Pairing Noninvasive Surveys with Capture-Recapture Analysis to Estimate Demographic Parameters for Dendrobates auratus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from an Altered Habitat in Costa Rica

• Main Authors: Michael V. Cove, R. Manuel Spínola
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2014-02-01
• Series: Phyllomedusa: Journal of Herpetology
• Subjects: Amphibian populations; Capture-recapture; Noninvasive surveys; Photographic identification; Robust design
• Online Access: https://www.revistas.usp.br/phyllo/article/view/73945

Amphibian populations are in decline worldwide. Monitoring programas are important, but many studies use invasive techniques to handle, mark, and identify individuals. We recommend a noninvasive technique in which individuals can be identified from photographs basedon individual markings for capture-recapture analyses. As a case study, we examined the population dynamics of dendrobates auratus at a highly altered habitat in northern Costa Rica. We applied the robust design to the capture-recapture data from the photographs of individual frogs at two 25-m transects, a parking lot and a gravel walkway. From these data, we estimated parameters for survival, emigration, immigration,abundande, and capture probability. The observed mean density estimate of 2.62+-0.60 individuals (CI=1-4) per 100 m2 is the first statistically rigorous estimate for this species in altered habitats. These results suggest that this species might be suited to occur in human-altered habitats and may be less susceptible to population declines than previously suggested.Our noninvasive methodology to obtain robust abundance and demographic parameter estimates is also applicable to citizen-science surveys for a variety of taxa of amphibians and reptiles that are individually identifiable.