Rooney, B., Kays, R., Cove, M. V., Jensen, A., Goldstein, B. R., Pate, C., ... & Lesmeister, D. B. (2025). SNAPSHOT USA 2019–2023: The First Five Years of Data From a Coordinated Camera Trap Survey of the United States. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 34(1), e13941.
Abstract
SNAPSHOT USA is a multi-contributor camera trap survey designed to survey mammals across the United States. The growing Snapshot dataset is intended for tracking wildlife populations’ responses to changes in land use, land cover, and climate across spatial and temporal scales. Here we present the SNAPSHOT USA 2022 dataset, the results of the fourth national camera trap survey. Data were collected across 132 camera trap arrays and consisted of 2,160 camera sites from 44 states. The effort equaled 94,175 camera trap-nights and resulted in 223,743 observations of free-ranging mammals, birds, and humans. Of these, 172,241 were wild mammals identified to species-level. Sampling effort, represented by the number of camera trap-nights, varied between camera trap arrays with a minimum of 127 nights, maximum of 2,534 trap-nights, median of 605 nights, and mean of 713 ±406 nights. Snapshot USA aims to sample multiple ecoregions and disturbance levels, although the ratio of camera trap arrays to ecoregion size varies significantly (0.49-3.27 arrays per 100,000 km2), emphasizing the need to amplify sampling effort by further recruiting and retaining contributors, particularly in the western US. There are no copyright restrictions, and please cite this paper when using these data, or a subset of these data, for publication. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.