The majority of established survey protocols do not specifically require the recording of survey routes. Instead, they primarily focus on documenting animal sightings or occurrences. However, I firmly believe that survey routes hold significant importance as they serve as a measure of the actual survey effort. Even a route without any recorded animal encounters is valuable since it provides evidence of true absences.
Presently, capturing survey routes has become quite effortless, with more than a dozen freely available smartphone applications capable of efficiently logging both waypoints and track points in various formats such as .GPX, .kml, .txt, or .csv files. Consequently, I propose an update to the existing field survey protocols to incorporate this aspect of data collection.
I am eager to hear your thoughts and feedback on this suggestion. Any comments are highly welcomed and appreciated.
You don't need to record survey routes because they are usually placed randomly in the survey site :)
Thank you for your response. If the survey is conducted in a highly random manner, the specific routes may indeed be less significant. However, when the survey follows a predefined design, it becomes essential to document and verify adherence to the planned routes. Regardless, I firmly believe that recording survey routes carries great importance.
GPS readings at transect beginnings and ends can be taken, e.g.:
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The question is formulated very abstractly. The choice of methodology depends on the purpose of the study, on the properties of the object of research (a specific type of animal and the specifics of its behavior in a given period of time), as well as on the time, physical and financial capabilities of researchers, etc.
I'll give you a specific example. For long-term stationary work, there are some important requirements for obtaining comparable bird mapping results during the breeding season: 1) the accounting route must be linked to the terrain; 2) observations on the route are carried out from fixed, regularly located points (for example, every 50 m); 3) observation time at each point is strictly limited (for example, 5 minutes) and does not depend on the presence or absence of birds; 4) time and the conditions of accounting coincide with the phase of maximum activity of the animal; etc.
And of course, it is important to understand that the absence of registration of an animal does not always mean its real absence, i.e. the number of animal registrations in the register may not be proportional to their number, but proportional to their visibility. Obviously, we hear a singing male bird, and not a singing male - we do not hear, but this does not mean that it is not there ...))
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