Research
Using public participation and genetic mark‐recapture data to estimate urban moose population demographics 2025 - The Journal of Wildlife Management
... we developed a methodology for estimating demographics of an urban moose (Alces alces) population by combining reports from the public and genetic mark-recapture data. From 2018–2021, we elicited the public's help during a 3-day period in late February to locate moose for biopsy sampling in Anchorage, Alaska ... This study showed that by eliciting public participation in an urban environment, genetic mark-recapture was a feasible alternative to traditional aerial surveys to estimate moose population demographics, a technique that could easily be adapted to other urban areas and wildlife species...
Using animal–vehicle collision data for wildlife population monitoring - Ecosphere, 2024
... , we compared data of >1.2 million hunter-shot deer and >40,000 deer–vehicle collisions collected over 11 years in Denmark. We show that deer–vehicle collision data can be useful for population monitoring of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Dama dama), and red deer (Cervus elaphus)...
The “Internet of Animals” Could Transform What We Know About Wildlife August 10, 2024 Mother Jones
... by attaching tiny, solar-powered tracking devices, some weighing less than a paperclip, to all kinds of organisms ...inexpensive, globe-spanning system of animal tagging ... His team was studying and perfecting the lowest-stress methods of tagging animals and even testing automatic tagging systems, like one for deer involving a salt lick and a tiny elastic band...
July, 2024 - The Journal of Wildlife Management
... While camera-based methods theoretically provide an alternative way to estimate density when traditional methods are impractical, our results suggest that more work is needed to ensure density estimates are accurate and precise enough to inform population management... Using 15-m viewsheds and the IS estimators, mule deer density estimates came with a 26% CVmean ...
Minnesota DNR Using AI + Trail Cams For Deer Survey In 6 Permit Zones June 5, 2024, KDHL Radio
... There will be a massive amount of data collected with time-lapse photography. The DNR says they will use machine learning and artificial intelligence to process the data. They used it before in studies in 2021 and 2023 with success. You can expect the results and the final analysis in 2027...
University of Freiburg experts analyse wildlife populations in ten large protected areas in Germany For The First Time July 22, 2023 Germany, India Education Diary
... Monitoring ungulate populations is a crucial part of the management process in protected areas ... In order to classify the images, a database was set up at the University of Freiburg, to which the images could be uploaded. “We had to rely on artificial intelligence in order to be able to determine the species of ten large protected areas from this massive amount of images,” ...
Assessment of the accuracy of counting large ungulate species (red deer Cervus elaphus) with UAV‐mounted thermal infrared cameras during night flights - Wildlife Biology, 2023
... Deer appeared to avoid the landing/take-off
area, but there were no noted behavioural responses to drones flying over animals when
at constant height and velocity during surveys. Our results indicate that UAV-mounted TIR camera have the potential to accurately count populations of large ungulate species, but that flight season, height and potentially temperature need to be taken into account to maximise accuracy. This approach has the potential to be scaled up to more
accurately estimate densities of wild populations compared to existing approaches...
A sampling strategy for habitat selection, mapping, and abundance estimation of deer by pellet counts 2022, Journal of Wildlife Management
... We propose a design-based strategy to exploit pellet group counts performed within plots of a prefixed size using the clearance count technique with the purposes of analyzing habitat selection, mapping the pellet group presence throughout the study area, and estimating the abundance of deer populations... The proposed strategy provided precise estimates of deer abundance and is readily implementable in the field ...
A sampling strategy for habitat selection, mapping, and abundance estimation of deer by pellet counts 2022, Journal of Wildlife Management
... We conclude that fecal DNA capture-recapture is a cost-effective alternative for estimating abundance of ungulates on winter ranges when weather is not limiting and when researchers can survey an adequate proportion of the study area and collect an adequate number of samples ...
A sampling strategy for habitat selection, mapping, and abundance estimation of deer by pellet counts 2022, Journal of Wildlife Management
... We conclude that fecal DNA capture-recapture is a cost-effective alternative for estimating abundance of ungulates on winter ranges when weather is not limiting and when researchers can survey an adequate proportion of the study area and collect an adequate number of samples ...
