA) and for UVC (pUVC) were similar and high at median levels of pool residual depth and contributing basin area (peDNA = 91%, pUVC = 89%). Contributing basin area (a proxy for discharge) had a strong, negative effect that was more pronounced for peDNA than for pUVC (e.g., in the largest basins, peDNA = 34% whereas pUVC = 77%). We did not find eDNA concentrations to be a good predictor of Coho Salmon counts in small pools. Conclusion This study demonstrates that eDNA methods yielded nearly identical results to UVC surveys in catchments <36 km2 and can provide a highly effective approach for determining the distribution of Coho Salmon. However, additional investigation is required before eDNA could be used to estimate relative abundance in small pools.

Assessment of butterflies diversity, and distribution in Ghamot National Park, Western Himalaya, Neelum valley, Pakistan

Biodiversity measures, species richness and species evenness. Species richness means the number of species present in designated area whereas evenness stands for relative abundance of each species. Butterflies are very important economically. They feed on nectar from flowers by using proboscis. Butterflies act as excellent bio indicator of health of natural ecosystem. The fauna in the study area lacks comprehensive documentation hence there has been no previous assessment of butterfly biodiversity. The study was conducted to estimate species richness, species evenness, and species diversity through a comparative analysis across different habitat types. The Pollard walk method, specifically a butterfly transects count and visual Surveys was used to collect specimen in Ghamot National Park divided into 8 localities. A total of 37 transects covering an area of 12.55 km 2 were established and observed on a monthly basis from June 2020 to July 2021. A collection of 211 specimens was obtained using various standard methods. In order to assess the butterfly population, diversity metrics including the Shannon-Wiener index, Shannon equitability index, Margalef index, and Simpson index were employed. The study documented a total of 539 individuals representing 16 species and 3 butterfly families in 8 different localities with varying habitats. The forest-dominated zones exhibited the highest abundance (n=266; 49.53%) and species richness (n=15; 93.75). Additionally, the forest zone demonstrated the maximum values for the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (3.77) and Simpson index (0.92), while the riparian zone displayed the lowest diversity (3.02) and Simpson index (0.89) among the four selected localities. Therefore, it is recommended that regular monitoring of the study area be undertaken to observe potential fluctuations in butterfly diversity. Continuous surveillance and comparative analysis of data from year to year are essential for identifying any shifts in butterfly populations

Diversity, Encounter Rate and Detection of Non-Volant Nocturnal Mammals on Two Malaysian Islands.

Nocturnal mammals constitute a crucial component of tropical faunal diversity, but not much is known about the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the habitat use and detectability of these species. We investigated which habitat and environmental variables impact the detectability of non-volant nocturnal arboreal mammals across varying habitat types at two tropical islands with different levels of anthropogenic development in Malaysia. We conducted night transect line and point count surveys following pre-existing paths in Penang Island and Langkawi Island between 2019 and 2020. We used a head torch with red filter and a thermal imaging device (FLIR) to enhance animal detection success. We calculated the encounter rates (individual km-1) for each species as a proxy for abundance. Overall, we detected 17 species, but did not find higher species diversity in intact forested environments compared to disturbed areas. Encounter rates of the most observed species were influenced by 'time after sunset' on the highly developed island of Penang, whereas on the rural island of Langkawi, detection was higher in sites with better canopy connectivity. Different species of non-volant nocturnal arboreal mammals use their respective habitats differently and thus, are differently impacted by varying levels of anthropogenic activities. Our results provided baseline data on the diversity, encounter rate, and detectability of these highly elusive species, which can also help to further improve methodologies for the detection of nocturnal wildlife.

