Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: all
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Camera trapping is an effective tool for cost-efficient monitoring of rare and elusive species over large temporal and spatial scales and is becoming an increasingly popular method for investigating wildlife communities and trophic interactions. Camera trapping research targeting rare and elusive species can be hampered by low detection rates. Consequently, researchers often employ attractants in an effort to increase detection without accounting for how attractants may differentially influence detection of species across trophic levels. We evaluated the influences of a commonly used non-species-specific olfactory lure (i.e., sardines) and sampling design on detection of four species (i.e., bobcat [Lynx rufus], coyote [Canis latrans], raccoon [Procyon lotor], and eastern cottontail [Sylvilagus floridanus]) that represented a range of foraging guilds in an agricultural landscape in southcentral South Dakota. We evaluated the influence of the lure at three temporal scales of detection (i.e., daily probability of detection, independent sequences per detection, and triggers per sequence). The influence of the lure on detection varied among trophic levels and across temporal scales. The lure tended to positively influence detection of coyotes and negatively influenced detection of bobcats. The lure also tended to positively influence detection of raccoon, an intermediate omnivore, and negatively influenced detection of eastern cottontail, an herbivorous prey.