Description
Daily aggregated wildlife camera trap data from alpine regions in south-central Norway from 2011 to 2020. The data stems from several projects which have aimed to document the occurrence of Arctic fox in relation to its most common competitors and predators (red fox, wolverine, golden eagle and white-tailed eagle).
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 13,563 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Rød-Eriksen L (2023): Wildlife camera monitoring of a Norwegian alpine carnivore guild 2011-2020. v1.0. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Dataset/Samplingevent. https://ipt.nina.no/resource?r=alpine_camera11_20&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 69e0cd24-c934-45d4-afd3-a28fe3f37e92. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Norway.
Keywords
Samplingevent; fjellrev; kongeørn; rødrev; havørn; jerv; arctic fox; golden eagle; red fox; white-tailed eagle; wolverine; vulpes lagopus; aquila chrysaetos; vulpes vulpes; haliaeetus albicilla; gulo gulo; camera trap; alpine; Norway
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0482-4384
- Metadata Provider
- Point Of Contact
Geographic Coverage
The data has been collected within four major mountain areas in south-central Norway: Børgefjell (65°11′00″N 13°54′00″E), Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Lierne (64°13′00″N 13°06′33″E), Sylan-Kjølifjell-Forollhogna (62°40′45″N 10°47′30″E) and Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella (62°23′48″N 9°10′23″E).
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [62.282, 8.249], North East [65.42, 14.561] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
All positive camera trap observations were identified to species. Both the blue and white morph of the Arctic fox was detected, but aggregated to detection/non-detection of the species. Eagle observations were reviewed by experts for correct species classification.
| Species | Haliaeetus albicilla (White-tailed eagle), Aquila chrysaetos (Golden eagle), Gulo gulo (Wolverine), Vulpes lagopus (Arctic fox), Vulpes vulpes (Red fox) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2011-03-01 / 2020-05-05 |
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Project Data
The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) has monitored the endangered Arctic fox in Norway closely for the past 20 years. As part of several projects aimed to increase our understanding of Arctic fox distribution and population dynamics, as well as the interaction between Arctic fox and potential competitors and predators, wildlife camera monitoring at simulated carcasses was utilized as a non-invasive method from 2011. A total of 52 wildlife cameras were deployed in four mountain regions with documented occurrence of Arctic fox. The cameras were active from March to May each year, as this a time when the Arctic fox is highly active due to breeding and denning.
| Title | Monitoring of Arctic fox in alpine areas of south-central Norway |
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| Funding | Data collection was funded by the Norwegian Environment Agency (Ecosystem Børgefjell, grant no. 20087419) and the Scandinavian EU/InterReg-projects Felles Fjellrev I and II (grant no. 20200939). Parts of the image processing was done through the project ECOFUNC funded by the Norwegian Research Council (grant no. 244557/E50). |
| Study Area Description | The study was carried out within four mountain regions in south-central Norway; Børgefjell (65°11′00″N 13°54′00″E), Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Lierne (64°13′00″N 13°06′33″E), Sylan-Kjølifjell-Forollhogna (62°40′45″N 10°47′30″E) and Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella (62°23′48″N 9°10′23″E). Common characteristics of the study regions are that they represent historical breeding grounds for the Arctic fox (from the forest line and upwards), and that they all contain varying densities of resource competitors such as the red fox, and predators such as the wolverine, golden eagle and white-tailed eagle. Typical prey species for the carnivore guild include Norwegian lemming Lemmus lemmus, vole Microtus spp. and Myodes spp., mountain hare Lepus timidus, ptarmigan Lagopus spp. and reindeer Rangifer tarandus. Conservation actions, such as translocation of individuals from captive breeding, supplementary feeding and culling of competitors (red fox) were carried out in all regions except for Børgefjell (control area). |
| Design Description | Camera traps were placed semi-randomly (adjusted for topography) above the tree line, with an average of 10 kilometers between each camera, within each mountain region in 2011. Cameras were placed at the same location in each subsequent year. A total of 52 camera traps were utilized, and were active from approximately 15th of March to 15th of May each year, although with some variation in the number of active camera traps and the duration of trapping between years. Cameras were mounted on a wooden pole about 1.5 meters above the ground/snow level, aimed at the simulated carcass (bait). The carcass consisted of a frozen block of approximately 20 kilograms of scraps and trimmings from locally slaughtered reindeer. Cameras were controlled twice during the active period, and the simulated carcass was replenished after approximately three weeks. All cameras were set to a time lapse of 5 minutes. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
Camera traps were set to a 5 minute time lapse interval. Memory cards and batteries were checked by field personnel twice during the sampling period per year (once after three weeks, and then again after 4-5 weeks when the camera was deactivated). Memory cards were sent by mail to, or shared electronically with, the project owner. Images were then copied to a central data server with scheduled backups at NINA. Image processing was carried out by NINA personnel and students attached to related research projects.
| Study Extent | Sampling was carried out from March to May in each mountain region in each year. The region of Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella (62°23′48″N 9°10′23″E; 18 cameras) only had sampling for the first three years (2011-2013), whereas Sylan-Kjølifjell-Forollhogna (62°40′45″N 10°47′30″E; 7 cameras) was sampled from 2011 to 2019. The other two areas, Børgefjell (65°11′00″N 13°54′00″E; 17 cameras) and Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Lierne (64°13′00″N 13°06′33″E; 10 cameras), were sampled for the whole study period 2011-2020. |
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| Quality Control | Prior to the initial deployment of cameras, NINA developed a standard protocol for camera trap studies. The protocol included sections on how to prepare for the field work (camera configuration, equipment list, geographic information, handling of carcasses etc.) and how to correctly place the cameras (height above ground, angling towards carcass, direction of camera to avoid direct sunlight etc.) for best possible data quality. The protocol also included clear instructions on how to share the images with the project owner. Default equipment were either replaced immediately (if possible) or during the camera checks. During image processing, quality control was performed by doing double processing by two different people of randomly selected parts of the data. Any decrepancies were assessed and the data set corrected. The complete dataset was controlled again through an automated script during compilation and preparation for open publication. |
Method step description:
- The images stored in the central data server were processed by first applying a script (using the R language) to extract image metadata (filename, date/time, camera serial number, recorded temperature etc.). The resulting text files (CSV) were formatted to a predefined template used to manually process the images. Image processing included recording of both empty and non-empty images, where non-empty images were classified to observed species, as well as registering potential failed pictures (technical failures, snow/ice on camera lens or other failure that made species identification impossible). In addition, the status of the carcass was recorded as either present (available) or absent (consumed). All image metadata were then compiled and stored in a central SQLite database. During compilation, the quality of the data set was verified through checking that each metadata file was formatted uniformly, that data was recorded for the correct parameter, standardization of nomenclature, and verifying correct association between observations and geographical location. The final data set was then aggregated to daily detections/non-detections of each target species and formatted to fit the Darwin Core standard.
Additional Metadata
Parts of this data set have been utilized in Rød-Eriksen et al. (2022): https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13875
| Maintenance Description | The projects from which the data is collected have ended, and the dataset will not be updated |
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| Alternative Identifiers | https://ipt.nina.no/resource?r=alpine_camera11_20 |