Birds of the Burn: Avian Community and Functional Guild Variation Five Years Post-Fire in Warm–Dry Mixed Conifer, Southwest Colorado

Birds contribute to the trophic interactions within mixed conifer ecosystems and provide a suite of services, such as nutrient transport, seed dispersal, habitat creation, and insect regulation. Avian communities vary in response to the structure and composition of their habitat, which may be drastically altered by fire, the predominant disturbance of western mixed conifer forests. We conducted avian point count surveys during the peak breeding season, five years post-fire, across four burn severities (unburned, low, moderate, and high) within the 416 Fire perimeter, a 55,000-acre mixed-severity fire that burned near Durango, Colorado in 2018. Avian communities in each burn severity were evaluated for richness, diversity, differentiation, indicator species, and functional guild composition. Species assemblages were significantly different across all burn severities, excluding the low to moderate areas comparison, with differentiation driven by live tree and snag density. Avian species’ richness and diversity were not significantly different across burn severities, highlighting the importance of utilizing multivariate community analysis. Unburned and high-burn areas had significant variation in functional guilds and numerous indicator species. This study provides evidence of avian community differentiation by burn severity, suggesting that management practices promoting heterogenous stand structure in warm–dry mixed conifer will positively influence avian biodiversity.

A review of the status, threats and management priorities of a remnant population of Indus River dolphins in the Beas River, India

Abstract The Indus River dolphin (Platanista minor) is a severely threatened species of freshwater dolphin that occurs only in the lower Indus River system of Pakistan and India. The dolphin's range has declined by 80% since the 1870s, and total species abundance is estimated as approximately 2000 individuals. In 2007, a remnant population of Indus dolphins was discovered above Harike Barrage, in the Beas River in India, 600 km away from all other individuals of its species. This paper provides an overview of the conservation status of Indus dolphins in the Beas River, details the threats they face, and suggests priorities for their conservation and management. Between 2011 and 2022, 40 dolphin direct count surveys were conducted. Indus dolphins occur only in the lower third of the Beas River and reported counts have been from one to eight individuals. The data do not indicate an increase in abundance, and instead suggest a potential decrease; however, sightings of calves continue to be reported annually indicating reproduction is still taking place. Threats to the Beas River dolphin population include accidental entanglement in fishing gear, pollution, escapement downstream of Harike barrage, altered and depleted river flow regimes' and the effects of a very small population size. Urgent conservation measures are essential if this small, but important satellite population is to persist. Recommended management actions include the complete removal of fishing nets from dolphin habitat, reducing pollution, ensuring adequate river discharge to sustain aquatic ecology including dolphins, evaluating and monitoring dolphin movement through Harike barrage and into canals, and engaging riverside communities to protect dolphins. In addition, the possibility of conservation translocations to supplement this population with individuals from larger healthy populations elsewhere in the range of the species should be explored.

Habitat and species segregation of Strigiformes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

The order Strigiformes contains approximately 250 owl species distributed worldwide, and the majority of them live in forests. Although basic information is available on many owls, few have been studied in-depth; consequently, little is known about the role of vegetation in their lives. This study aimed to investigate Strigiformes in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest using point count surveys conducted from January 2018 to December 2019. Twelve points were sampled for 30 min/month, totaling 144 h. Data on vegetation structure were collected for analysis. The numbers of individuals and species were then estimated. Twenty-six individuals of four species were recorded: 12 Strix virgata, 6 Pulsatrix koeniswaldiana, 5 Megascops atricapilla, and 3 Megascops choliba. Strix virgata was associated with sites with typical mature forest characteristics, although it tolerated variation in some parameters (e.g., average canopy height). Pulsatrix koeniswaldiana was a generalist in terms of habitat characteristics, even when using edge areas. Megascops choliba was scarce within the sampled area and seemed to avoid mature forest. Megascops atricapilla occurred from sites with a lower canopy to more mature forest areas. Altogether, this study highlighted the importance of conserving forest fragments in the Atlantic Forest, which harbors considerable biodiversity, especially of owls.

Evaluation of an autonomous acoustic surveying technique for grassland bird communities in Nebraska.

