Camera Trap Design Determines Taxa Detected at Carrion Sites

Camera traps are a widely used tool in ecology to study vertebrate species and are increasingly used to study invertebrate species. However, variations in camera trap design may influence species detection and, therefore, impact the accuracy of monitoring results. Understanding potential detection biases relative to different camera trap designs is essential to account for such biases, especially in cases where both vertebrates and invertebrates influence food webs. Carrion decomposition can be driven by both animal groups. While previous research has focused on improving the camera trap design for studying either vertebrates or invertebrates in other systems, it is largely unknown which design is most effective at capturing the full carrion food web across trophic levels. We conducted an experiment at Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, MS, USA, comparing two different camera trap designs (i.e., horizontal and vertical) across 17 carrion deployments to study whether the two camera designs produced different estimates of taxonomic richness, community composition, and taxonomic associations. Although the two camera designs produced similar taxonomic richness estimates, the community composition was significantly different. Notably, the vertical design was more likely to detect necrophagous invertebrates (i.e., blow flies [Calliphoridae] and carrion beetles [Silphidae]), while the horizontal design was more likely to detect white-tailed deer [Odocoileus virginianus], suggesting that a broader camera range increases detections of non-scavenger species. Our study demonstrates a detection bias based on camera trap design, therefore, pairing horizontal and vertical camera traps may increase the breadth of taxonomic groups captured interacting with the carrion food web.