Flaws in a method commonly used in censuses of tigers and other rare wildlife put the accuracy of such surveys in doubt, a new study published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution suggests.
A team of scientists from the University of Oxford, Indian Statistical Institute, and Wildlife Conservation Society have exposed inherent shortcomings in the ‘index-calibration’ method that means it can produce inaccurate results.
Amongst recent studies thought to be based on this method is India’s national tiger survey conducted in January 2015 that claimed a surprising but welcome 30 per cent rise in tiger numbers in just four years.
The team urges conservation practitioners to guard against these sources of error, which could mislead even the best conservation efforts, and suggests a constructive way forward using alternative methods of counting rare animals that avoid the pitfalls of the index-calibration approach.
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