Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor
Abstract In birds, obtaining information related to nest occupancy, offspring status or breeding success is essential for population monitoring, particularly for species of conservation concern. Traditionally, nest monitoring demands a lot of time and effort in order to gather accurate information a...
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doaj-446e0ae079fb4916b495d63993a479302021-09-23T06:41:06ZengWileyRemote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation2056-34852021-09-017355056110.1002/rse2.206Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptorDiego Gallego0José H. Sarasola1Centro para el Estudio y Conservación de las Aves Rapaces en Argentina (CECARA) Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales Universidad Nacional de La Pampa Avda. Uruguay 151 Santa Rosa La Pampa 6300 ArgentinaCentro para el Estudio y Conservación de las Aves Rapaces en Argentina (CECARA) Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales Universidad Nacional de La Pampa Avda. Uruguay 151 Santa Rosa La Pampa 6300 ArgentinaAbstract In birds, obtaining information related to nest occupancy, offspring status or breeding success is essential for population monitoring, particularly for species of conservation concern. Traditionally, nest monitoring demands a lot of time and effort in order to gather accurate information and avoiding nest disturbance. Instead, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, hereafter drones) present an alternative to traditional methods, but few studies have been done measuring their influence on birds’ behavior and reproductive success. We addressed the utility of drones equipped with an on‐board camera in examining nesting status of the endangered Chaco Eagle Buteogallus coronatus in semiarid environments of central Argentina, as well as the degree of disturbance of drone flights to individuals. We performed 76 drone flights at 41 Chaco Eagle nests registering flight duration, tree height, nest relative height and pilot proximity to nest. Of those, 38 flights were done over occupied nests where we recorded adult behavior. Before drone took off, most adult eagles remained in the nests or in the surroundings (<100 m away), particularly during the incubation period and in tall trees. During drone flights, only one adult flew as a response to drone flights. The rest of them remained vigilant or emitted alarm calls while incubating or perched on the nest platform. No attack toward drones was registered. The use of drones for monitoring Chaco Eagle’s nests significantly reduced levels of disturbance when compared with traditional methods where all adults flew away during climbing. Additionally, this method was almost three times faster in comparison to traditional climbing (performed at the end of the reproductive season) and had no negative effects on reproductive success of Chaco Eagles. Although responses to drones could be species‐specific, our results encourage researchers to consider and test the use of drones as a less disturbing and rapid method to monitor breeding raptor populations.https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.206Breeding successdronesnest disturbancenest monitoringraptorsUAV |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Diego Gallego José H. Sarasola |
spellingShingle |
Diego Gallego José H. Sarasola Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation Breeding success drones nest disturbance nest monitoring raptors UAV |
author_facet |
Diego Gallego José H. Sarasola |
author_sort |
Diego Gallego |
title |
Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
title_short |
Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
title_full |
Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
title_fullStr |
Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
title_sort |
using drones to reduce human disturbance while monitoring breeding status of an endangered raptor |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation |
issn |
2056-3485 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Abstract In birds, obtaining information related to nest occupancy, offspring status or breeding success is essential for population monitoring, particularly for species of conservation concern. Traditionally, nest monitoring demands a lot of time and effort in order to gather accurate information and avoiding nest disturbance. Instead, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, hereafter drones) present an alternative to traditional methods, but few studies have been done measuring their influence on birds’ behavior and reproductive success. We addressed the utility of drones equipped with an on‐board camera in examining nesting status of the endangered Chaco Eagle Buteogallus coronatus in semiarid environments of central Argentina, as well as the degree of disturbance of drone flights to individuals. We performed 76 drone flights at 41 Chaco Eagle nests registering flight duration, tree height, nest relative height and pilot proximity to nest. Of those, 38 flights were done over occupied nests where we recorded adult behavior. Before drone took off, most adult eagles remained in the nests or in the surroundings (<100 m away), particularly during the incubation period and in tall trees. During drone flights, only one adult flew as a response to drone flights. The rest of them remained vigilant or emitted alarm calls while incubating or perched on the nest platform. No attack toward drones was registered. The use of drones for monitoring Chaco Eagle’s nests significantly reduced levels of disturbance when compared with traditional methods where all adults flew away during climbing. Additionally, this method was almost three times faster in comparison to traditional climbing (performed at the end of the reproductive season) and had no negative effects on reproductive success of Chaco Eagles. Although responses to drones could be species‐specific, our results encourage researchers to consider and test the use of drones as a less disturbing and rapid method to monitor breeding raptor populations. |
topic |
Breeding success drones nest disturbance nest monitoring raptors UAV |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.206 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT diegogallego usingdronestoreducehumandisturbancewhilemonitoringbreedingstatusofanendangeredraptor AT josehsarasola usingdronestoreducehumandisturbancewhilemonitoringbreedingstatusofanendangeredraptor |
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