Exploring the feasibility of unmanned aerial vehicles and thermal imaging for ungulate surveys in forests - preliminary results

Witczuk, Julia; Pagacz, Stanisław; Zmarz, Anna; Cypel, Maciej

doi:10.1080/01431161.2017.1390621

Cited by 122 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The flight plan depends on the size of the area, atmospheric conditions on the day of the flight and flight characteristics of the UAV. The trajectory of the PW-ZOOM flight was programmed with HORIZON mp software (MicroPilot, Stony Mountain, Canada) (see also Witczuk et al 2017). To stitch a complete map together, the image overlapping (forward and side lap) ranged at least 60% between adjacent image frames.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of fauna population changes on Penguin Island and Turret Point Oasis (King George Island, Antarctica) using an unmanned aerial vehicle

et al. 2018

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An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an alternative to manned aircrafts is an excellent, less invasive, safe tool, especially in sensitive polar regions. Here we used a fixed-wing UAV to collect data on seabird and pinniped populations in hardly accessible Antarctic areas. The implementation of an auto-piloted UAV equipped with a digital camera (Canon EOS 700D, 35 mm f/2.0 lens) allowed us to collect high-quality material applicable to a quantitative analysis of the fauna populations. A successful photogrammetric mission, at an altitude of 550 m above sea level, was accomplished during one Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight above hard-to-access Penguin Island and Turret Point Oasis (King George Island). Obtained selected RGB images were processed to generate a panoramic image stitch with resolution of 0.07 m ground sampling distance. A total of 4290 (SD = 33.08) breeding individuals of two penguin species, Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus), 426 (SD = 7.78) individuals of the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) and 6 individuals of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) were identified in both study areas. Additionally, 222 (SD = 2.0) individuals of the southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) and 76 (SD = 1.0) of the Antarctic shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps bransfieldensis) in the Turret Point area were recognized. The presented observations on the natural history of the investigated fauna together with the available literature may be useful in future research on population trends. A comparison with available historical data for both investigated areas suggests a decrease of 68.29% in both penguin species in the 1980-2016 period. The presented results confirmed that UAVs are useful for remote census work for Antarctic seabirds.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of fauna population changes on Penguin Island and Turret Point Oasis (King George Island, Antarctica) using an unmanned aerial vehicle

et al. 2018

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“…Local community leaders later suggested flying the drones at sunrise, when dogs look for the first rays of sunlight to warm up from the cold night and therefore leave roofed or covered areas, being able to be spotted easily from an UAV. In the infrared spectrum, it is possible to detect thermal signatures of animals in medium, broken and sparse canopy [46]. Infrared thermal imagery is therefore implementable in more various settings than the visible spectrum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Commonly called drones, they became a valuable tool in agricultural, environmental and wildlife monitoring [31]. Some studies used UAV to estimate population sizes of various animal species including sea birds [29,32], marine fauna [29,33], biungulates (red deer, roe deer, elk, wild boars, bison) [34], wolves [35] and marsupials [31]. Comparing to other counting methods, UAV’s advantage is the ability to count wildlife time efficiently in remote areas and in a standardized and reproducible way [35,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for free-roaming dog population size estimation

Warembourg

Berger-González

Álvarez³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Population size estimation is performed for several reasons including disease surveillance and control, for example to design adequate control strategies such as vaccination programs or to estimate a vaccination campaign coverage. In this study, we aimed at assessing the benefits and challenges of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to estimate the size of free-roaming domestic dog (FRDD) populations and compare the results with two regularly used methods for population estimations: a Bayesian statistical model based on capture-recapture data and the human:dog ratio estimation. Three studies sites of one square kilometer were selected in Petén department, Guatemala. UAV flight were conducted twice during two consecutive days per study site. The UAV’s camera was set to regularly take pictures and cover the entire surface of the selected areas. A door-to-door survey was conducted in the same areas, all available dogs were marked with a collar and owner were interviewed. Simultaneously to the UAV’s flight, transect walks were performed and the number of collared and non-collared dogs were recorded. Data collected during the interviews and the number of dogs counted during the transect walks informed a Bayesian statistical model. The number of dogs counted on the UAV’s pictures and the estimates given by the Bayesian statistical model, as well as the estimates derived from using a 5:1 human:dog ratio were compared to dog census data. FRDD could be detected using the UAV’s method. However, the method lacked of sensitivity, which could be overcome by choosing the flight timing and the study area wisely, or using infrared camera or automatic detection of the dogs. We also suggest to combine UAV and capture-recapture methods to obtain reliable FRDD population size estimated. This publication may provide helpful directions to design dog population size estimation methods using UAV.

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“…However they also find confusion with spurious warm sources (rocks etc) and the heat of the ground during the day (flights performed between 0700 and 1300 local time) making it difficult to distinguish animals from the ground. Witczuk et al (2017) survey populations of ungulates in forests using TIR. In this study they determine the best heights and time of day for flying the drone to get high signal-to-noise detections of the ungulates through trial and error.…”

Section: Broader Applications Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as yet there is no universally accepted approach for best practice in their use. Aerial surveys of populations of animals using TIR has been attempted by Burn et al (2009), Witczuk et al (2017) and Mulero-Pázmány et al (2014), however these groups report that analysing the large volume of data produced and counting and identifying animals by eye is a very time-consuming method of data analysis. Gooday et al (2018) also report several sources of confusion when it comes to reliably detecting and identifying animals with TIR, both drone-mounted and when handheld on the ground.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing observing strategies for monitoring animals using drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras

Burke

Rashman

Wich

et al. 2019

International Journal of Remote Sensing

102

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The proliferation of relatively affordable off-the-shelf drones offers great opportunities for wildlife monitoring and conservation. Similarly the recent reduction in cost of thermal infrared cameras also offers new promise in this field, as they have the advantage over conventional RGB cameras of being able to distinguish animals based on their body heat and being able to detect animals at night. However, the use of drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras comes with several technical challenges. In this paper we address some of these issues, namely thermal contrast problems due to heat from the ground, absorption and emission of thermal infrared radiation by the atmosphere, obscuration by vegetation, and optimizing the flying height of drones for a best balance between covering a large area and being able to accurately image and identify animals of interest. We demonstrate the application of these methods with a case study using field data, and make the first ever detection of the critically endangered riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) in thermal infrared data. We provide a web-tool so that the community can easily apply these techniques to other studies

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Exploring the feasibility of unmanned aerial vehicles and thermal imaging for ungulate surveys in forests - preliminary results

Cited by 122 publications

References 39 publications

Study of fauna population changes on Penguin Island and Turret Point Oasis (King George Island, Antarctica) using an unmanned aerial vehicle

Study of fauna population changes on Penguin Island and Turret Point Oasis (King George Island, Antarctica) using an unmanned aerial vehicle

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for free-roaming dog population size estimation

Optimizing observing strategies for monitoring animals using drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras

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