‘Epic Duck Challenge’ shows drones can outdo people at surveying wildlife Jarrod Hodgson February 13, 2018 8.11am EST Ecologists are increasingly using drones to gather data. Scientists have used remotely piloted aircraft to estimate the health of fragile polar mosses, to measure and predict the mass of leopard seals, and even to collect whale snot. Drones have also been labelled as game-changers for wildlife population monitoring. But once the take-off dust settles, how do we know if drones produce accurate data? Perhaps even more importantly, how do the data compare to those gathered using a traditional ground-based approach? To answer these questions we created the #EpicDuckChallenge, which involved deploying thousands of plastic replica ducks on an Adelaide beach, and then testing various methods of tallying them up. As we report today in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, drones do indeed generate accurate wildlife population data – even more accurate, in fact, than those collected the old-fashioned way. Jarrod Hodgson standing in one of the replica colonies of seabirds constructed for the #EpicDuckChallenge. S. Andriolo Assessing the accuracy of wildlife count data is hard. We can’t be sure of the true number of animals present in a group of wild animals. So, to overcome this uncertainty, we created life-sized, replica seabird colonies, each with a known number of individuals. From the optimum vantage and in ideal weather conditions, experienced wildlife spotters independently counted the colonies from the ground using binoculars and telescopes. At the same time, a drone captured photographs of each colony from a range of heights. Citizen scientists then used these images to tally the number of animals they could see. Counts of birds in drone-derived imagery were better than those made by wildlife observers on the ground. The drone approach was more precise and more accurate – it produced counts that were consistently closer to the true number of individuals. Comparing the vantages: drone-derived photographs and the ground counter’s view. J. Hodgson The difference between the results was not trivial. Drone-derived data were between 43% and 96% more accurate than ground counts. The variation was due to how many pixels represented each bird, which in turn is related to the height that the drone was flown and the resolution of the camera. This wasn’t a surprise. The experienced ground counters did well, but the drone’s vantage point was superior. Observing photos taken from above meant the citizen scientists did not have to contend with obscured birds that often occur during ground counts. The imagery also benefited the citizen scientists as they could digitally review their counts as many times as they needed. This reduced the likelihood of both missing an individual and counting an individual more than once. The scientists were assisted by many volunteers, without whom the #EpicDuckChallenge would not have been possible. J. Hodgson However, even though it proved to be more accurate, making manual digital counts is still tedious and time-consuming. To address this, we developed a computer algorithm in the hope that it could further improve efficiency without diminishing data quality. And it did. We delineated a proportion of birds in each colony to train the algorithm to recognise how the animal of interest appeared in the imagery. We found that using 10% training data was sufficient to produce a colony count that was comparable to that of a human reviewing the entire scene. This computerisation can reduce the time needed to process data, providing the opportunity to cut the costs and resources needed to survey wildlife populations. When combined with the efficiencies drones provide for surveying sites that are hard to access on foot, these savings may be considerable. Using drone monitoring in the field Our results have important implications for a range of species. We think they are especially relevant to aggregating birds, including seabirds like albatrosses, surface nesting penguins and frigatebirds, as well as colonial nesting waterbirds like pelicans. Other types of animals that are easily seen from above, including hauled-out seals and dugongs, are highly suited to drone monitoring. The nests or tracks of animals, such as orangutans and turtles, can also be used to infer presence. Additional experiments will be useful to assess the ability of drones to survey animals that prefer to stay hidden and those within complex habitats. Such assessments are of interest to us, and researchers around the globe, with current investigations focused on wildlife such as arboreal mammals and cetaceans. We are still learning about how wildlife react to the presence of drones, and more research is required to quantify these responses in a range of species and environments. The results will help to refine and improve drone monitoring protocols so that drones have minimal impact on wildlife. This is particularly important for species that are prone to disturbance, and where close proximity is not possible or