Table 1. Optimal survey design for estimating occupancy with three levels of acceptable error, defined by the root mean squared error (RMSE).

For the purposes of this example we considered the weighting of cameras versus survey days to have the same cost. Raccoons are not included, as a reliable estimate could not be achieved due to the lack of data.

			RMSE 0.15		RMSE 0.10		RMSE 0.075
Species	Ψ	p	Sitesa× occasions	Total survey effort (days)	Sitesa× occasions	Total survey effort (days)	Sitesa× occasions	Total survey effort (days)
Spotted skunk	0.245	0.023	20 × 100	2000	30 × 100	3000	50 × 100	5000
Elk	0.585	0.024	20 × 80	1600	30 × 120	3600	60 × 100	6000
Mountain lion	0.600	0.030	20 × 80	1600	30 × 100	3000	60 × 80	4800
Coyote	0.861	0.031	10 × 60	600	20 × 80	1600	30 × 80	2400
Bobcat	0.970	0.040	10 × 40	400	10 × 60	600	10 × 80	800
Gray fox	0.400	0.063	20 × 40	800	30 × 40	1200	50 × 40	2000
Black bear	0.504	0.072	20 × 40	800	30 × 40	1200	50 × 40	2000
Virtual sp. 1	0.200	0.120	20 × 20	400	20 × 40	800	30 × 60	1800
Virtual sp. 2	0.400	0.l60	20 × 20	400	30 × 20	600	50 × 20	1000
Virtual sp. 3	0.600	0.120	20 × 20	400	30 × 40	1200	50 × 40	2000
Mule deer	0.925	0.141	10 × 20	200	10 × 20	200	20 × 20	400
Cottontail rabbit	0.925	0.190	10 × 20	200	10 × 20	200	20 × 20	400

Notes.

^aSites are the number of cameras and occasions are the number of survey days at each site.