Set Ahdrift: Applying Game Cameras To Drift Fences For Surveying Herpetofauna And Small Mammals

The use of game cameras by wildlife biologists and managers to survey wildlife, particularly medium- and large-bodied mammals, has increased dramatically. Previous attempts to survey small mammals and ectotherms have had limited detection success or were focused solely on a single species. We describe the Adapted-Hunt Drift Fence Technique (AHDriFT), which combines commercially available game cameras and traditional drift fences to survey reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. Across 4,502 trap-nights at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, USA (Jun 2014 to Jun 2015), we recorded images for 2,523 unique vertebrate detections (2% unidentifiable) averaging 0.56 unique triggers/night. Using AHDriFT enables long-duration surveys with high detectability while minimizing observer time. Guide-boards increased terrestrial vertebrate image capture at minimal cost. During 1 year of usage, no mortality was documented using this camera-trap system and field time was reduced by 95%, requiring only monthly visits of approximately 3 hr for 9 fence arrays to download images from the camera systems, compared with pitfall or funnel traps that require at least daily monitoring. © 2017 The Wildlife Society