An empirical evaluation of camera trap study design: how many, how long and when?

Kays and colleagues used large multi-site camera-trap datasets to empirically assess how the number of cameras, deployment duration, and timing affect the precision and reliability of estimates for species richness, occupancy, and detection. Rather than relying solely on simulation, they leveraged real data across many projects to derive general guidelines, such as how trap-nights accumulate species and how detection effort translates into adequate occupancy data. The findings give practitioners evidence-based targets for designing surveys that meet their objectives without wasting effort. By grounding design recommendations in extensive empirical results, the paper became an authoritative reference for planning camera-trap studies and is widely cited when justifying sampling effort and deployment schedules.