desirable. Read more: How drones can help fight the war on shark attacks The world is rapidly changing, with many negative outcomes for wildlife. Technology like drones can help scientists and managers gather data fast enough to enable timely assessment of the implications of these changes. When monitoring wildlife, increasing the accuracy and precision of animal surveys gives us more confidence in our population estimates. This provides a stronger evidence base on which to make management decisions or policy changes. For species and ecosystems threatened with extinction or irreparable damage, such speedy action could be a literal lifeline. Academic Success Centre Room 10-2584 250-960-6367 www.unbc.ca/asc CSE Referencing The Council of Science Editors (CSE) publishes a style guide, Scientific Style and Format, which defines common citation formats used by biologists, earth scientists, geneticists and other scientists. The guide provides formatting rules that allow for consistency among references and their in-text citations. Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers, 7th edition. Reston (VA): Council of Science Editors. 658 p. (A copy is located in the reference collection of the Geoffrey R. Weller Library, T11.S386 2006, as well as in the Academic Success Centre.) This handout describes the “Name-Year” system outlined in the 7th edition. For in-text citations, the Name-Year system includes the author or authors and the year the document was published, e.g. (Jones 2008), or Jones and Watts (2008), or Jones et al. (2008). In the reference list, cited sources are arranged alphabetically by the name of the first author’s last name. General Rules  List authors’ last names followed by initials for first and middle names. Do not use periods or spaces between the initials. Also, do not use a comma between the last name and the initials (e.g. Smith J). If a work has more than 10 authors list the first ten followed by a comma and et al.  Multiple citations by the same author: List works by the same author chronologically (older first).  Taxonomic names: Write the Latin names or scientific names of the organisms in italics e.g. Alces alces, Rangifer tarandus, etc. For taxonomic grouping such as Family, Order, Class, etc., capitalize the first letter but do not italicize. e.g. Carnivora, Diptera, Nematoda, Excavata, Archaea, Bryophyta  Medium designator: For non-print items, a medium designator is required in the reference. Include it on square brackets after the item title. Examples include: [Internet], [CD-ROM], [DVD], [videocassette], [microfiche], etc.  Content designator: Also placed in square brackets; this is optional but informs the reader. Examples include: [dissertation], [master’s thesis], [abstract], [computer program], etc. ASC 04/14 1 Literature Cited Books The general format for a print book is: Author(s). Date of publication. Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. Pagination*. The general format for a book on the internet is: Author(s). Date of publication. Title [medium]. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; [date updated: date cited]. *Pagination: not required for entire book; only included if you are citing parts of a book, chapter, tables, charts, etc. Type of Source Book – Single Author Book – 2 Authors Reference List Example Voet D. 1990. Biochemistry. New York: J Wiley. Thomas PA, Packham JR. 2007. Ecology of woodlands and forests: description, dynamics, and diversity. New York: Cambridge University Press. In-text Citation (Voet 1990) (Thomas and Packham 2007) Book – Three or more authors (Gilman et al. 1990) Book – Unnamed or Anonymous Author Book – with Editor Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P. 1990. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon. 1811 p. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. 1990. New York: Pergamon. 1811 p. Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. 1990. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon. 1811 p. Book – with Organization as Author A Volume in a Series of Books with a Separate Title International Organization for Standardization. 1979. Statistical methods. Geneva. Cajori F. 1929. Notation mainly in higher mathematics. Chicago: Open Court. (A history of mathematical notations; vol. 2). (IOS 1979) Book – Chapter or contribution Kuret JA, Murad F. 1990. Adenohypophyseal hormones and related substances. In: Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon. 1334-1360 p. (Kuret and Murad 1990) Book – Internet E-book Griffiths AJF, Miller JH, Suzuki DT, Lewontin RC, (Griffiths et al. 2000) Gelbart WM. c2000. Introduction to genetic analysis [Internet]. 7th ed. New York (NY): W. H. Freeman & Co.; [cited 2005 May 31]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.books/bc.fcgi?call=bv. View..Show/TOC&rid=iga. TOC (The pharmacological basis…c1990) (Gilman et al. 1990) (Cajori 1929) 2 Journal Articles The general format of a reference for a print journal: Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal title.