Are unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) the future of wildlife monitoring? A review of accomplishments and challenges

Mammal Review ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Linchant ◽  
Jonathan Lisein ◽  
Jean Semeki ◽  
Philippe Lejeune ◽  
Cédric Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Wildlife Monitoring ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
The Future

scholarly journals Testing a key assumption of using drones as frightening devices: Do birds perceive drones as risky?

The Condor ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conor C Egan ◽  
Bradley F Blackwell ◽  
Esteban Fernández-Juricic ◽  
Page E Klug
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Agelaius Phoeniceus ◽  
Wildlife Monitoring ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Predator Model ◽  
Human Wildlife Conflict

Abstract Wildlife managers have recently suggested the use of unmanned aircraft systems or drones as nonlethal hazing tools to deter birds from areas of human-wildlife conflict. However, it remains unclear if birds perceive common drone platforms as threatening. Based on field studies assessing behavioral and physiological responses, it is generally assumed that birds perceive less risk from drones than from predators. However, studies controlling for multiple confounding effects have not been conducted. Our goal was to establish the degree to which the perception of risk by birds would vary between common drone platforms relative to a predator model when flown at different approach types. We evaluated the behavioral responses of individual Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) to 3 drone platforms: a predator model, a fixed-wing resembling an airplane, and a multirotor, approaching either head-on or overhead. Blackbirds became alert earlier (by 13.7 s), alarm-called more frequently (by a factor of 12), returned to forage later (by a factor of 4.7), and increased vigilance (by a factor of 1.3) in response to the predator model compared with the multirotor. Blackbirds also perceived the fixed-wing as riskier than the multirotor, but less risky than the predator model. Overhead approaches mostly failed to elicit flight in blackbirds across all platform types, and no blackbirds took flight in response to the multirotor at either overhead or head-on approaches. Our findings demonstrate that birds perceived drones with predatory characteristics as riskier than common drone models (i.e. fixed-wing and multirotor platforms). We recommend that drones be modified with additional stimuli to increase perceived risk when used as frightening devices, but avoided if used for wildlife monitoring.

scholarly journals A low cost way for assessing bird risk hazards in power lines: Fixed-wing small unmanned aircraft systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Mulero-Pázmány ◽  
Juan José Negro ◽  
Miguel Ferrer
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
Wildlife Monitoring ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Practical Tool ◽  
Conservation Projects ◽  
Technical Solutions

Accidents on power lines are one of the most important causes of man-induced mortality for raptors and soaring birds. The factors that condition the hazard have been extensively studied, and currently there are a variety of technical solutions available to mitigate the risk. Most of the resources in conservation projects to reduce avian mortality now are invested in fieldwork to monitor the lines, which diverts the resources available to install actual corrective measures to mitigate bird hazard. Little progress has been achieved in the methodology to characterize line risk, which is an expensive, tedious, and time-consuming task. In this work we describe the use of low cost small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) equipped with on-board cameras for power line surveillance. As a case study, we characterized four power lines, geo-referenced every pylon in selected portions, and assessed their hazard for birds. We compare the effectiveness of two variants of the sUAS method for data acquisition and two methods of plane control. This work provides evidence of the usefulness of sUAS as a fast, inexpensive, and practical tool in conservation biology, adding to their already known applications in wildlife monitoring, the environmental impact assessment of infrastructures.

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