Review of Satellite Remote Sensing and Unoccupied Aircraft Systems for Counting Wildlife on Land
Although many medium-to-large terrestrial vertebrates are still counted by ground or aerial surveys, remote-sensing technologies and image analysis have developed rapidly in recent decades, offering improved accuracy and repeatability, lower costs, speed, expanded spatial coverage and increased potential for public involvement. This review provides an introduction for wildlife biologists and managers relatively new to the field on how to implement remote-sensing techniques (satellite and unoccupied aircraft systems) for counting large vertebrates on land, including marine predators that return to land to breed, haul out or roost, to encourage wider application of these technological solutions. We outline the entire process, including the selection of the most appropriate technology, indicative costs, procedures for image acquisition and processing, observer training and annotation, automation, and citizen science campaigns. The review considers both the potential and the challenges associated with different approaches to remote surveys of vertebrates and outlines promising avenues for future research and method development.
Duke Scholars
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- 4013 Geomatic engineering
- 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience
- 3701 Atmospheric sciences
- 0909 Geomatic Engineering
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
- 0203 Classical Physics
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Related Subject Headings
- 4013 Geomatic engineering
- 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience
- 3701 Atmospheric sciences
- 0909 Geomatic Engineering
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
- 0203 Classical Physics