* Volume (issue):pages. The general format of a reference for a journal article on the internet is: Author(s). Date of publication. Title of article. Title of journal [medium]*. [date updated; date cited]; Volume (issue):pages. *Journal titles are abbreviated according to the International Organization for Standardization 4 (ISO 4), e,g., Forest Ecol Manage. [Internet]. If the journal consists of one word there is no need to abbreviate it. Type of Source Journal Article - 1 author Use for print and PDF documents Reference List Example Steiner U. 1992. Complete wetting from polymer mixtures. Science. 258:1122-1129. In-text Citation (Steiner 1992) Journal Article - 2 authors Use for print and PDF documents Mahoney JM, Rood SB. 1998. Streamflow requirements for cottonwood seedling recruitment – an integrative model. Wetlands. 18(4): 634-645. (Mahoney and Rood 1998) Journal Articles – 3 to ten authors Use for print or PDF Steiner U, Klein J, Eiser E, Budkowski A, Fetters LJ. 1992. Complete wetting from polymer mixtures. Science. 258:1122-1129. (Steiner et al. 1992) Journal Articles – 10 or more Use for print or PDF Humrich JY, Morbach H, Undeutsch R, Enghard P, Rosenherger S, Weigert O, Kloke L, Heimann J, Gaber T, Brandenberg S, et al. 2010. Homeostatic imbalance of regulatory and effector T cells due to IL-2 deprivation amplifies murine lupus. PNAS. 107(1): 204-209. (Humrich et al. 2010) Journal Article – Internet Ejournal or Html form Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, (Savage et al. 2005) Hunjan R, Brown D. 2005. Mumps outbreak across England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ [Internet]. [cited 2005 May 31]; 330(7500):1119-1120. Available from: http://bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119doi: 10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1119. 3 Reports, Thesis, and Conference Publications Laboratory Report Blair J. 2011. Lab 9 Genes. In: Biology 101 laboratory manual. University of Northern British Columbia. Prince George, BC. UNBC Press. p. 98103. (Blair 2011) Technical or government reports Cooper LN (Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI). 1990. Theoretical and experimental research into biological mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Final progress report 1 Aug 88-31 Jul 89. Washington (DC): Air Force Office of Scientific Research (US). Report No.: AFOSR-TR-90-0672. Contract No.: AROSR88-0228;2305;B4. Available from: NTIS, Springfield, VA; AD-AD-A223615. (Cooper 1990) Dissertations and Thesis Ritzmann RE. 1974. The snapping mechanism of Alpheid shrimp [dissertation]. [Charlottesville (VA)]: University of Virginia. p. 59. Available from: UMI, Ann Arbor, MI; AAD74-23. (Ritzmann 1974) Conference Publications/papers Ferguson RM, Sommer BG, editors. 1986. Proceedings of the Conference on the Clinical Management of the Renal Transplant Recipient with Cyclosporine; 1985 Nov 3-5; Palm Springs, FL. Orlando (FL): Grune and Stratton. 216 p. (Ferguson and Sommer 1986) Internet Documents General format to reference an internet document: Title of homepage [medium]. Date of publication. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date cited]. Available from: URL Type of Source Web Page Web page (personal author) Web page (no date of publication) Reference List Example APSnet: plant pathology online [Internet]. c19442005. St Paul (MN): American Phytopathological Association [cited 2005 Jun 20]. Available from: http://www.apsnet.org/ Bill McKibben: author educator environmentalist [Internet]. c2013. [cited 2012 Nov 26]. Available from: http://www.billmckibben.com/index.html NCBI Bovine genome resources [Internet]. [date unknown]. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCDI]; [cited 2013 Feb 4]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/guide/cow/ In-text Citation (APSnet 2005) (McKibben 2013) (NCBI) 4 Newspapers, magazines and personal communication General format to reference a newspaper: Author(s). Date of publication. Article title. Newspaper title (edition). Section designator: beginning page number (column number). Newspaper Article Newspaper Article (Online) Magazine Article Personal Communications Rensberger B, Specter B. 1989. Aug 7. CFCs may be destroyed by natural process. Washington Post. Sect. A:12 (col. 5). McChesney R. 2014 Jan 14. Cook Inlet Beluga research presented during local symposium. Penninsula Clarion [Internet]. [cited 2014 Jan 16]; Available from: http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2014-01-14/cookinlet-beluga-research-presented-during-localsymposium Cochran WW, Mouristen H, Wikelski M. 2004 Apr 16. Migrating songbirds recalibrate their magnetic compass daily from twilight cues. Science. 304:405408. CSE recommends that personal communications such as letters, conversations, or lectures are placed in the running text and not as formal references. (Rensberger 1989) (McChesney 2014) (Cochran et al. 2004) …. (2005 letter from J. Smith to the author) …. References or Literature Cited or Cited References This section provides a list of all sources cited in your paper. Here are some formatting rules for this section:  Format this section by listing cited sources alphabetically by author’s surname. For each source, maintain the original order of authors in the document. Author’s last names are provided, followed by abbreviations of their first and middle names. There are no spaces between first and middle name abbreviations and no “and” before the last name in the list.  