Title
Monitoring Amur tiger populations: Characteristics of track surveys in snow
Author(s)
Hayward G.D., Miquelle D.G., Smirnov E.N., Nations C.
Published
2002
Publisher
Wildlife Society Bulletin
Abstract
We examined the efficacy of employing a track-count index to monitor trends in abundance of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) in the Russian Far East. Conservation of the Amur tiger depends upon region-specific information regarding population trends. A traditional tiger census technique has inherent logistical and theoretic constraints, but a logistically feasible and statistically rigorous alternative compatible with the historic tradition of winter track counts has not yet been developed. We used data collected during 434 surveys of foot routes conducted from 1995-1999 to examine characteristics of track counts that will influence monitoring design. Longevity of tiger tracks in snow was 7-8 days in January and February but only an average of 2 days in March. Route length and days since last snow were the 2 most significant design variables explaining variability in detection rate of tracks on survey routes. Variation in track counts observed from foot surveys 0.5 to 28 km long suggested that an efficient survey design would employ routes 10 to 15 km in length. Results of simulations examining power suggested that track counts could be employed as part of a system to monitor Amur tiger abundance given the critical assumption that changes in track counts reflected changes in tiger population size. A monitoring system employing 10 to 20 routes 12 to 15 km long, sampled twice each year, could provide over 80% power to detect a 10% annual decline in tiger tracks with a 20% chance of type I errors (a=0.20). Approaches to monitoring large carnivores with track counts usually have employed presence-absence surveys. The greater power to detect population declines that may be achieved through counts of tracks (rather than a presence-absence survey) led us to favor use of track counts to monitor tigers in the Russian Far East.
Keywords
conservation management; felid; monitoring; population estimation; species conservation; tracking; Russian Federation; Felidae; Panthera; Panthera tigris; Panthera tigris altaica

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