- KOREAN
- P-ISSN2287-8327
- E-ISSN2288-1220
- SCOPUS, KCI
ISSN : 2287-8327
Where to spot: individual identification of leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) in South Korea
Abstract
Knowledge of abundance, or population size, is fundamental in wildlife conservation and management. Cameratrapping, in combination with capture-recapture methods, has been extensively applied to estimate abundance and density of individually identifiable animals due to the advantages of being non-invasive, effective to survey wideranging, elusive, or nocturnal species, operating in inhospitable environment, and taking low labor. We assessed the possibility of using coat patterns from images to identify an individual leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), a Class II endangered species in South Korea. We analyzed leopard cat images taken from Digital Single-Lense Relfex camera (high resolution, 18Mpxl) and camera traps (low resolution, 3.1Mpxl) using HotSpotter, an image matching algorithm. HotSpotter accurately top-ranked an image of the same individual leopard cat with the reference leopard cat image 100% by matching facial and ventral parts. This confirms that facial and ventral fur patterns of the Amur leopard cat are good matching points to be used reliably to identify an individual. We anticipate that the study results will be useful to researchers interested in studying behavior or population parameter estimates of Amur leopard cats based on capture-recapture models.
- keywords
- Leopard cat, Photo identification, Coat pattern, Image matching, Natural marking, Prionailurus bengalensis
Reference
Alonso RS, McClintock BT, Lyren LM, Boydston EE, Crooks KR. Mark-recapture and mark-resight methods for Estimating abundance with remote cameras: a carnivore case study. Allen BL, editor. PLoS One. 2015;10(3):e0123032.
Anderson CJR, Roth JD, Waterman JM. Can whisker spot patterns be used to identify individual polar bears? J Zool. 2007;273(4):333–9.
Anile S, Arrabito C, Mazzamuto MV, Scornavacca D, Ragni B. A non-invasive monitoring on European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris Schreber, 1777) in Sicily using hair trapping and camera trapping: does scented lure work? Hystrix. 2012;23(2):1.
Avgan B, Zimmermann F, Güntert M, Arıkan F, Breitenmoser U. The first density estimation of an isolated Eurasian lynx population in southwest asia. Wildlife Biol. 2014;20(4):217–21.
Bashir T, Bhattacharya T, Poudyal K, Sathyakumar S, Qureshi Q. Estimating leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis densities using photographic captures and recaptures. Wildlife Biol. 2013;19(4):462–72.
Boron V, Tzanopoulos J, Gallo J, Barragan J, Jaimes-Rodriguez L, Schaller G, Payán E. Jaguar Densities across human-dominated landscapes in Colombia: the contribution of unprotected areas to long term conservation. PLoS One. 2016;11(5):e0153973.
Burki S, Roth T, Robin K, Weber D. Lure sticks as a method to detect pine martens Martes martes. Acta Theriol (Warsz). 2010;55(3):223–30.
Caravaggi A, Banks PB, Burton AC, Finlay CMV, Haswell PM, Hayward MW, Rowcliffe MJ, Wood MD. A review of camera trapping for conservation behaviour research. Pettorelli N, Sollmann R, editors. Remote Sens Ecol Conserv. 2017;3(3):109–22.
Crall JP, Stewart C V., Berger-Wolf TY, Rubenstein DI, Sundaresan SR. HotSpotterpatterned species instance recognition. Proc IEEE Work Appl Comput Vis. IEEE; 2013;230–237.
Creel S, Creel NM. Lion density and population structure in the Selous Game Reserve: evaluation of hunting quotas and offtake. Afr J Ecol. 1997;35(2):83–93.
Cullen L, Abreu KC, Sana D, Dales AF. Jaguars as landscape detectives for the upper paraná River Corridor. Brazil. J Nat Conserv. 2005;3(April 2005):43–58.
Gompper ME, Kays RW, Ray JC, LaPoint SD, Bogan DA, Cryan JR. A comparison of non-invasive techniques to survey carnivore communities in Northeastern North America. Wildl Soc Bull. 2006;34(4):1142–51.
Gowans S, Whitehead H. Photographic identification of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus): sources of heterogeneity from natural marks. Mar Mammal Sci. 2001;17(1):76–93.
Halloran KM, Murdoch JD, Becker MS. Applying computer-aided photoidentification to messy datasets: a case study of Thornicroft’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti). Afr J Ecol. 2015;53(2):147–55.
Henschel P, Ray J. Leopards in African rainforests : survey and monitoring techniques. WCS Glob. Carniv. Progr. 2003.
Jenks KE, Chanteap P, Damrongchainarong K, Cutter P, Cutter P, Redford T, Lynam7 AJ, Howard J, Leimgruber P. Using relative abundance indices from camera-trapping to test wildlife conservation hypotheses - an example from Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. Trop Conserv Sci. 2011;4(2):113–131.
Jones JPG. Monitoring species abundance and distribution at the landscape scale. J Appl Ecol. 2011;48(1):9–13.