Monitoring trends in wildlife communities is integral to making informed land management decisions and applying conservation strategies. Birds inhabit most niches in every environment and because of this they are widely accepted as an indicator species for environmental health. Traditionally, point counts are the common method to survey bird populations, however, passive acoustic monitoring approaches using autonomous recording units have been shown to be cost-effective alternatives to point count surveys. Advancements in automatic acoustic classification technologies, such as BirdNET, can aid in these efforts by quickly processing large volumes of acoustic recordings to identify bird species. While the utility of BirdNET has been demonstrated in several applications, there is little understanding of its effectiveness in surveying declining grassland birds. We conducted a study to evaluate the performance of BirdNET to survey grassland bird communities in Nebraska by comparing this automated approach to point count surveys. We deployed ten autonomous recording units from March through September 2022: five recorders in row-crop fields and five recorders in perennial grassland fields. During this study period, we visited each site three times to conduct point count surveys. We compared focal grassland bird species richness between point count surveys and the autonomous recording units at two different temporal scales and at six different confidence thresholds. Total species richness (focal and non-focal) for both methods was also compared at five different confidence thresholds using species accumulation curves. The results from this study demonstrate the usefulness of BirdNET at estimating long-term grassland bird species richness at default confidence scores, however, obtaining accurate abundance estimates for uncommon bird species may require validation with traditional methods.

Paired acoustic recordings and point count surveys reveal Clark's nutcracker and whitebark pine associations across Glacier National Park.

Global declines in tree populations have led to dramatic shifts in forest ecosystem composition, biodiversity, and functioning. These changes have consequences for both forest plant and wildlife communities, particularly when declining species are involved in coevolved mutualisms. Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a declining keystone species in western North American high-elevation ecosystems and an obligate mutualist of Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), an avian seed predator and disperser. By leveraging traditional point count surveys and passive acoustic monitoring, we investigated how stand characteristics of whitebark pine in a protected area (Glacier National Park, Montana, USA) influenced occupancy and vocal activity patterns in Clark's nutcracker. Using Bayesian spatial occupancy models and generalized linear mixed models, we found that habitat use of Clark's nutcracker was primarily supported by greater cone density and increasing diameter of live whitebark pine. Additionally, we demonstrated the value of performing parallel analyses with traditional point count surveys and passive acoustic monitoring to provide multiple lines of evidence for relationships between Clark's nutcracker and whitebark pine forest characteristics. Our findings allow managers to gauge the whitebark pine conditions important for retaining high nutcracker visitation and prioritize management efforts in whitebark pine ecosystems with low nutcracker visitation.

Signal Redesign at Intersection using IRC and Webster Method: A Case Study of Vadodara

Traffic congestion is a major issue for all the developing cities. Traffic congestion has emerged as one of the main challenges for engineers, planners in urban areas. Modern, social and economic structure shaped by car ownership and rapid growth in the rate of vehicles is main reason for traffic congestion. The project has been carried out in order to analyze and redesign the traffic signal at a fatehgunj post office circle, Baroda Gujarat in order to solve the problem of traffic congestion. Detailed volume count survey was carried out for the selected intersection by videography. The signal is redesigned by using Webster and IRC method. After redesigning the signal by both the methods highest cycle time amongst both the method will be adopted.

Should landscape variation in population status be assessed with individual‐ or population‐level indicators?

AbstractMonitoring trends in wildlife populations is essential to effective management. Evaluating only a single metric can be cost‐effective; however, how a given metric responds to environmental variation may differ from other population‐ or individual‐level metrics. Consequently, conclusions about the effect of environmental variation on a species should consider the relationship between different metrics. We investigated how population‐level metrics (occupancy and relative abundance) and an individual‐level metric (body condition) responded to landscape variation in 3 semi‐aquatic salamander species. In the summer of 2015 and 2016, we conducted repeated count surveys at 71 streams on the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, USA, actively counting and measuring salamanders. We estimated occupancy and abundance of larval and post‐metamorphic animals using community‐occupancy and community‐N mixture models, respectively. We estimated body condition of the most observed life stage for each species using a standardized mass index. All models included the same set of covariates for comparison. Occupancy and abundance responses for each life stage‐by‐species combination were positively correlated for 4 of 6 combinations, with salamander abundance responding to a larger suite of covariates. Body condition was not linked to covariates in the same fashion as population‐level metrics, although consistency across species was detected for 1 covariate, watershed size. Our results indicate that inter‐specific and inter‐life stage variation in evaluated metrics is present within salamanders of this study system. Management for populations of salamanders in the region should consider monitoring multiple response metrics, to capture both population‐ and individual‐level responses, as these may not always be correlated.

