Recomendaciones metodológicas para los censos de lobos marinos comunes, Otaria flavescens

Abstract

The estimation and monitoring of population trends are essential to understand the recovery and population dynamics of species that have been affected by humans. When population censuses are carried out for long periods of time, and especially if the species under consideration has wide distributional ranges, different working groups with different methods make these surveys. The aim of this work is to present methodological recommendations to carry out population censuses and abundance estimates of Otaria flavescens throughout its distribution. Our ultimate goal is that the present work will allow to systematize and standardize data gathering. In this way, the effort made will be comparable between areas and can be used in the long term to improve the knowledge and trend of recovering populations.