Mobile application for wildlife capture-mark-recapture data collection and query

Abstract

Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) approaches are often used in the management and conservation of wildlife species and effective approaches to estimate populations rely on accurate datacollection techniques. Unfortunately, sampling errors can arise at several steps in the CMR process. We designed and applied a mobile application (app) for field-collected data from a CMR study on herpetofauna. Entering data into a digital format in the field using the mobile application eliminated timely steps to process handwritten data sheets and double-checking data entries. Applications were developed for mobile devices on the iOS and Android operating systems. Both platforms have similar user interactions via data entry on a touch screen using pre-programmed fields, checkboxes, drop-down menus, and keypad entry. Our mobile application includes features to insure collection of all measurements in the field through pop-up messages and can proof entries for valid formats. The application can assign unique numbers to newly captured individuals by querying the database for unused codes and eliminates the potential to assign 2 individuals with the same unique code. Technicians can query a database to view histories of previously captured animals from the field. During a 2-month project, we estimated that using the mobile application instead of manual data entry and proofing via data sheets reduced our total project time by 10%. To our knowledge, this is the first application developed for mobile devices for biologists using CMR techniques and could be developed for use in other areas of field data collection. Ó 2013 The Wildlife Society.

Reptile community responses to native and non‐native riparian forests and disturbance along two rivers in Arizona

“…We classified reptiles to species and assigned unique marks as in Waichman () to identify individuals. To reduce data‐entry errors, we recorded data using a mobile application designed by Bateman et al () for capture‐mark‐recapture studies.…”

PesTrapp mobile app: A trap setting application for real-time entomological field and laboratory study

“…Several mobile applications are utilised to monitor animal trap by embedded sensor 6,7 , analyse the images of pests on glue board 8 and monitor the capture-mark-recapture process 9 .…”

“…Several mobile applications are utilised to monitor animal trap by embedded sensor 6,7 , analyse the images of pests on glue board 8 and monitor the capture-mark-recapture process 9 . The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a mobile app named “Epi Info Vector Surveillance Application” to track and enter mosquito surveillance data and insecticide resistance bioassay testing 10 .…”

PesTrapp mobile app: A trap setting application for real-time entomological field and laboratory study

“…Several mobile applications have been utilised to monitor animal trap by embedded sensor (Loughlin, 2013;Eiran & Earle, 2017), analyse the images of pests on glue board (Freudenberg et al, 2019) and monitor the capturemark-recapture process (Bateman et al, 2013). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a mobile app named "Epi Info Vector Surveillance Application" to track and enter mosquito surveillance data and insecticide resistance bioassay testing (Global Health, 2017).…”