Comparison of in‐person and remote camera lek surveys for prairie grouse (Tympanuchus spp.)

AbstractIn‐person lek count surveys are commonly used for estimating population size and trends for prairie grouse. However, the emergence of noninvasive camera trap survey methods holds promise for more cost‐effective and precise estimates of lekking species. To evaluate the efficacy of using camera traps, we deployed a remote camera study at lekking grounds over 3 years in conjunction with in‐person surveys. Our objectives were to 1) develop an effective remote camera survey for greater prairie‐chickens (GRPC; Tympanuchus cupido) and sharp‐tailed grouse (STGR; T. phasianellus), 2) compare metrics of male detection, maximum male counts, and male abundance estimates derived from in‐person versus remote camera surveys, 3) assess lek activity over the survey season to inform survey timing, and 4) evaluate costs for each survey type. We found that in‐person surveys resulted in maximum male GRPC and STGR counts. The estimated number of male GRPC and STGR on leks were comparable between in‐person surveys and camera monitoring when accounting for detection probability with N‐mixture models. Camera traps constantly monitored leks over the season which provided daily and seasonal activity patterns of prairie grouse. Total cost of GRPC remote camera surveys was higher than in‐person surveys, but hourly cost was less ($0.77 vs. $160 per hour). Remote camera survey costs for GRPC were high because of time classifying photos which could be reduced by decreasing the amount of time remote cameras were operated or using automated classification software to remove blank photos. We believe the use of remote cameras could supplement in‐person surveys for future lek monitoring and aid future survey efforts by identifying yearly differences in activity and presence at leks inconsistently visited by birds.

Effects of forest management on private lands in West Virginia on Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea) and the avian community

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) supports private lands conservation projects across the United States to benefit imperiled focal wildlife species using conservation practices to restore habitat. The Cerulean Warbler Appalachian Forestland Enhancement Project (CWAFEP) was initiated in 2015 to help stabilize or reverse Cerulean Warbler population declines by using forest management to create or enhance breeding habitat on private lands in Appalachian focal areas. We evaluated Cerulean Warbler occupancy on CWAFEP sites treated using NRCS conservation practices to inform adaptive management strategies. We also assessed associated forest focal species’ occupancy and species richness of avian guilds to evaluate the effects of conservation practice implementation on the avian community. We conducted point count surveys at 194 locations on 21 private properties enrolled in the CWAFEP in West Virginia during May – July 2019 and 2020. We compared occupancy among four treatments: reference, pre-treatment, 1-year post-treatment, and 2 – 4 years post-treatment sites. To examine how vegetation structure changes among treatments affected occupancy, we also collected and included vegetation variables. Cerulean Warbler occupancy estimates were not different among treatments, suggesting that post-treatment study sites surveyed did not achieve their goal of increasing Cerulean Warbler occupancy. Cerulean Warbler occupancy decreased by 91 % as elevation increased from 200 to 800 m and increased by 397 % as sapling cover increased from 0 to 100 %. Occupancy for three forest focal species (Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Wood-pewee, and Scarlet Tanager) and species richness of four avian guilds also were not different among treatments. Thus, Cerulean Warbler occupancy and selected avian community demographics were not related to recent conservation practice implementation in the short-term (1 – 4 years post-treatment), but there are opportunities to improve NRCS conservation practice implementation for more effective Cerulean Warbler conservation. We suspect that the lack of differences in occupancy and species richness estimates was due to site selection related to ecoregion, small treatment areas, and challenges associated with private lands conservation efforts resulting in insufficient reduction in basal area. If NRCS conservation practices implemented through CWAFEP are going to help reverse Cerulean Warbler population declines, CWAFEP sites need to achieve the recommended basal area range of ∼ 9.2 – 20.7 m 2/ha (40 – 90 ft2/ac) during contract implementation. Our conclusions are critical to updating our knowledge for Cerulean Warbler best management practices and informing future regional conservation implementation.