Drones may just revolutionize the way we monitor ecosystems around the world. Scientists have found that drones are much more precise at monitoring the size of seabird colonies in tropical and polar environments than by more traditional ground counts
Drones have been used in the past. However, researchers have failed to test whether drones are better at monitoring animal populations than ground counts.
"Until now, it has been unclear as to how precise drone technology might be when monitoring the size of populations of wildlife," said Rohan Clarke, one of the researchers. "Our latest research has demonstrated that a very high degree of precision can be achieved when using drone technology to monitor wildlife."
In this latest study, the researchers compared drone-derived image counts with those made at the same time by human counters on the ground. In all, the researchers included monitoring for three types of seabirds, including frigatebirds, terns and penguins. The researchers also monitored the colonies for signs that the birds may be disturbed or started.
So what did they find? It turns out that counts using images captured by the drones didn't startle the birds. Not only that, but the drone images were consistently more similar than those taken from the ground. The down-facing perspective of drone imagery actually reduces the likelihood of missing seabirds during counts. When a person is walking on the ground, there's the possibility that some seabirds can actually block others, which causes inconsistencies in counts.
"It's highly likely that in the future, drones will be used to monitor populations of birds and animals, especially in inaccessible areas where on the ground surveying is difficult or impossible," Clarke said. "This opens up exciting new possibilities when it comes to more accurately monitoring Earth's ecosystems."
The findings are important when it comes to keeping track of endangered or threatened animals. Counts are often the only way that researchers can assess the health of a population. This means that having access to equipment that better helps with that can be huge for monitoring populations in the wild.
The findings are published in the March 2016 journal Scientific Reports.
