Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task?
Alpine and arctic bird populations have shown an unmistakable decrease over the last three decades, and the need for conservation is highly necessary. We investigated the use of five privately-owned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a non-invasive tool to determine the presence of rock ptarmigan (Lag...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228143 |
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doaj-404dd61f965546f0a484b4427a6653ed2021-03-03T21:25:43ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01151e022814310.1371/journal.pone.0228143Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task?Charlotte Holmstad ArnesenChristin Beate JohnsenJean-Marc CostanziFrank RosellAlpine and arctic bird populations have shown an unmistakable decrease over the last three decades, and the need for conservation is highly necessary. We investigated the use of five privately-owned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a non-invasive tool to determine the presence of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), through sniffing out faecal pellets, using a yes/no training regime. We carried out 36 double-blind experimental trials per dog and hypothesised that dogs could discriminate the rock ptarmigan from similar species, such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), western capercaillie (T. urogallus) and willow grouse (L. lagopus). Our dogs detected differences between the avian species with an average accuracy of 65.9%, sensitivity of 66.7% and specificity of 65.3%. We showed that privately-owned dogs have the potential to be used as biodetectors for conservational work within controlled laboratory conditions for declining species, but overall, only one dog was considered proficient enough. We concluded that dogs could be used as a non-invasive tool to detect the rock ptarmigan, and with further field training and testing, operate in the field for detection surveys.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228143 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen Christin Beate Johnsen Jean-Marc Costanzi Frank Rosell |
spellingShingle |
Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen Christin Beate Johnsen Jean-Marc Costanzi Frank Rosell Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen Christin Beate Johnsen Jean-Marc Costanzi Frank Rosell |
author_sort |
Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen |
title |
Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
title_short |
Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
title_full |
Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
title_fullStr |
Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
title_sort |
canines (canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (l. lagopus) in a yes/no task? |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2020-01-01 |
description |
Alpine and arctic bird populations have shown an unmistakable decrease over the last three decades, and the need for conservation is highly necessary. We investigated the use of five privately-owned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a non-invasive tool to determine the presence of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), through sniffing out faecal pellets, using a yes/no training regime. We carried out 36 double-blind experimental trials per dog and hypothesised that dogs could discriminate the rock ptarmigan from similar species, such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), western capercaillie (T. urogallus) and willow grouse (L. lagopus). Our dogs detected differences between the avian species with an average accuracy of 65.9%, sensitivity of 66.7% and specificity of 65.3%. We showed that privately-owned dogs have the potential to be used as biodetectors for conservational work within controlled laboratory conditions for declining species, but overall, only one dog was considered proficient enough. We concluded that dogs could be used as a non-invasive tool to detect the rock ptarmigan, and with further field training and testing, operate in the field for detection surveys. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228143 |
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