Faecal pellet count method: some evaluations of dropping detectability for Capreolus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Cervidae), Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Cervidae) and Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 (Mammalia: Leporidae)

• Published in: European zoological journal 2015-04, Vol.82 (2), p.231-237
• Main Authors: Lioy, S., Braghiroli, S., Dematteis, A., Meneguz, P. G., Tizzani, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capreolus capreolus; Cervidae; Cervus elaphus; dropping detectability; Faecal pellet count; GLM; Leporidae; Lepus europaeus; Mammalia; percentage of observation; visibility
• ISSN: 1125-0003; 2475-0255; 1748-5851; 2475-0263
• DOI: 10.1080/11250003.2014.963178

Faecal pellet count is an indirect census method used to estimate the density of an animal population. Factors that affect the accuracy and precision of this method are the defecation rate, the decay time and the detectability of the droppings. In this study, we analysed the influence of some variables on the detectability of droppings: (i) environmental variables, EV (vegetation type, grass height, meteorological conditions); (ii) subjective variables, SV (operator, subjective visibility); (iii) faeces-species related variables, SRV (Capreolus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758; Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 and Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778). The average values of dropping detectability, expressed as percentage of observations from the minimum detectability (0) to the maximum (1), were: 0.99 (SD = 0.07) for red deer faeces; 0.93 (SD = 0.16) for roe deer faeces; 0.89 (SD = 0.21) for European brown hare faeces. The red deer detectability value was statistically higher than the roe deer and European brown hare values (X 2  = 26.61, df = 2, p