Research overview: buffer-width and MMDM density correction methods

Before spatially explicit methods became standard, camera-trap density estimation relied on converting capture-recapture abundance into density by buffering the camera polygon with a strip, often half the mean maximum distance moved (MMDM) by photographed animals, to define an effective sampling area. This overview surveys these legacy correction methods, why the choice of buffer width strongly and arbitrarily affects density estimates, and how comparisons showed full versus half MMDM and home-range-based buffers yielding markedly different results from the same data. It discusses why such ad hoc corrections motivated the development of spatially explicit capture-recapture, which models the spatial detection process directly and removes the buffer ambiguity. The overview helps readers interpret the large historical literature built on buffer methods and understand the methodological shift toward more principled spatial density estimation.