Effectiveness of camera traps for quantifying daytime and nighttime visitation by vertebrate pollinators

1. Identification of pollen vectors is a fundamental objective of pollination biology. The foraging and social behavior of these pollinators has profound effects on plant mating, making quantification of their behaviour critical for understanding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of different pollinators for the plants they visit. However, accurate quantification of visitation may be problematic, especially for shy animals and/or when the temporal and spatial scale of observation desired is large. Sophisticated heat- and movement-triggered motion-sensor cameras (‘camera trapping’) provide new, underutilized tools to address these challenges. However, to date there has been no rigorous evaluation of the sampling considerations needed for using camera trapping in pollination research.
2. We measured the effectiveness of camera trapping for identifying vertebrate visitors and quantifying their visitation rates and foraging behaviour on Banksia menziesii (Proteaceae). Multiple s...