Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.3897/natureconservation.37.48208
Lizenz creative commons licence
Titel (primär) Performance of detection dogs and visual searches for scat detection and discrimination amongst related species with identical diets
Autor Grimm-Seyfarth, A.; Zarzycka, A.; Nitz, T.; Heynig, L.; Weissheimer, N.; Lampa, S.; Klenke, R.
Quelle Nature Conservation-Bulgaria
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
Department NSF
Heft 37
Seite von 81
Seite bis 98
Sprache englisch
Keywords American mink; Eurasian otter; Lutra lutra; Neovison vison; scat detection dogs; scat identification; species monitoring; wildlife detection dogs
Abstract Ecology often faces the problem that many threatened species are highly elusive but also conflict-laden.
Thus, proper monitoring data are inevitable for their conservation and management. Indirect monitoring
through scats is frequently used for such species, but scats of related species or species with similar diet are
often visually indistinguishable. Since genetic methods for species identification are time-consuming and
cost-intensive, a verification of the target species beforehand would be extremely beneficial in reducing effort
to the analysis of the target species only. Such species discrimination could be provided through speciesspecific scat detection dogs. Therefore, we evaluated the reliability of species-specific scat detection dogs for two mustelid species feeding on identical diets: the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and the American mink (Neovison vison), both of which are conflict-laden and increasing their populations and distribution ranges in central Europe. Their scats resemble each other in morphology and odour, exacerbating the differentiation even for experts. To evaluate whether detection dogs can reliably discriminate between related species feeding on similar diets and if their use would be beneficial, we tested their abilities against those of humans.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22499
Grimm-Seyfarth, A., Zarzycka, A., Nitz, T., Heynig, L., Weissheimer, N., Lampa, S., Klenke, R. (2019):
Performance of detection dogs and visual searches for scat detection and discrimination amongst related species with identical diets
Nat. Conserv.-Bulgaria (37), 81 - 98 10.3897/natureconservation.37.48208