Include the names of all authors in the document. If an article has more than ten authors, list the first 10, then use “et al.” for the remaining authors.  When there is more than one work by an author, those works are organized chronologically.  Only the first letter of a book or a journal article should be capitalized. Article titles are not italicized; however, species names are italicized.  According to CSE, journal titles are abbreviated to save space. Always check with your course instructor to make sure whether they want journals abbreviated or not. To locate abbreviations try: http://library.caltech.edu/reference/abbreviations/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals http://woodward.library.ubc.ca/research-help/journal-abbreviations/ http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp If you cannot find an abbreviation from the above databases, ask a librarian.  Although not a recommendation by CSE, use a hanging indent to format the list of references. This makes it easy to locate a reference by the primary author. 5 References [examples] Akyazi I, Eraslan E. 2014. Transmission of stress between cagemates: A study in rats. Physiol. Behav. 123:114-118. Blair J. 2011. Lab 9 Genes. In Biology 101 laboratory manual. University of Northern British Columbia. Prince George, BC. UNBC Press. p. 98-103. Bozi J, DiCesare J, Wells H, Abramson CI. 2007. Ethanol levels in honeybees hemolymph resulting from alcohol ingestion. Alcohol. 41: 282-284. Funk DT, Case PJ, Rietveld WJ, Phares RE. 1979. Effects of juglone on the growth of coniferous seedlings. For. Sci. 25:452-454. Hejl AM, Einhellig FA, Rasmussen JA. 1993. Effects of juglone on growth, photosynthesis, and respiration. J. Chem. Ecol. 19:559-568. Hejl AM, Koster KL. 2004. Juglone disrupts root plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity and impairs water uptake, root respiration and growth in soybean (Glycine max) and Corn (Zea mays L.). J. Chem. Ecol. 30: 453-471. Massicotte HB, Melville LH, Peterson RL. 2003. Structure-function relationships of mycorrhizal symbioses revealed by electron microscopy. In: Li ZR, editor. Industrial applications of electron microscopy. New York. Marcel Dekker. p. 485–505. McMillan VE. 2012. Writing papers in the biological sciences. 5th edition. Boston. Bedford/St Martin’s. 241 p. Rea RV, Hodder D, Child K. 2013. Year-round activity patterns of moose (Alces alces) at a natural mineral lick in north central British Columbia, Canada. Can. Wildl. Biol. Manage. 2:36-41. Ritzmann RE. 1974. The snapping mechanism of Alpheid shrimp [dissertation]. [Charlottesville (VA)]: University of Virginia. p. 59. Available from: UMI, Ann Arbor, MI; AAD74-23. Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, Hunjan R, Brown D. 2005. Mumps outbreak across England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ [Internet]. [cited 2005 May 31]; 330(7500):1119-1120. Available from: http://bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119doi: 10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1119. Walker BR, Soderberg S, Lindahl B, Olsson T. 2000. Independent effects of obesity and cortisol in predicting cardiovascular risk in men and women. J. Intern. Med. 247:198-204 6 Marking Guide for Writing Assignment #1 Criteria Title (Subject): Clear indication of paper’s subject Summary: States the main issue or problem being addressed in the article Adequately summarizes main points of article States the conclusion reached by the article’s author Critique: Strengths of article described Weaknesses of article described Reviewer’s opinions clearly distinguished from those of the article’s author Reviewer’s opinions supported by external sources Shows evidence of critical thought and analysis Conclusion: Overall opinion of article presented Concluding thoughts provided about the information presented in the article (the topic of the article) Literature Cited: No references listed that have not been cited in the paper Includes full reference for all literature cited in the paper Follows CSE formatting style Overall Formatting instructions followed Reference material used appropriately Correct grammar, punctuation, spelling used Paper written clearly and concisely, well organized Max. 2 2 13 5 5 3 30 7 7 5 5 6 10 5 5 10 2 3 5 20 5 5 5 5 Response to others’ article (best response) Provided constructive comments Shows evidence of critical thought and analysis 2.5 2.5 Response to others’ article (best response) Provided constructive comments Shows evidence of critical thought and analysis 2.5 2.5 Response to others’ article (best response) Provided constructive comments Shows evidence of critical thought and analysis Total 5 5 5 2.5 2.5 100 Grade
Purchase answer to see full attachment