Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) may be useful for conducting high-precision, low-disturbance waterbird surveys, but limited data exist on their effectiveness. We evaluated the capacity of a small UAS to census a large (>6,000 nests) coastal Common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony of which groun...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529.v3 2023-05-15T15:56:16+02:00 Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft Chabot, Dominique Craik, Shawn R. Bird, David M. 2015 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529.v3 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Population_census_of_a_large_Common_tern_colony_with_a_small_unmanned_aircraft/1317529/3 unknown figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences dataset Dataset 2015 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529.v3 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) may be useful for conducting high-precision, low-disturbance waterbird surveys, but limited data exist on their effectiveness. We evaluated the capacity of a small UAS to census a large (>6,000 nests) coastal Common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony of which ground surveys are particularly disruptive and time-consuming. We compared aerial photographic tern counts to ground nest counts in 45 plots (5-m radius) throughout the colony at three intervals over a nine-day period in order to identify sources of variation and establish a coefficient to estimate nest numbers from UAS surveys. We also compared a full colony ground count to full counts from two UAS surveys conducted the following day. Finally, we compared colony disturbance levels over the course of UAS flights to matched control periods. Linear regressions between aerial and ground counts in plots had very strong correlations in all three comparison periods (R2 = 0.972-0.989, P < 0.001) and regression coefficients ranged from 0.928-0.977 terns/nest. Full colony aerial counts were 93.6% and 94.0%, respectively, of the ground count. Varying visibility of terns with ground cover, weather conditions and image quality, and changing nest attendance rates throughout incubation were likely sources of variation in aerial detection rates. Optimally timed UAS surveys of Common tern colonies following our method should yield population estimates in the 93-96% range of ground counts. Although the terns were initially disturbed by the UAS flying overhead, they rapidly habituated to it. Overall, we found no evidence of sustained disturbance to the colony by the UAS. We encourage colonial waterbird researchers and managers to consider taking advantage of this burgeoning technology. Dataset Common tern Sterna hirundo DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences |
spellingShingle |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Chabot, Dominique Craik, Shawn R. Bird, David M. Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
topic_facet |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences |
description |
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) may be useful for conducting high-precision, low-disturbance waterbird surveys, but limited data exist on their effectiveness. We evaluated the capacity of a small UAS to census a large (>6,000 nests) coastal Common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony of which ground surveys are particularly disruptive and time-consuming. We compared aerial photographic tern counts to ground nest counts in 45 plots (5-m radius) throughout the colony at three intervals over a nine-day period in order to identify sources of variation and establish a coefficient to estimate nest numbers from UAS surveys. We also compared a full colony ground count to full counts from two UAS surveys conducted the following day. Finally, we compared colony disturbance levels over the course of UAS flights to matched control periods. Linear regressions between aerial and ground counts in plots had very strong correlations in all three comparison periods (R2 = 0.972-0.989, P < 0.001) and regression coefficients ranged from 0.928-0.977 terns/nest. Full colony aerial counts were 93.6% and 94.0%, respectively, of the ground count. Varying visibility of terns with ground cover, weather conditions and image quality, and changing nest attendance rates throughout incubation were likely sources of variation in aerial detection rates. Optimally timed UAS surveys of Common tern colonies following our method should yield population estimates in the 93-96% range of ground counts. Although the terns were initially disturbed by the UAS flying overhead, they rapidly habituated to it. Overall, we found no evidence of sustained disturbance to the colony by the UAS. We encourage colonial waterbird researchers and managers to consider taking advantage of this burgeoning technology. |
format |
Dataset |
author |
Chabot, Dominique Craik, Shawn R. Bird, David M. |
author_facet |
Chabot, Dominique Craik, Shawn R. Bird, David M. |
author_sort |
Chabot, Dominique |
title |
Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
title_short |
Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
title_full |
Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
title_fullStr |
Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
title_full_unstemmed |
Population census of a large Common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
title_sort |
population census of a large common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft |
publisher |
figshare |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529.v3 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Population_census_of_a_large_Common_tern_colony_with_a_small_unmanned_aircraft/1317529/3 |
genre |
Common tern Sterna hirundo |
genre_facet |
Common tern Sterna hirundo |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529.v3 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1317529 |
_version_ |
1766391727630843904 |