A comparison of ranger patrol survey to camera trapping for assessment of terrestrial mammal diversity in Htanmanthi Wildlife Sanctuary, Myanmar

Context Mammals are good indicators of ecosystem health and producers of ecosystem services; thus, monitoring and assessing their diversity can provide foundational knowledge for future-proof conservation and management measures in a changing environment. Aims First, the study aimed to assess the effectiveness of different survey methods, i.e. camera trap survey (CTS), ranger patrol survey (RPS), and CTS + RPS, in monitoring the species richness of mammal populations. The second aim was to investigate the potential factors influencing the different survey methods. Methods In the survey conducted from 2014 to 2019, a systematic placement of camera traps (n = 769) was employed following a mark–recapture framework for CTS, whereas a total of 212 ranger patrols, covering 13,540.74 km, were carried out to observe different detection evidences of mammals at the study site for RPS. Key results Both CTS and RPS can record different mammal species (n = 65), considering their trophic characters, activity patterns, body size, and behavior, although each method comes with its own pros and cons. A negative binomial generalized linear model revealed that increasing the number of camera trap locations and average camera trap nights exhibited a higher likelihood of detecting a greater diversity of mammal species (P < 0.001) by using CTS. The likelihood of observing a greater number of mammal species was found to increase with the distance of patrol (P < 0.001) and the duration of patrol (P < 0.001) for RPS. Conclusion The use of CTS + RPS survey methods can be more effective than using either CTS or RPS individually. Implications Our findings may help improve the long-term mammal species monitoring system by guiding the selection of appropriate survey methods for informed future research and conservation efforts in HWS.