Fig. 2: Comparisons between UWA wildlife tourism rangers and the 32-location camera trap array nested within the same study area. | Communications Biology

Fig. 2: Comparisons between UWA wildlife tourism rangers and the 32-location camera trap array nested within the same study area.

From: Rangers on the frontline of wildlife monitoring: a case study on African lions in Uganda’s Nile Delta

Fig. 2

A illustrates costs associated with salaries, equipment, and training tied to each method (ranger search encounter survey vs camera traps). Rangers cost USD3259.77 to run during the 1603 trap night period. The main costs from the ranger-based estimate was salary top ups (an agreed amount additionally paid to rangers on top of their usual government salary) of USD832.18 (2xNikon Coolpix P90 purchased in Kampala, and 2xsecondhand iPhone 8 smart phones), and training of rangers USD832.17 for the salary of one field assistant to maintain camera traps, and USD227.60 for diesel associated with checking camera traps seven times. B shows the costs associated with a single usable lion detection for capture recapture-based analyses from ranger estimates and also for camera traps. We did not incorporate vehicle maintenance costs in our calculations due to (1) short duration of our study and (2) the rangers’ use of publicly owned tourism operator safari vehicles, the cost of which was borne by the operator. Full cost calculation details are provided in Appendix 4.

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