Camera traps have become an important tool in wildlife monitoring. However, an issue in interpreting their data in statistical analyses of population densities, demography or behaviour is that the probability of detecting the target animals and their behaviours may vary depending on environmental and methodological factors. A specific problem is the type of flash used in the camera trap, as animals may react differently to different flash types and change their avoidance or habituation behaviour accordingly over time. Here, we provide the first systematic test of the impact of flash type in studies of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), based on an analysis of behavioural responses to white, standard infrared and black flashes during 900 camera trap deployments in the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Northern Black Forest. The results revealed that both deer species were more likely to react to standard infrared than to black flash, but trigger delays prevented comparisons to white flash. Red deer reacted more frequently to camera traps than did roe deer, and responses were more common in the Northern Black Forest than in the Bavarian Forest National Park, where hunting is severely restricted. Contrary to our expectations, camera trapping rates of free‐ranging deer did not significantly decline over time for any flash type or species. Despite the lack of evidence for avoidance behaviour, we recommend the use of black flash for behavioural studies of deer populations to minimize the risk of introducing a source of disturbance whereas infrared and white flash are equally suitable for determinations of demographic parameters.

中文翻译：

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照相机陷阱闪光类型对马鹿和ro鹿行为反应和诱捕率的影响

相机陷阱已成为野生生物监测的重要工具。但是，在人口密度，人口统计学或行为的统计分析中解释其数据时，一个问题是检测到目标动物及其行为的可能性可能会根据环境和方法学因素而变化。一个具体的问题是相机陷阱中使用的闪光灯类型，因为动物可能会对不同的闪光灯类型做出不同的反应，并随着时间的流逝而相应地改变其避免或适应行为。在这里，我们提供了第一个系统的闪光灯类型对马鹿（Cervus elaphus）和ro（Capreolus capreolus）影响的系统测试），基于对巴伐利亚森林国家公园和北部黑森林900次相机陷阱部署期间对白色，标准红外和黑色闪光的行为响应的分析。结果表明，这两种鹿对标准红外光的反应比对黑闪光的反应更可能，但是触发延迟阻止了与白闪光的比较。马鹿对照相机陷阱的反应比ro更频繁，并且在北部黑森林比在严格限制狩猎的巴伐利亚森林国家公园更常见。与我们的预期相反，对于任何闪光灯类型或种类，自由放养的鹿的相机诱捕率并没有随时间显着下降。尽管缺乏避免行为的证据，