Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America.
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Parks and Wildlife Service-Marine Science Program, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia.
PLoS One. 2018 Mar 21;13(3):e0194460. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194460. eCollection 2018.
Drones are being increasingly used in innovative ways to enhance environmental research and conservation. Despite their widespread use for wildlife studies, there are few scientifically justified guidelines that provide minimum distances at which wildlife can be approached to minimize visual and auditory disturbance. These distances are essential to ensure that behavioral and survey data have no observer bias and form the basis of requirements for animal ethics and scientific permit approvals. In the present study, we documented the behaviors of three species of sea turtle (green turtles, Chelonia mydas, flatback turtles, Natator depressus, hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata), saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), and crested terns (Thalasseus bergii) in response to a small commercially available (1.4 kg) multirotor drone flown in Northern Territory and Western Australia. Sea turtles in nearshore waters off nesting beaches or in foraging habitats exhibited no evasive behaviors (e.g. rapid diving) in response to the drone at or above 20-30 m altitude, and at or above 10 m altitude for juvenile green and hawksbill turtles foraging on shallow, algae-covered reefs. Adult female flatback sea turtles were not deterred by drones flying forward or stationary at 10 m altitude when crawling up the beach to nest or digging a body pit or egg chamber. In contrast, flyovers elicited a range of behaviors from crocodiles, including minor, lateral head movements, fleeing, or complete submergence when a drone was present below 50 m altitude. Similarly, a colony of crested terns resting on a sand-bank displayed disturbance behaviors (e.g. flight response) when a drone was flown below 60 m altitude. The current study demonstrates a variety of behavioral disturbance thresholds for diverse species and should be considered when establishing operating conditions for drones in behavioral and conservation studies.
无人机正被越来越多地以创新的方式用于增强环境研究和保护。尽管它们在野生动物研究中被广泛使用，但很少有科学合理的指南提供最小接近野生动物的距离，以最大限度地减少视觉和听觉干扰。这些距离对于确保行为和调查数据没有观察者偏见，并构成动物伦理和科学许可批准要求的基础是至关重要的。在本研究中，我们记录了三种海龟（绿海龟、丽龟、平背海龟、玳瑁）、咸水鳄（湾鳄）和红脚鲣鸟（褐鲣鸟）在北领地和西澳大利亚的近岸水域觅食栖息地或筑巢海滩附近的行为，以响应在 20-30 米或以上高度飞行的小型商用（1.4 公斤）多旋翼无人机。在这些水域中，筑巢海滩附近或觅食栖息地的海龟在 20-30 米或以上高度，或在 10 米或以上高度，当它们在浅水区、藻类覆盖的珊瑚礁上觅食时，对无人机没有逃避行为（例如快速潜水）。当成年雌性平背海龟在海滩上爬行筑巢或挖掘身体坑或卵室时，10 米高度的无人机向前飞行或停留在原地不会阻止它们前进。相比之下，当无人机在 50 米以下高度飞行时，飞掠会引起鳄鱼的一系列行为，包括轻微的侧向头部运动、逃离或完全潜水。同样，当一架无人机在 60 米以下高度飞行时，栖息在沙堤上的红脚鲣鸟群也会表现出干扰行为（例如飞行反应）。本研究为不同物种展示了各种行为干扰阈值，在为行为和保护研究中使用无人机建立操作条件时应予以考虑。