Karanth KU, Chundawat RS, Nichols JD, Kumar NS. Estimation of tiger densities in the tropical dry forests of Panna, Central India, using photographic capture–recapture sampling. Anim Conserv. 2004;7(3):285–90.
Karanth KUU, Nichols JD. Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures. Ecology. 1998;79(8):2852–62.
Karki JB, Pandav B, Jnawali SR, Shrestha R, Pradhan NMB, Lamichane BR, Khanal P, Subedi N, Jhala Y V. Estimating the abundance of Nepal’s largest population of tigers Panthera tigris. Oryx. 2013;FirstView(October 2012):1–7.
Kelly MJ. Computer-aided photograph matching in studies using individual identification: an example from Serengeti cheetahs. J Mammal. 2001;82(2): 440–9.
Linden DW, Fuller AK, Royle JA, Hare MP. Examining the occupancy–density relationship for a low-density carnivore. J Appl Ecol. 2017;54(6):2043–52.
Lynam AJ, Rabinowitz A, Myint T, Maung M, Latt KT, Po SHT. Estimating abundance with sparse data: tigers in northern Myanmar. Popul Ecol. 2009; 51(1):115–21.
Maffei L, Noss AJ. How small is too small? Camera trap survey areas and density estimates for ocelots in the Bolivian Chaco. Biotropica. 2008;40(1):71–5.
McCarthy KP, Fuller TK, Ming M, McCarthy TM, Waits L, Jumabaev K. Assessing estimators of snow leopard abundancE. J Wildl Manage. 2008;72(8):1826–33.
Mettouris O, Megremis G, Giokas S. A newt does not change its spots: using pattern mapping for the identification of individuals in large populations of newt species. Ecol Res. 2016;31(3):483–9.
Ministry of Environment. Wildlife protection and management act. ACT No. 15835 Rep. of Korea; 2011.
Nichols JD. Capture-Recapture Models. Bioscience. 1992;42(2):94–102.
Osterrieder SK, Kent CS, Anderson CJR, Parnum IM, Robinson RW. Whisker spot patterns: a noninvasive method of individual identification of Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea). J Mammal. 2015;96(5):988–97.
Park H, Lim A, Choi T-Y, Lim S-J, Park Y-C. Estimating population density of leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) from camera traps in Maekdo Riparian Park. South Korea. J For Environ Sci. 2017;33(3):239–42.
Qi J, Shi Q, Wang G, Li Z, Sun Q, Hua Y, Jiang G. Spatial distribution drivers of Amur leopard density in northeast China. Biol Conserv. Elsevier B.V.; 2015;191: 258–265.
Ross J, Brodie J, Cheyne S, Hearn A, Izawa M, Loken B, Lynam A, McCarthy J, Mukherjee S, Phan C, Rasphone A, Wilting A, Ross J, Brodie J, Cheyne S, Hearn A, Izawa M, Loken B, Lynam A, McCarthy J, Mukherjee S, Phan C, Rasphone A, Wilting A. Prionailurus bengalensis. IUCN Red List Threat. Species. 2015;2015.
Rovero F, Martin E, Rosa M, Ahumada JA, Spitale D. Estimating species richness and modelling habitat preferences of tropical forest mammals from camera trap data. PLoS One. 2014;9(7).
Royle JA, Young KV. A hierarchical model for spatial capture recapture data. Ecology. 2008;89(8):2281–9.
Russell RE, Royle JA, Desimone R, Schwartz MK, Edwards VL, Pilgrim KP, McKelvey KS. Estimating abundance of mountain lions from unstructured spatial sampling. J Wildl Manage. 2012;76(8):1551–61.
Seber GAF. The estimation of animal abundance and related parameters. New York, NY, USA: Hafner Press; 1973.
Sharma S, Dutta T, Maldonado JE, Wood TC, Panwar HS, Seidensticker J. Spatial genetic analysis reveals high connectivity of tiger (Panthera tigris) populations in the Satpura-Maikal landscape of Central India. Ecol Evol. 2013; 3(1):48–60.
Sirén A, Pekins P, Abdu P, Ducey M. Identification and density estimation of American Martens (Martes americana) using a novel camera-trap method. Diversity. 2016;8(4):3.
Soisalo MK, Cavalcanti SMC. Estimating the density of a jaguar population in the Brazilian Pantanal using camera-traps and capture-recapture sampling in combination with GPS radio-telemetry. Biol Conserv. 2006;129(4):487–96.
Steyer K, Simon O, Kraus RHS, Haase P, Nowak C. Hair trapping with valeriantreated lure sticks as a tool for genetic wildcat monitoring in low-density habitats. Eur J Wildl Res. 2013;59(1):39–46.
Tobler MW, Carrillo-Percastegui SE, Leite Pitman R, Mares R, Powell G. An evaluation of camera traps for inventorying large- and medium-sized terrestrial rainforest mammals. Anim Conserv. 2008;11(3):169–78.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations