Differential use of trails by forest mammals and implications for camera-trap studies in Belize

Harmsen and colleagues documented how different mammal species use trails versus off-trail forest to varying degrees, and showed that this differential trail use biases camera-trap data when stations are placed on trails to maximize captures. In Belize, jaguars and pumas readily traveled trails while some prey species avoided them, meaning trail-based cameras over-represent trail-using species and distort apparent community composition and relative abundance. The study demonstrated that placement strategy directly shapes inference and cautioned that capture rates reflect both abundance and trail affinity. By quantifying these biases empirically, it sharpened awareness of how station placement interacts with behavior. The paper is widely cited in discussions of camera-trap placement, detection bias, and the interpretation of capture rates for carnivores and their prey.