Biodiversity loss is one of the driving factors in ecosystem change, on par with climate change and human development. When one species, especially a large predator, disappears from an area, other populations will be affected, sometimes changing entire landscapes.
Biodiversity loss is one of the driving factors in ecosystem change, on par with climate change and human development. When one species, especially a large predator, disappears from an area, other populations will be affected, sometimes changing entire landscapes.
In recent years, there have been numerous calls for coordinated global monitoring networks to understand and mitigate the effects of ecosystem change and biodiversity loss around the world. A new study led by Lindsey Rich, who recently completed her doctorate in wildlife conservation in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, demonstrates that camera traps are one of the most effective methods of collecting this type of data.
The study was published online in Global Ecology and Biogeography.
Rich, along with researchers from universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations all over the world, compiled camera-trap data from 12 countries to evaluate the interchange between fine- and broad-scale processes impacting 96 species of mammalian carnivores, ranging from Arctic foxes to Sumatran tigers.
Read more at Virginia Tech
