title: Monitoring rarity: the critically endangered Saharan cheetah as a flagship species for a threatened ecosystem.
abstract: Deserts are particularly vulnerable to human impacts and have already suffered a substantial loss of biodiversity. In harsh and variable desert environments, large herbivores typically occur at low densities, and their large carnivore predators occur at even lower densities. The continued survival of large carnivores is key to healthy functioning desert ecosystems, and the ability to gather reliable information on these rare low density species, including presence, abundance and density, is critical to their monitoring and management. Here we test camera trap methodologies as a monitoring tool for an extremely rare wide-ranging large felid, the critically endangered Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki). Two camera trapping surveys were carried out over 2-3 months across a 2,551 km2 grid in the Ti-n-hağğen region in the Ahaggar Cultural Park, south central Algeria. A total of 32 records of Saharan cheetah were obtained. We show the behaviour and ecology of the Saharan cheetah is severely constrained by the harsh desert environment, leading them to be more nocturnal, be more wide-ranging, and occur at lower densities relative to cheetah in savannah environments. Density estimates ranged from 0.21-0.55/1,000 km2, some of the lowest large carnivore densities ever recorded in Africa, and average home range size over 2-3 months was estimated at 1,583 km2. We use our results to predict that, in order to detect presence of cheetah with p>0.95 a survey effort of at least 1,000 camera trap days is required. Our study identifies the Ahaggar Cultural Park as a key area for the conservation of the Saharan cheetah. The Saharan cheetah meets the requirements for a charismatic flagship species that can be used to "market" the Saharan landscape at a sufficiently large scale to help reverse the historical neglect of threatened Saharan ecosystems.
authors: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Laboratoire d'Ecologie et Environnement, Université de Béjaïa, Béjaïa, Algeria.
authors: Farid
authors: F
authors: Belbachir
authors: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Nathalie
authors: N
authors: Pettorelli
authors: Conservation Programmes, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Wacher
authors: Laboratoire d'Ecologie et Environnement, Université de Béjaïa, Béjaïa, Algeria.
authors: Amel
authors: A
authors: Belbachir-Bazi
authors: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom; Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, United States of America.
authors: Sarah M
authors: SM
authors: Durant
mesh_terms: D002612:Acinonyx; D000462:Algeria; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003889:Desert Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D011156:Population Density; D011235:Predatory Behavior
references: Biometrics. 1992 Mar;48(1):201-16
references: 1581485
references: Mol Ecol. 2011 Feb;20(4):706-24
references: 21214655
references: Environ Monit Assess. 2011 Aug;179(1-4):403-20
references: 20976548
references: Science. 2011 Jul 15;333(6040):301-6
references: 21764740
references: Nature. 2009 Dec 24;462(7276):1052-5
references: 20033047
references: Ecology. 2012 Dec;93(12):2590-9
references: 23431590
references: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2014 Feb;89(1):215-31
references: 23848599
references: Science. 2014 Oct 3;346(6205):79-81
references: 25278609
references: Science. 2012 Jun 15;336(6087):1379-80
references: 22700901