Mapping out bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus) burrows with the use of a drone.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Wombats are large, nocturnal herbivores that build burrows in a variety of habitats, including grassland communities, and can come into conflict with people. Counting the number of active burrows provides information on the local distribution and abundance of wombats and could prove to be an important management tool to monitor population numbers over time. We compared traditional ground surveys and a new method employing drones, to determine if drones could be used to effectively identify and monitor bare-nosed wombat burrows.

Results

We surveyed burrows using both methods in eight 5-ha transects in grassland, that was interspersed with patches of tussock grassland. Ground surveys were conducted by systematically walking transects and searching for burrows. Drone

SUBMITTER: Old JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6749681 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature