Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada.
Psychology Department, Cognitive and Behavioral Ecology Program, Memorial University, St. John's, NL, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 20;7(1):17884. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18202-3.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an opportunity to rapidly census wildlife in remote areas while removing some of the hazards. However, wildlife may respond negatively to the UAVs, thereby skewing counts. We surveyed four species of Arctic cliff-nesting seabirds (glaucous gull Larus hyperboreus, Iceland gull Larus glaucoides, common murre Uria aalge and thick-billed murre Uria lomvia) using a UAV and compared censusing techniques to ground photography. An average of 8.5% of murres flew off in response to the UAV, but >99% of those birds were non-breeders. We were unable to detect any impact of the UAV on breeding success of murres, except at a site where aerial predators were abundant and several birds lost their eggs to predators following UAV flights. Furthermore, we found little evidence for habituation by murres to the UAV. Most gulls flew off in response to the UAV, but returned to the nest within five minutes. Counts of gull nests and adults were similar between UAV and ground photography, however the UAV detected up to 52.4% more chicks because chicks were camouflaged and invisible to ground observers. UAVs provide a less hazardous and potentially more accurate method for surveying wildlife. We provide some simple recommendations for their use.
无人飞行器（UAV）为快速普查偏远地区的野生动物提供了机会，同时也减少了一些危险。然而，野生动物可能会对 UAV 做出负面反应，从而导致计数偏差。我们使用 UAV 对四种北极悬崖筑巢海鸟（北极鸥 Larus hyperboreus、冰岛鸥 Larus glaucoides、普通海鸠 Uria aalge 和厚嘴海鸠 Uria lomvia）进行了调查，并将计数技术与地面摄影进行了比较。UAV 平均会使 8.5%的海鸠飞走，但其中 >99%的鸟是非繁殖者。除了在一个空中捕食者丰富的地点外，我们无法发现 UAV 对海鸠繁殖成功率有任何影响，而且在 UAV 飞行后，有几只鸟的蛋被捕食者夺走了。此外，我们发现海鸠对 UAV 的适应能力很小。大多数海鸥对 UAV 飞走，但在五分钟内返回巢穴。UAV 和地面摄影的鸥鸟巢和成年鸟计数相似，但 UAV 检测到的雏鸟数量最多增加了 52.4%，因为雏鸟被伪装，地面观察者看不见。UAV 为调查野生动物提供了一种危险较小且潜在更准确的方法。我们提供了一些简单的使用建议。
