Data from: Evaluating the practical feasibility of indigenous plant-based snares to reconcile rare species conservation and subsistence hunting
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Abstract
This dataset comprises measurements of the tensile strength of plant-based snare ropes from southeastern Cameroon, along with outcomes from snare deployments, together with R code to reproduce data preprocessing, statistical estimation, and visualisation. The deposit includes four CSV files and R scripts. The tensile strength test dataset (Plant_rope_strength_test.csv) contains records for 85 plant ropes (1 m each), including rope diameter, maximum load, an indicator of failure versus censoring, the number of fibre joint points, and drying condition. The rope breakage-time dataset (Trap_days.csv) includes 119 breakage observations and can be used for interval-censored survival analyses using the accompanying R workflow. The 2023 comparative deployment dataset (Snare_data_2023.csv) covers 100 snares (50 plant-based and 50 metal) and includes deployment duration, structural measurements, and counts of animal pass events during the deployment period. The 2025 structure–performance dataset (Snare_data_2025.csv) covers 60 plant-based snares (20 each in size classes s/m/l) and includes structural measurements, tensile force at deployment, trigger counts, and days_elapsed (time to rope breakage; missing values indicate that breakage was not observed during the monitoring period).
These data can be reused to evaluate how drying and rope diameter influence tensile strength, compare snare materials, reanalyse deployment performance metrics, and model breakage times under alternative survival distributions and statistical frameworks. No personally identifiable information is included.
Description of the data and file structure
These data were collected through field surveys and experimental work in southeastern Cameroon to evaluate whether traditional plant-based snares could serve as an alternative to metal wire snares. Specifically, we (i) conducted tensile strength tests on standardised 1-m plant ropes to quantify how rope diameter and drying condition influence maximum load, (ii) continuously monitored deployed plant-based snares to record time to rope breakage and compile data suitable for interval-censored survival analyses, and (iii) implemented comparative deployment experiments of plant-based and metal snares in 2023 and, in 2025, added detailed measurements of plant-snare structure while recording deployment duration, snare structure, trigger counts/activity metrics, and counts of animal pass events.
Files and variables
File: Plant_rope_strength_test.csv
Description: Tensile strength test data for plant-based ropes (N = 85; each rope standardised to 1 m). Records rope diameter, maximum load at failure, joint count, and rope condition at testing.
Variables- ID: Unique identifier.
- width: Rope diameter.
- kg: Maximum load applied during the tensile test.
- cut: Failure indicator (1 = rope broke during the test; 0 = did not break and was censored at the test limit).
- num_joint_point: Number of fibre joint points in the rope.
- rope_condition: Rope condition at testing.
File: Snare_analysis_2025.R
Description: R script to analyse 2025 plant-based snare data (Snare_data_2025.csv) using Bayesian regression (brms/cmdstanr). Fits (i) a gamma regression for tensile force (newton) as a function of snare structure (length_tree, dist_hole_tree, and size) and (ii) a logistic regression for rope breakage occurrence (is_cut) as a function of newton, length_tree, dist_hole_tree, and triggered_all, and produces effect plots.
File: Snare_and_tencil_strength_test_analysis_2023.R
Description: R script to analyse (i) rope tensile test data (Plant_rope_strength_test.csv) via Bayesian regression (brms), (ii) rope breakage timing data (Trap_days.csv) via interval-censored Weibull survival modelling (icenReg) and (iii) 2023 snare deployment data (Snare_data_2023.csv) via a beta-binomial model for pass-event rates, with accompanying visualisations.
File: Snare_data_2023.csv
Description: Comparative snare deployment dataset from 2023 (N = 100 snares; 50 plant-based and 50 metal). Includes deployment duration, a structural measurement, and counts of animal pass events during deployment.
Variables- ID: Unique identifier.
- trap: Snare identifier (e.g., PTxx for plant, ITxx for metal; as coded in the dataset).
- type: Snare type (Plant / Iron).
- days: Deployment duration.
- diameter_tree: Structural measurement of the pole used for the snare.
- pass: Count of animal pass events recorded during the deployment period.
File: Snare_data_2025.csv
Description: Plant-based snare structure and performance dataset from 2025 (N = 60 snares; size classes s, m, l, 20 each). Includes structural measurements, tensile force at deployment, activity metrics, pass events, and time to rope breakage.
Variables- ID: Unique identifier.
- tag: Snare identifier (e.g., PTSxx, PTMxx, PTLxx).
- size: Size class of the pole (s / m / l).
- width_tree: Diameter of the pole.
- dist_hole_tree: Distance from the hole to the pole tree.
- length_tree: Length of the pole tree.
- kgf: Tensile force measured at deployment in kilograms-force.
- newton: Tensile force at deployment converted to Newtons from kg.
- width_rope: Rope diameter.
- pass_animal: Count of animal pass events recorded during monitoring.
- triggered_no_animal: Count of trigger events without an animal capture.
- triggered_all: Total number of trigger events recorded during monitoring.
- days_elapsed: Observed time to rope breakage; missing values indicate that breakage was not observed during the monitoring period (right-censored).
File: Trap_days.csv
Description: Rope breakage timing observations for plant-based snares, used for interval-censored survival analysis. Breakage was checked at intervals (e.g., ~2 days), so the true breakage time lies within an interval preceding the recorded day.
Variables- ID: Unique identifier.
- trap: Snare identifier.
- days: Day on which breakage was observed; used as the right endpoint for interval-censoring (with an assumed inspection interval in the analysis script).
Code/software
The CSV files in this dataset can be viewed and analysed using R (RStudio recommended), which is free software. All scripts required to reproduce the analyses are executed in R. Bayesian modelling with brms relies on CmdStan (Stan) via cmdstanr, so CmdStan must be installed in advance. The main R packages loaded by the scripts are tidyverse, readr, tidyr, ggplot2, brms, cmdstanr, icenReg, msm, survival, and ggeffects.
The relationships among files and the analytical workflow are as follows. Snare_and_tencil_strength_test_analysis_2023.R reads Plant_rope_strength_test.csv (tensile strength test data for plant ropes), Trap_days.csv (time-to-rope-breakage data), and Snare_data_2023.csv (comparative deployment data for plant-based versus metal snares in 2023), and performs data preprocessing, model fitting (using brms and icenReg), and figure generation. Snare_analysis_2025.R reads Snare_data_2025.csv (structure and performance data for plant-based snares in 2025), and performs data preprocessing, model fitting (using brms), and effect-size plotting. Each script assumes that the CSV files are located in the same directory as the script (or that the working directory has been set appropriately).