Replication data for: Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: Can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task?

This dataset consists of replication data for the study "Canines (Canis lupus familiaris) as biodetectors for conservation work: can they discriminate the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) from the willow grouse (L. lagopus) in a yes/no task"Article Abstract - Related PublicationAlpine and arctic bird populations have shown an unmistakable decrease over the last three decades, and the need for conservation is highly necessary. We investigated the use of five privately-owned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a non-invasive tool to determine the presence of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), through sniffing out faecal pellets, using a yes/no training regime. We carried out 36 double-blind experimental trials per dog and hypothesised that dogs could discriminate the rock ptarmigan from similar species, such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), western capercaillie (T. urogallus) and willow grouse (L. lagopus). Our dogs detected differences between the avian species with an average accuracy of 65.9%, sensitivity of 66.7% and specificity of 65.3%. We showed that privately-owned dogs have the potential to be used as biodetectors for conservational work within controlled laboratory conditions for declining species, but overall, only one dog was considered proficient enough. We concluded that dogs could be used as a non-invasive tool to detect the rock ptarmigan, and with further field training and testing, operate in the field for detection surveys.

本数据集包含了关于“犬类（Canis lupus familiaris）作为生物探测器在保护工作中的应用研究：‘犬类能否在是/否任务中区分岩雷鸟（Lagopus muta）与柳雷鸟（L. lagopus）’”的研究复制品。摘要 - 相关出版物：近三十年来，高山和北极鸟类种群呈现出明显的下降趋势，因此 conservation（保护）的需求变得尤为迫切。本研究旨在探讨使用五只私人拥有的犬类（Canis lupus familiaris）作为非侵入性工具，通过嗅辨粪便团块来判定岩雷鸟（Lagopus muta）的存在，采用是/否的训练模式。我们对每只犬进行了36次双盲实验，并假设犬类能够区分岩雷鸟与类似物种，如黑松鸡（Tetrao tetrix）、西部松鸡（T. urogallus）和柳雷鸟（L. lagopus）。我们的犬类在识别鸟类物种时，平均准确率达到65.9%，敏感性为66.7%，特异性为65.3%。研究表明，私人拥有的犬类在受控的实验室条件下，有潜力作为濒危物种的生物探测器，但总体而言，只有一只犬被认为足够熟练。我们得出结论，犬类可以用作非侵入性工具来检测岩雷鸟，并在经过进一步的实地培训和测试后，在野外进行检测调查。