Automated detection and enumeration of marine wildlife using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and thermal imagery.

ABSTRACT: Estimating animal populations is critical for wildlife management. Aerial surveys are used for generating population estimates, but can be hampered by cost, logistical complexity, and human risk. Additionally, human counts of organisms in aerial imagery can be tedious and subjective. Automated approaches show promise, but can be constrained by long setup times and difficulty discriminating animals in aggregations. We combine unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), thermal imagery and computer vision to improve traditional wildlife survey methods. During spring 2015, we flew fixed-wing UAS equipped with thermal sensors, imaging two grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) breeding colonies in eastern Canada. Human analysts counted and classified individual seals in imagery manually. Concurrently, an automat

SUBMITTER: Seymour AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5364474 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature