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Open Access

Correction

Correction: The challenge of monitoring elusive large carnivores: An accurate and cost-effective tool to identify and sex pumas (Puma concolor) from footprints

  • Sky Alibhai,
  • Zoe Jewell,
  • Jonah Evans

After this article [1] was published, concerns were raised that the software described in the article had not been made publicly available.

The PLOS ONE article [1] reports an application of a Footprint Identification Technique (FIT) algorithm for puma, but there is no specific puma software instantiation of FIT. The FIT software has been reported previously in the context of its development for monitoring other species [2–4], and is an add-in to commercial software JMP (JMP.com). This article [1] uses the same FIT code as for other species but incorporates variables to identify puma; the puma-specific variables are reported in Table 1 of [1]. Since the code was not newly developed for the PLOS ONE study it is not subject to the terms of the journal’s Software Sharing Policy.

The FIT process, including the underlying scripts, has been patented [5] and is not publicly available. However, the authors are happy to collaborate with interested researchers and will provide FIT free of charge provided those requesting the software receive free training from the authors on how to use it.

The article’s Competing Interests statement is updated to:

Authors SA and ZJ hold a patent for the Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), including the underlying algorithms and scripts (U.S. Patent No. 9,911,066, March 6, 2018).

References

  1. 1. Alibhai S, Jewell Z, Evans J (2017) The challenge of monitoring elusive large carnivores: An accurate and cost-effective tool to identify and sex pumas (Puma concolor) from footprints. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0172065. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172065 pmid:28273159
  2. 2. Jewell ZC, Alibhai SK, and Law PR (2001) Censusing and monitoring black rhino (Diceros bicornis) using an objective spoor (footprint) identification technique, J. Zool. 254: 1–16.
  3. 3. Alibhai SK, Jewell ZC and Law PR (2008) A footprint technique to identify white rhino Ceratotherium simum at individual and species levels. Endangered Species Research 4: 219–225. http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2008/4/n004p205.pdf
  4. 4. Jewell ZC and Alibhai SK (2013) Identifying Endangered Species from Footprints. The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Newsroom. https://doi.org/10.1117/2.1201212.004636
    • 5. Jewell Z and Alibhai S (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,911,066. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

      Citation: Alibhai S, Jewell Z, Evans J (2020) Correction: The challenge of monitoring elusive large carnivores: An accurate and cost-effective tool to identify and sex pumas (Puma concolor) from footprints. PLoS ONE 15(11): e0242584. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242584

      Published: November 12, 2020

      Copyright: © 2020 Alibhai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.