Estimating jaguar densities with camera traps: problems with current designs and recommendations

Tobler and Powell used extensive simulations and empirical jaguar data to expose how common camera-trap study designs produce biased or imprecise density estimates. They showed that arrays too small relative to jaguar home ranges, too few stations, or too short surveys yield unreliable results, and that spatially explicit capture-recapture is essential for sound inference. Their recommendations specified minimum array sizes, station numbers, spacing relative to movement scale, and capture targets needed for acceptable precision. The paper served as a corrective and design guide for the rapidly growing jaguar monitoring community, discouraging underpowered surveys whose results could mislead conservation. It is widely cited as the practical benchmark for designing camera-trap density studies of wide-ranging Neotropical cats.