How useful are transect surveys for studying carnivores in the tropical rainforests of Borneo
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Transect surveys are a widely used tool in the study of wildlife populations. Here, we \nreview different forms and objectives of transect surveys, discuss the need for and briefl y describe principles \nof good study design, and discuss various biological measurements employed in the study of carnivores in \nthe rainforests of Borneo. We discuss the conservation value of these measurements, underlying assumptions \nin using different approaches, and why these assumptions cannot often be met in the study of Bornean \ncarnivores. We argue that transect surveys are of little use as a stand-alone technique for carnivore studies in \nBorneo; numbers of encounters from genuinely random transects are too low to be amenable to quantitative \nanalysis, whereas observations from non-random transects are biased and cannot be used for drawing \nany sort of wider inference. We consider approaches in which transect surveys could be implemented in \nconjunction with other techniques. In general, limited conservation resources could be better spent on other \ntechniques and other measures that can usefully inform conservation.
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2502394585