The cost-effectiveness of different attractants during camera trapping surveys has been seldom evaluated. To contribute in
filling this knowledge gap we (1) compare the effectiveness of a suite of attractants in detecting widely distributed mammals
in Europe and (2) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these attractants, by calculating the costs associated to reach a
specific monitoring objective. We conducted a large-scale field experiment across four study areas in central and northern
Italy, encompassing a variety of environments, from lowland forest to alpine beech forest. We focused on comparing the
following low cost and readily available attractants: sardines, peanut butter, a commercial lure and we used a camera
with no attractant as control, collecting data on a suite of small to large mammals. We found that for seven of our 13
target species detectability varied with the type of attractant used. Specifically, sardines proved to be the most effective
attractant for canids and the porcupine, peanut butter was most effective for mustelids but was avoided by the roe deer,
whereas the commercial lure was the most effective with red deer. Through a power analysis combined with a cost function
analysis we were able to show striking differences in the cost-effectiveness of the different methods, sometimes in
the order of magnitude of tens of thousands of euros, which strongly emphasizes the critical importance played by the
choice of whether to use an attractant or not and the type of attractant to be used.
