Unmanned Aircraft Systems as a Powerful Tool to Detect Fine-Scale Spatial Positioning and Interactions between Waterbirds at High-Tide Roosts.

ABSTRACT: The surveillance of behavioral interactions between individuals in bird populations is important to understand social dynamics and explain distribution patterns caused by competition for food and space. For waterbirds, little is known about interactions between individuals at high-tide roosts. In the present study, we used surveying with unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) to provide enhanced information on previously hidden aspects of the highly dynamic communities of roosting waterbirds in the non-breeding season. Fine-scale density estimations, derived from aerial photos obtained with UASs, were used as a measure to explain intra- and inter-species interactions for 10 selected waterbird species on a major roost site in the Danish Wadden Sea. Uniquely defined density distributions were dete

SUBMITTER: Castenschiold JHF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9030221 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature