Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty
Abstract Unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAV s) are increasingly being recognized as potentially useful for detection of marine mammals in their natural habitats, but an important consideration is the associated uncertainties in animal detection. We present a study based on field trials using UAV s to ca...
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crwiley:10.1002/ecs2.2122 2024-09-09T19:24:00+00:00 Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty Aniceto, Ana S. Biuw, Martin Lindstrøm, Ulf Solbø, Stian A. Broms, Fredrik Carroll, JoLynn Akvaplan-niva ARCEx 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2122 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecs2.2122 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2122 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Ecosphere volume 9, issue 3 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 journal-article 2018 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2122 2024-08-27T04:25:56Z Abstract Unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAV s) are increasingly being recognized as potentially useful for detection of marine mammals in their natural habitats, but an important consideration is the associated uncertainties in animal detection. We present a study based on field trials using UAV s to carry out image‐based monitoring of cetaceans in two fjords in northern Norway. We conducted 12 missions to assess the effects of both environmental‐ and aircraft‐related variables on detection certainty. Images were inspected for animal presence and its associated detection certainty. Images were also assessed for potentially important covariates such as wave turbulence (sea state), luminance, and glare. Aircraft variables such as altitude, pitch, and roll were combined into a single variable—pixel size. We recorded a total of 50 humpback whales, 63 killer whales (KW), and 118 unidentified sightings. We also recorded 57 harbor porpoise sightings. None of the environmental conditions (sea state, glare, and luminance) affected the detection certainty of harbor porpoises. In contrast, increasing sea state and luminance had negative and positive effects, respectively, on the detection certainty of humpback and KW. The detection certainty was not significantly affected by pixel size for both harbor porpoises, and humpback and KW. Our results indicate that at lower altitudes, variations in aircraft position (pitch and roll) do not have a variable effect on detection certainty. Overall, this study shows the importance of measuring variability in both environmental and flight‐related variables, in order to attain unbiased estimates of detectability for UAV ‐based marine mammal surveys, particularly in Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Northern Norway Wiley Online Library Arctic Norway Ecosphere 9 3 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract Unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAV s) are increasingly being recognized as potentially useful for detection of marine mammals in their natural habitats, but an important consideration is the associated uncertainties in animal detection. We present a study based on field trials using UAV s to carry out image‐based monitoring of cetaceans in two fjords in northern Norway. We conducted 12 missions to assess the effects of both environmental‐ and aircraft‐related variables on detection certainty. Images were inspected for animal presence and its associated detection certainty. Images were also assessed for potentially important covariates such as wave turbulence (sea state), luminance, and glare. Aircraft variables such as altitude, pitch, and roll were combined into a single variable—pixel size. We recorded a total of 50 humpback whales, 63 killer whales (KW), and 118 unidentified sightings. We also recorded 57 harbor porpoise sightings. None of the environmental conditions (sea state, glare, and luminance) affected the detection certainty of harbor porpoises. In contrast, increasing sea state and luminance had negative and positive effects, respectively, on the detection certainty of humpback and KW. The detection certainty was not significantly affected by pixel size for both harbor porpoises, and humpback and KW. Our results indicate that at lower altitudes, variations in aircraft position (pitch and roll) do not have a variable effect on detection certainty. Overall, this study shows the importance of measuring variability in both environmental and flight‐related variables, in order to attain unbiased estimates of detectability for UAV ‐based marine mammal surveys, particularly in Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions. |
author2 |
Akvaplan-niva ARCEx |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aniceto, Ana S. Biuw, Martin Lindstrøm, Ulf Solbø, Stian A. Broms, Fredrik Carroll, JoLynn |
spellingShingle |
Aniceto, Ana S. Biuw, Martin Lindstrøm, Ulf Solbø, Stian A. Broms, Fredrik Carroll, JoLynn Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
author_facet |
Aniceto, Ana S. Biuw, Martin Lindstrøm, Ulf Solbø, Stian A. Broms, Fredrik Carroll, JoLynn |
author_sort |
Aniceto, Ana S. |
title |
Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
title_short |
Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
title_full |
Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
title_fullStr |
Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
title_sort |
monitoring marine mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles: quantifying detection certainty |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2122 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecs2.2122 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2122 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northern Norway |
op_source |
Ecosphere volume 9, issue 3 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2122 |
container_title |
Ecosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1809893948936683520 |