Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species
The recognition of tracks plays an important role in ecological research and monitoring, and tracking tunnels are a cost-effective method for indexing species over large areas. Traditionally, tracks are collected by a tracking system, and analysis is carried out in a manual identification procedure b...
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER
2009
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2292/8783 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 |
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ftunivauckland:oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/8783 2023-05-15T18:05:21+02:00 Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species Russell, JC Hasler, N Klette, R Rosenhahn, B 2009 http://hdl.handle.net/2292/8783 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 EN eng ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER ECOLOGY Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Details obtained from http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0012-9658/ https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm Copyright: the Ecological Society of America http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/RestrictedAccess http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 automated species identification binarization index invasive species New Zealand rats Rattus exulans Rattus norvegicus Rattus rattus rodents template matching tracking SCIATIC FUNCTIONAL INDEX NEW-ZEALAND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE MAMMALS IDENTIFICATION POPULATIONS RATTUS RATES Journal Article 2009 ftunivauckland https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 2013-01-22T00:22:00Z The recognition of tracks plays an important role in ecological research and monitoring, and tracking tunnels are a cost-effective method for indexing species over large areas. Traditionally, tracks are collected by a tracking system, and analysis is carried out in a manual identification procedure by experienced wildlife biologists. Unfortunately, human experts are unable to reliably distinguish tracks of morphologically similar species. We propose a new method using image analysis, which allows automatic species identification of tracks, and apply the method to identifying cryptic small-mammal species. We demonstrate the method by identifying footprints of three invasive rat species with similar morphology that co-occur in New Zealand, including detection of a recent invasion of a rat-free island. Automatic footprint recognition successfully identified the species of rat for .70% of footprints, and .83% of tracking cards. With appropriate changes to the image recognition, the method could be broadly applicable to any taxa that can be tracked. Identification of tracks to species level gives better estimates of species presence and composition in communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus University of Auckland Research Repository - ResearchSpace New Zealand Ecology 90 7 2007 2013 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Auckland Research Repository - ResearchSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivauckland |
language |
English |
topic |
automated species identification binarization index invasive species New Zealand rats Rattus exulans Rattus norvegicus Rattus rattus rodents template matching tracking SCIATIC FUNCTIONAL INDEX NEW-ZEALAND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE MAMMALS IDENTIFICATION POPULATIONS RATTUS RATES |
spellingShingle |
automated species identification binarization index invasive species New Zealand rats Rattus exulans Rattus norvegicus Rattus rattus rodents template matching tracking SCIATIC FUNCTIONAL INDEX NEW-ZEALAND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE MAMMALS IDENTIFICATION POPULATIONS RATTUS RATES Russell, JC Hasler, N Klette, R Rosenhahn, B Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
topic_facet |
automated species identification binarization index invasive species New Zealand rats Rattus exulans Rattus norvegicus Rattus rattus rodents template matching tracking SCIATIC FUNCTIONAL INDEX NEW-ZEALAND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE MAMMALS IDENTIFICATION POPULATIONS RATTUS RATES |
description |
The recognition of tracks plays an important role in ecological research and monitoring, and tracking tunnels are a cost-effective method for indexing species over large areas. Traditionally, tracks are collected by a tracking system, and analysis is carried out in a manual identification procedure by experienced wildlife biologists. Unfortunately, human experts are unable to reliably distinguish tracks of morphologically similar species. We propose a new method using image analysis, which allows automatic species identification of tracks, and apply the method to identifying cryptic small-mammal species. We demonstrate the method by identifying footprints of three invasive rat species with similar morphology that co-occur in New Zealand, including detection of a recent invasion of a rat-free island. Automatic footprint recognition successfully identified the species of rat for .70% of footprints, and .83% of tracking cards. With appropriate changes to the image recognition, the method could be broadly applicable to any taxa that can be tracked. Identification of tracks to species level gives better estimates of species presence and composition in communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Russell, JC Hasler, N Klette, R Rosenhahn, B |
author_facet |
Russell, JC Hasler, N Klette, R Rosenhahn, B |
author_sort |
Russell, JC |
title |
Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
title_short |
Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
title_full |
Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
title_fullStr |
Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
title_sort |
automatic track recognition of footprints for identifying cryptic species |
publisher |
ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/8783 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 |
op_relation |
ECOLOGY |
op_rights |
Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Details obtained from http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0012-9658/ https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm Copyright: the Ecological Society of America http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/RestrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1069.1 |
container_title |
Ecology |
container_volume |
90 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
2007 |
op_container_end_page |
2013 |
_version_ |
1766176814517977088 |