Using Raspberry Pi microcomputers to remotely monitor birds and collect environmental data

McBride, Wesley J.; Courter, Jason R.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2019.101016

Cited by 14 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Furthermore, its remote monitoring capabilities can help reduce potential experimental errors, mitigate human observer biases and minimise disturbances that could otherwise lead to changes in local environmental conditions or a (stress) response in experimental animals (e.g. Gurdita et al., 2016; Lendvai et al., 2015; McBride & Courter, 2019; Singh et al., 2019). The large number of interfaces and broad connectivity of the Raspberry Pi enable the development of solutions that provide a highly affordable alternative to expensive research equipment that many researchers do not have the budget for (Dolgin, 2018), such as operant conditioning devices, plant phenotyping systems and confocal microscopes (Maia Chagas et al., 2017; Stanton et al., 2020; Tausen et al., 2020).…”

Section: Why Use the Raspberry Pi?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2018) developed a special plant growth cabinet (Growcab) that uses the Raspberry Pi to help control light quality, intensity and photoperiod to optimise speed breeding parameters. McBride and Courter (2019) and Philson et al. (2018) automatically acquired temperature, wind speed and humidity of the micro‐climates around birdfeeders in the field, and, using a manual sensor connected to a Raspberry Pi, Bardunias et al.…”

Section: Overview Of Applications Across the Biological Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Broad‐scale applications of the Raspberry Pi: A review and guide for biologists

Jolles

2021

Methods Ecol Evol

142

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1. The field of biology has seen tremendous technological progress in recent years, fuelled by the exponential growth in processing power and high-level computing, and the rise of global information sharing. Low-cost single-board computers are predicted to be one of the key technological advancements to further revolutionise this field.2. So far, an overview of current uptake of these devices and a general guide to help researchers integrate them in their work has been missing. In this paper I focus on the most widely used single-board computer, the Raspberry Pi, and review its broad applications and uses across the biological domain.3. Since its release in 2012, the Raspberry Pi has been increasingly taken up by biologists, in the laboratory, the field and in the classroom, and across a wide range of disciplines. A hugely diverse range of applications exists that ranges from simple solutions to dedicated custom-build devices, including nest-box monitoring, wildlife camera trapping, high-throughput behavioural recording, large-scale plant phenotyping, underwater video surveillance, closed-loop operant learning experiments and autonomous ecosystem monitoring. Despite the breadth of its implementations, the depth of uptake of the Raspberry Pi by the scientific community is still limited. 4. The broad capabilities of the Raspberry Pi, combined with its low cost, ease of use and large user community make it a great research tool for almost any project. To help accelerate the uptake of the Raspberry Pi by the scientific community, I provide detailed guidelines, recommendations and considerations, and 30+ step-by-step guides on a dedicated accompanying website (http://raspb erryp i-guide.github.io). I hope this paper will help generate more awareness about the Raspberry Pi among scientists and thereby both fuel the democratisation of science and ultimately help advance our understanding of biology, from the micro-to the macro-scale.

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Section: Why Use the Raspberry Pi?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of Applications Across the Biological Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad‐scale applications of the Raspberry Pi: A review and guide for biologists

Jolles

2021

Methods Ecol Evol

142

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“…Agricultural, forest and ecological scientists have also been active in this emerging field and at the forefront of developing new measurement and monitoring technologies. For example, Raspberry Pi based systems have been developed for cost-effective remote monitoring of plant growth chambers Accepted Article (Grindstaff et al, 2019), automatic weed detection (Rajaa Vikhram et al, 2018) and to record observational and environmental data at avian feeding stations (McBride and Courter, 2019). To the best of our knowledge only one previous study has demonstrated the potential of a Raspberry Pi for hemispherical canopy images in forests (Kirby et al, 2018).…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

A Raspberry Pi‐based camera system and image processing procedure for low cost and long‐term monitoring of forest canopy dynamics

2021

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“…These technologies have allowed greater scope for the development of purposebuilt cameras and for addressing specific research questions (Allan et al, 2018;Greenville & Emery, 2016;Johnston & Cox, 2017;Jolles, 2021). The increasing popularity of these bespoke units is not only driven by their comparative flexibility in programmable settings, but also by the reduced costs and by the cameras being combined with other sensors, for example, temperature loggers (McBride & Courter, 2019). Do-it-yourself, self-assembly cameras can be produced more cheaply than commercially available models; for example, Cox et al (2012) calculated that their bespoke system ("System One") costs ~33% less than a comparable prebuilt unit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raspberry Pi nest cameras: An affordable tool for remote behavioral and conservation monitoring of bird nests

Hereward

Facey

Sargent

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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1. Bespoke (custom-built) Raspberry Pi cameras are increasingly popular research tools in the fields of behavioral ecology and conservation, because of their comparative flexibility in programmable settings, ability to be paired with other sensors, and because they are typically cheaper than commercially built models.2. Here, we describe a novel, Raspberry Pi-based camera system that is fully portable and yet weatherproof-especially to humidity and salt spray. The camera was paired with a passive infrared sensor, to create a movement-triggered camera capable of recording videos over a 24-hr period. We describe an example deployment involving "retro-fitting" these cameras into artificial nest boxes on Praia Islet, Azores archipelago, Portugal, to monitor the behaviors and interspecific interactions of two sympatric species of storm-petrel (Monteiro's storm-petrel Hydrobates monteiroi and Madeiran storm-petrel Hydrobates castro) during their respective breeding seasons.3. Of the 138 deployments, 70% of all deployments were deemed to be "Successful" (Successful was defined as continuous footage being recorded for more than one hour without an interruption), which equated to 87% of the individual 30-s videos.The bespoke cameras proved to be easily portable between 54 different nests and reasonably weatherproof (~14% of deployments classed as "Partial" or "Failure" deployments were specifically due to the weather/humidity), and we make further trouble-shooting suggestions to mitigate additional weather-related failures.4. Here, we have shown that this system is fully portable and capable of coping with salt spray and humidity, and consequently, the camera-build methods and scripts could be applied easily to many different species that also utilize cavities, burrows, and artificial nests, and can potentially be adapted for other wildlife monitoring situations to provide novel insights into species-specific daily cycles of behaviors and interspecies interactions.

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Using Raspberry Pi microcomputers to remotely monitor birds and collect environmental data

Cited by 14 publications

References 19 publications

Broad‐scale applications of the Raspberry Pi: A review and guide for biologists

Broad‐scale applications of the Raspberry Pi: A review and guide for biologists

A Raspberry Pi‐based camera system and image processing procedure for low cost and long‐term monitoring of forest canopy dynamics

Raspberry Pi nest cameras: An affordable tool for remote behavioral and conservation monitoring of bird nests

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