Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands
Abstract Surveying seabirds in polar latitudes can be challenging due to sparse human populations, lack of infrastructure and the risk of disturbance to wildlife or damage to habitats. Counting populations using un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a promising approach to overcoming these difficultie...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 2023-05-15T14:11:30+02:00 Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands Dunn, M. J. Adlard, S. Taylor, A. P. Wood, A. G. Trathan, P. N. Ratcliffe, N. Natural Environment Research Council 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Polar Biology volume 44, issue 4, page 717-727 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 2022-01-14T15:41:20Z Abstract Surveying seabirds in polar latitudes can be challenging due to sparse human populations, lack of infrastructure and the risk of disturbance to wildlife or damage to habitats. Counting populations using un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a promising approach to overcoming these difficulties. However, a careful validation of the approach is needed to ensure comparability with counts collected using conventional methods. Here, we report on surveys of three Antarctic bird species breeding on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands; Chinstrap ( Pygoscelis antarctica ) and Gentoo ( Pygoscelis papua ) Penguins, and the South Georgia Shag ( Leucocarbo atriceps georgianus ). We show that images from low-altitude UAV surveys have sufficient resolution to allow separation of Chinstrap Penguins from contiguously breeding Adélie Penguins ( Pygoscelis adéliae ), which are very similar in appearance when viewed from overhead. We compare data from ground counts with manual counts of nesting birds on images collected simultaneously by low-altitude aerial photography from multi-rotor UAVs at the same colonies. Results at this long-term monitoring site confirmed a continued population decline for Chinstrap Penguins and increasing Gentoo Penguin population. Although both methods provided breeding pair counts that were generally within ~ 5%, there were significant differences at some locations. We examine these differences in order to highlight potential biases or methodological constraints that should be considered when analysing similar aerial census surveys and comparing them with ground counts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Gentoo penguin Polar Biology Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Signy Island South Orkney Islands Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic Signy Island ENVELOPE(-45.595,-45.595,-60.708,-60.708) South Orkney Islands ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) Polar Biology 44 4 717 727 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Dunn, M. J. Adlard, S. Taylor, A. P. Wood, A. G. Trathan, P. N. Ratcliffe, N. Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
topic_facet |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
description |
Abstract Surveying seabirds in polar latitudes can be challenging due to sparse human populations, lack of infrastructure and the risk of disturbance to wildlife or damage to habitats. Counting populations using un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a promising approach to overcoming these difficulties. However, a careful validation of the approach is needed to ensure comparability with counts collected using conventional methods. Here, we report on surveys of three Antarctic bird species breeding on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands; Chinstrap ( Pygoscelis antarctica ) and Gentoo ( Pygoscelis papua ) Penguins, and the South Georgia Shag ( Leucocarbo atriceps georgianus ). We show that images from low-altitude UAV surveys have sufficient resolution to allow separation of Chinstrap Penguins from contiguously breeding Adélie Penguins ( Pygoscelis adéliae ), which are very similar in appearance when viewed from overhead. We compare data from ground counts with manual counts of nesting birds on images collected simultaneously by low-altitude aerial photography from multi-rotor UAVs at the same colonies. Results at this long-term monitoring site confirmed a continued population decline for Chinstrap Penguins and increasing Gentoo Penguin population. Although both methods provided breeding pair counts that were generally within ~ 5%, there were significant differences at some locations. We examine these differences in order to highlight potential biases or methodological constraints that should be considered when analysing similar aerial census surveys and comparing them with ground counts. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dunn, M. J. Adlard, S. Taylor, A. P. Wood, A. G. Trathan, P. N. Ratcliffe, N. |
author_facet |
Dunn, M. J. Adlard, S. Taylor, A. P. Wood, A. G. Trathan, P. N. Ratcliffe, N. |
author_sort |
Dunn, M. J. |
title |
Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
title_short |
Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
title_full |
Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
title_fullStr |
Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands |
title_sort |
un-crewed aerial vehicle population survey of three sympatrically breeding seabird species at signy island, south orkney islands |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6/fulltext.html |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-45.595,-45.595,-60.708,-60.708) ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) |
geographic |
Antarctic Signy Island South Orkney Islands |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Signy Island South Orkney Islands |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Gentoo penguin Polar Biology Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Signy Island South Orkney Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Gentoo penguin Polar Biology Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Signy Island South Orkney Islands |
op_source |
Polar Biology volume 44, issue 4, page 717-727 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02831-6 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
717 |
op_container_end_page |
727 |
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1766283653780865024 |