An Unexpected Benefit from Drone-Assisted Fecal Sample Collection: Picking Up Subsurface Poop After It Floats to the Surface

Baird, Robin W.; Lerma, Jordan K.; Cornforth, Colin J.; Wood, Kimberly A.

doi:10.1578/am.48.6.2022.565

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Also, Yamato et al [70] used UAV-based photogrammetry methods to detect dugong feeding traits in intertidal seagrass beds. Live recording using UAVs can also be a useful tool to assist in the search for strandings in certain places [147] or faecal plumes for sample collection [104].…”

Section: Other Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Marine Mammal Research: A Review of Current Applications and Challenges

Álvarez-González,

Suarez-Bregua,

Pierce

et al. 2023

Drones

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Research on the ecology and biology of marine mammal populations is necessary to understand ecosystem dynamics and to support conservation management. Emerging monitoring tools and instruments offer the opportunity to obtain such information in an affordable and effective way. In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become an important tool in the study of marine mammals. Here, we reviewed 169 research articles using UAVs to study marine mammals, published up until December 2022. The goals of these studies included estimating the number of individuals in populations and groups via photo-identification, determining biometrics and body condition through photogrammetry, collecting blow samples, and studying behavioural patterns. UAVs can be a valuable, non-invasive, and useful tool for a wide range of applications in marine mammal research. However, it is important to consider some limitations of this technology, mainly associated with autonomy, resistance to the marine environment, and data processing time, which could probably be overcome in the near future.

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Section: Other Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Marine Mammal Research: A Review of Current Applications and Challenges

Álvarez-González,

Suarez-Bregua,

Pierce

et al. 2023

Drones

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“…Fecal plumes of wild cetaceans can be identified by observation when following behind pods of cetaceans, by using specially trained scent detection dogs to find floating whale feces and through the use of drones (Ayres et al, 2012; Baird et al, 2022; Rolland et al, 2006). Fecal samples are typically collected with a dip net, container, or bag and contain significant amounts of seawater (Hunt et al, 2013).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of cetacean morbillivirus in dolphin feces and the potential application for live cetacean health monitoring

West,

Silva‐Krott,

Clifton

et al. 2023

Marine Mammal Science

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Cetacean mortality resulting from infectious disease is significant. Viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections have been identified as causes of death from many regions of the world, with infectious disease responsible for up to 60% of deaths in stranded cetaceans when quantified according to natural and anthropogenic causes from isolated areas (Cuvertoret-Sanz et al., 2020;Diaz-Delgado et al., 2018). Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) has been a leading cause of death in single and mass stranding events occurring worldwide since the 1980s (Cunha et al., 2021;Cuvertoret-Sanz et al., 2020;Marutani et al., 2022). All that is known of CeMV infections in free-ranging cetaceans comes from necropsy and cause of death investigations on stranded animals (Van Bressem et al., 2014), sampling of cetaceans harvested by indigenous hunters (Nielsen et al., 2000), serology on odontocetes sampled during capture release

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“…An alternative to capture can be blubber sampling of live free-ranging animals through dart biopsy, which is less invasive, but it allows only for a narrow range of analyses [3]. Complex new techniques for the collection of samples from live animal, such as blow [4][5][6] or excrement [7,8] collection by drones, have been developed to gather information by non-invasive means, even though they require large efforts from the research teams.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison between Sampling Techniques for Virological Molecular Analyses: Dolphin Morbillivirus and Herpesvirus Detection from FTA® Card and Frozen Tissue

Si,

Tucciarone,

Cecchinato

et al. 2023

Viruses

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Stranded animals offer valuable information on marine mammal physiology and pathology; however, the decomposition state of the carcasses and lack of a rigorous cold chain for sample preservation can sometimes discourage diagnostic analyses based on nucleic acid detection. The present paper aims at evaluating the reliability of FTA® card tissue imprints as an alternative matrix to frozen tissues for virological analyses based on biomolecular methods. Given the contribution of Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) to strandings and the increase of herpesvirus detection in cetaceans, these two pathogens were selected as representative of RNA and DNA viruses. Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) and herpesvirus presence was investigated in parallel on tissue imprints on FTA® cards and frozen tissues collected during necropsy of dolphins stranded in Italy. Samples were analysed by nested RT-PCR for DMV and nested-PCR for herpesvirus. Only one animal was positive for herpesvirus, hampering further considerations on this virus. DMV was detected in all animals, both in FTA® card imprints and tissue samples, with differences possibly related to the decomposition condition category of the carcasses. Tissue sampling on FTA® cards seems a promising alternative to frozen tissues for biomolecular analyses, especially when ensuring adequate storage and shipment conditions for frozen tissues is difficult.

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An Unexpected Benefit from Drone-Assisted Fecal Sample Collection: Picking Up Subsurface Poop After It Floats to the Surface

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Marine Mammal Research: A Review of Current Applications and Challenges

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Marine Mammal Research: A Review of Current Applications and Challenges

Detection of cetacean morbillivirus in dolphin feces and the potential application for live cetacean health monitoring

Comparison between Sampling Techniques for Virological Molecular Analyses: Dolphin Morbillivirus and Herpesvirus Detection from FTA® Card and Frozen Tissue

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