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Namibian Wildlife Surveys archive

This archive of reports of wildlife surveys in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to recent and historical data on wildlife populations
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife survey reports in Namibia

Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife surveys are critical to determine the health of wildlife populations and determine trends over time to guide conservation and management actions. 

Wildlife surveys are done for different species using methods that are suited to counting them (e.g. by air or road) in their natural habitats. Such surveys need to be repeated over time to detect long-term trends and inform conservation managers. The Namibian government, non-governmental organisations and private reserves all conduct regular surveys covering different parts of Namibia and targeting different species. This archive will thus serve as a repository of our collective knowledge of the trends and status of a variety of species occurring throughout Namibia.

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Displaying results 1 - 3 of 3
Gilbert NA, Clare JD, Stenglein JL, Zuckerberg B 2020. Abundance estimation of unmarked animals based on camera-trap data. Conservation Biology 35 (1) 88-100

The rapid improvement of camera traps in recent decades has revolutionized biodiversity monitoring. Despite clear applications in conservation biology, camera traps have seldom been used to model the abundance of unmarked animal populations. The goals of this review are to summarize the challenges facing abundance estimation of unmarked animals, present an overview of existing analytical frameworks, and provide guidance for practitioners seeking a suitable method.

Martin MJ, Gridley T, Roux J-P, Elwen SH 2020. First abundance estimates of Heaviside's (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii) and Dusky (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) dolphins off Namibia using a Novel Visual and Acoustic Line Transect Survey . Frontiers in Marine Science

Knowledge of a population’s abundance is of primary importance for conservation management. However, robust estimates of abundance are often difficult to obtain, especially for cetaceans which spend most of their lives submerged. Cetacean abundance is commonly estimated using aerial or vessel-based line transect surveys and distance sampling methods. During 2012–2014, the first line transect surveys to estimate cetacean abundance were conducted in Namibian waters.

Longden EG, Elwen SH, McGovern B, James BS, Embling CB, Gridley T 2020. Mark-recapture of individually distinctive calls-a case study with signature whistles of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) . Journal of Mammalogy 101 (5) 1289-1301

Robust abundance estimates of wild animal populations are needed to inform management policies and are often obtained through mark–recapture (MR) studies. Visual methods are commonly used, which limits data collection to daylight hours and good weather conditions. Passive acoustic monitoring offers an alternative, particularly if acoustic cues are naturally produced and individually distinctive. Here we investigate the potential of using individually distinctive signature whistles in a MR framework and evaluate different components of study design.

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