Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) studies have been used extensively in
ecology and evolution. While it is feasible to apply CMR in some
animals, it is considerably more challenging in small fast-moving
species such as insects. In these groups, low recapture rates can bias
estimates of demographic parameters, thereby, handicapping effective
management of wild populations. Here we use high-speed videos (HSV) of
the adults of two large dragonfly species that rarely land and, thus,
are particularly challenging for CMR studies. We specifically test
whether HSV, compared to conventional eye observations, increases the
“resighting” rates and improves the certainty of the estimates of
survival rate, and the effects of demographic covariates on survival
rates. We show that the use of HSV increases the number of resights
substantially. HSV improved our estimates of resighting and survival
probability which were either under- or overestimated with the
conventional observations. HSV increased the accuracy of the estimates
of effect sizes of important covariates (age and body size). Integrating
HSV in CMR of highly mobile animals is valuable because it is easy,
non-invasive, and has the potential to improve demographic estimates.
Hence, it opens the door for a wide range of research possibilities on
species that are traditionally difficult to monitor, including within
insects, birds, and mammals.
Parrot Free-Flight as a Conservation Tool
