Feline and other mammals monitoring in Tres Mesas wind farm - Tamaulipas, Mexico

Study Extent

The geographic location of the eolic project is considered an important region between the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra de Tamaulipas. The site is located near the City of Llera Canales (municipal head). The Project has been developed within a plot area of 89,023 hectares.

Sampling

30 photo-trapping stations were installed, of which 13 were double stations, two cameras at each photo-trapping station placed one on each side of the road to identify some species at the individual level; a total of 43 camera traps were installed. The traps were installed on roads, trails, paths, and bodies of water where tracks, excrement, or any trace left by felids were observed. The calibration of these was performed with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 meters away from the point where the animals potentially present within the study area were estimated to transit and each camera was placed at a height of ~40 to 60 cm, which is ideal for medium and large mammal species. The separation between stations was ~1 km, a distance necessary to avoid overestimating the relative abundances of felids.

Method steps

1. The first step for the elaboration of the analyses will be the creation of the database obtained in the camera traps, for which the Renamer program is used, which creates efficient databases that allow the data to be used for further analysis. Once the files are renamed, the programs Data Organize and Data Analyze are used to generate output files for density estimation and activity pattern analysis. The HotSpotter program is used for identification at the individual level. Once identified at the individual level, the density is determined through analysis within the programming environment Rstudio version 4.0.3 (R Code Team, 2017) in the freely available software secr version 4.3.3.3.

1. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
2. Mammalia
   rank: class
3. Chordata
   rank: phylum
4. Artiodactyla
   rank: order
5. Carnivora
   rank: order
6. Lagomorpha
   rank: order
7. Didelphimorphia
   rank: order
8. Canidae
   rank: family
9. Cervidae
   rank: family
10. Didelphidae
    rank: family
11. Felidae
    rank: family
12. Leporidae
    rank: family
13. Mephitidae
    rank: family
14. Mustelidae
    rank: family
15. Procyonidae
    rank: family
16. Tayassuidae
    rank: family

Renewable projects Tres Mesas 3 (TM3) and Tres Mesas 4 (TM4) in Tamaulipas, Mexico.