Hairtrap efficacy for detecting mammalian carnivores in the tropics

Abstract

Direct studies of mammalian carnivores are challenging due to the animals' secretive nature and the high costs associated with their capture and handling. Use of noninvasive hair sampling to survey these reclusive species has great potential as an alternative, with wide applicability in ecology and conservation. Hairtrapping has been extensively used for focal studies of temperate mammals, but its use and applicability as a means to survey mammals in tropical environs has never been addressed. We evaluated the effectiveness. of 2 hairtrap types and 2 scents along an elevational gradient within El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (ECBR, Mexico) to detect presence of carnivores. Hairtraps that used roofing nails as a haircollecting surface collected more hairs and detected a greater number of species than did hairtraps that used velcro, strips. Different scent treatments (commercial freagrance and catnip oil) did not differ for these same variables. Of successful nail hairtraps, 60% collected >= 20 hairs (max. = 439), providing enough material for DNA analyses. Hairtrap surveys detected 74% of the potential target mammal species at ECBR with only 19 days of field effort. Developing countries have limited budgets for biodiversity monitoring and hairtraps compare favorably with other methods with a high costbenefit ratio. Hairtraps are inexpensive, portable, can be made with overthecounter materials, and can be successfully used to collect data applicable to population and genetic studies of tropical carnivores.