An experimental assessment of detection dog ability to locate great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) at distance and through soil.

Autor: Glover NJ; School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom.; Wessex Water, Bath, United Kingdom., Wilson LE; Conservation K9 Consultancy, Wrexham, United Kingdom., Leedale A; School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom., Jehle R; School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 Jun 07; Vol. 18 (6), pp. e0285084. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 07 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285084
Abstrakt: Detection dogs are increasingly used to locate cryptic wildlife species, but their use for amphibians is still rather underexplored. In the present paper we focus on the great crested newt (Triturus cristatus), a European species which is experiencing high conservation concerns across its range, and assess the ability of a trained detection dog to locate individuals during their terrestrial phase. More specifically, we used a series of experiments to document whether a range of distances between target newts and the detection dog (odour channelled through pipes 68 mm in diameter) affects the localisation, and to assess the ability and efficiency of target newt detection in simulated subterranean refugia through 200 mm of two common soil types (clay and sandy soil, both with and without air vents to mimic mammal burrows, a common refuge used by T. cristatus). The detection dog accurately located all individual T. cristatus across the entire range of tested distances (0.25 m- 2.0 m). The substrate trials revealed that the detection dog could locate individuals also through soil. Contrary to existing studies with detection dogs in human forensic contexts, however, detection was generally slower for T. cristatus under sandy soil compared to clay soil, particularly when a vent was absent. Our study provides a general baseline for the use of detection dogs in locating T. cristatus and similar amphibian species during their terrestrial phase.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Glover et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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