Data from: Adaptive data collection strategies for spatial capture-recapture monitoring: Linking monitoring approaches to seasonal variation in density and space use

Effective monitoring of wildlife populations and their changes over time
is essential for guiding conservation strategies. For monitoring to fulfil
this role, large-scale and long-term resource commitments are required,
yet are frequently lacking. Consequently, site-based monitoring of key
species is often sporadic, inconsistent, and disconnected from wildlife
agencies, reducing the role of monitoring in adaptive management. To
overcome these challenges, Kenya’s wildlife management and research
agencies coordinated and participated in three surveys that were designed
to evaluate adaptable, search-encounter data collection strategies within
a spatial capture-recapture (SECR) framework for lions (Panthera leo)
under real-world monitoring constraints. Three surveys were conducted in
Nairobi National Park, which lies in Kenya’s capital. The first survey was
conducted by a multi-agency team of field biologists during the wet season
(2018). The second and third surveys were conducted in the dry season
(2021 and 2022) by trained wildlife enthusiasts and by field biologists
participating in a SECR training workshop, respectively. The resulting
estimates were used to assess their consistency with known spatiotemporal
patterns of variation in lion population density. Our results were
consistent with those reported in previous studies. Lion density
(lions/100 km2) in the park was higher during the dry season (2021: 26.16,
PSD=5.27; 2022: 28.05, PSD=5.18), compared to the wet season (2018: 16.77,
PSD=4.27) when prey are dispersed outside the park. Movement for all lions
(inferred by sex ratio-weighted spatial scale parameter, σw, in km) was
largest during the wet season (2018: 3.38, PSD=0.7) compared to the dry
season (2021: 1.38, PSD=0.2; 2022: 1.44, PSD=0.2). Lion activity centres
were more clustered on the southern boundary of the park during the wet
season compared to during the dry season. Our results support existing
evidence that human-lion conflicts are more likely to peak during the wet
season, thus providing key insights for the conservation of lions in this
ecosystem. Our study demonstrates that monitoring constraints need not
preclude adaptability, provided data collection evolves within a robust
framework that yields comparable estimates and informs management
interventions.