- Title
- Real-time drone derived thermal imagery outperforms traditional survey methods for an arboreal forest mammal
- Creator
- Witt, Ryan R.; Beranek, Chad T.; Howell, Lachlan G.; Ryan, Shelby A.; Clulow, John; Jordan, Neil R.; Denholm, Bob; Roff, Adam
- Relation
- PL o S One Vol. 15, Issue 11, no. e0242204
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242204
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are cryptic and currently face regional extinction. The direct detection (physical sighting) of individuals is required to improve conservation management strategies. We provide a comparative assessment of three survey methods for the direct detection of koalas: systematic spotlighting (Spotlight), remotely piloted aircraft system thermal imaging (RPAS), and the refined diurnal radial search component of the spot assessment technique (SAT). Each survey method was repeated on the same morning with independent observers (03:00–12:00 hrs) for a total of 10 survey occasions at sites with fixed boundaries (28–76 ha) in Port Stephens (n = 6) and Gilead (n = 1) in New South Wales between May and July 2019. Koalas were directly detected on 22 occasions during 7 of 10 comparative surveys (Spotlight: n = 7; RPAS: n = 14; and SAT: n = 1), for a total of 12 unique individuals (Spotlight: n = 4; RPAS: n = 11; SAT: n = 1). In 3 of 10 comparative surveys no koalas were detected. Detection probability was 38.9 ± 20.03% for Spotlight, 83.3 ± 11.39% for RPAS and 4.2 ± 4.17% for SAT. Effective detectability per site was 1 ± 0.44 koalas per 6.75 ± 1.03 hrs for Spotlight (1 koala per 6.75 hrs), 2 ± 0.38 koalas per 4.35 ± 0.28 hrs for RPAS (1 koala per 2.18 hrs) and 0.14 ± 0.14 per 6.20 ± 0.93 hrs for SAT (1 koala per 43.39 hrs). RPAS thermal imaging technology appears to offer an efficient method to directly survey koalas comparative to Spotlight and SAT and has potential as a valuable conservation tool to inform on-ground management of declining koala populations.
- Subject
- koalas; regional extinction; conservation management strategies; forest mammal; SDG 15; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1444369
- Identifier
- uon:42281
- Identifier
- ISSN:1932-6203
- Rights
- © 2020 Witt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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Goal 15: Life on land
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