New AI technology being developed that could track and count wild deer in Perth and Kinross December 8, 2022 Scotland, Daily Record
... involves images from a lightweight manned aircraft, with a high resolution camera system, being run through the EOLAS Insight AI recognition software to automatically count deer numbers...
White‐tailed deer movement in response to helicopter surveys 2022 Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2022
... Disturbance of wildlife from aircraft during aerial surveys could affect behavior or displace animals, causing them to cross multiple transects resulting in double counting or increasing likelihood of them seeking cover thereby impacting detection probability ...
New green tech could transform deer count November 18, 2022 Scotland, NatureScot
...NatureScot is working with Glasgow-based tech company EOLAS Insight to test the use of satellites, aerial imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately count deer... The AI technology that EOLAS has developed has proved that an image recognition system is feasible ...
Estimation of ungulate population density in Kazakhstan: Case study from foothill ecosystems, 2022, Journal for Forestry Science
... tData on wildlife abundance is an important indicator both for the species concerned and the stability of entire ecosystems as well as for sustainable game management. Therefore, the abundance of ungulate game was verifiednin a foothill region of Kazakhstan. The methods of thermal imagery and faecal pellet group (FPG) census on transectsnwere compared. The results obtained by the FPG counting method for moose (Alces alces, 0.34 individuals per 100 ha)
and maral deer (Cervus elaphus sibiricus, 0.04 individuals per 100 ha) were relatively consistent with the data reportednby the hunting ground tenants. Only one moose was detected by the thermal imaging transect count method...
... Here, we evaluated the utility of aerial multiple
covariate distance sampling (MCDS) to estimate abundance of three populations of tule elk
(Cervus canadensis nannodes) in northern California... While SCR efforts were more precise and less expensive overall, our MCDS approach reduced staff time by 64% (587 person-hours) and the number of survey days by 87% (64 days). Our results suggest MCDS methods can produce reliable abundance estimates across a gradient of canopy cover, particularly when observations can be pooled across populations to decrease variance...
Comparing Methods of Estimating Fecal Pellet-Group Density in Woodlots of the Midwest United States 2022, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management
... Our results suggest that quadrat sampling may be the most effective method for estimating pellet-group densities within woodlots of the Midwest United States, and that precision may increase in areas with higher white-tailed deer densities...
Automated distance estimation for wildlife camera trapping
P Johanns, T Haucke, V Steinhage - Ecological Informatics, 2022
... We propose a fully automatic approach we call AUtomated DIstance esTimation (AUDIT) to estimate camera-to-animal distances. We leverage existing state-of-the-art relative monocular depth estimation and combine it with a novel alignment procedure to estimate metric distances...
Mark‐resight methodology for estimating key deer abundance assisted by citizen scientists - Wildlife Society Bulletin
... Our mark-resight estimate (n = 748) was nearly 300 deer lower than the traditional distance estimate likely because of distance sampling's sensitivity to increased deer visibility along survey routes. Compared to historic data, our mark-resight population estimate indicated increased deer abundance compared to post-Hurricane Irma estimates (n = 573), but slightly below post-screwworm outbreak estimates (n = 860)...
A comparison of mixed‐mode survey designs for collecting deer and fall turkey harvest data in North Dakota - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2022
... We found that internet-mail and mail-internet treatments resulted in significantly higher response rates than a traditional mail-only survey mode. We also found that hunters who successfully harvested an animal were more likely to return questionnaires shortly after the initial wave of surveying. Finally, we found that older, nonresident, and urban hunters were more likely to return questionnaires. Our research demonstrates potential use of tailored mixed-mode surveys to increase response rates...
Methodology matters when estimating deer abundance: a global systematic review and recommendations for improvements. 2022, Journal of Wildlife Management
... . The most precise estimates were from vehicular spotlight counts and from capture–recapture analysis
of images from motion‐sensitive cameras. For aerial direct
counts, capture–recapture methods provided the most precise estimates... The automation of image analysis using machine learning should increase the accuracy and precision of abundance estimates ...
Estimating deer density and abundance using spatial mark–resight models with camera trap data March, 2022. Journal of Mammalogy
... In the absence of specific local information on deer detectability and movement patterns, we recommend that at least 30 cameras be spaced at 500–1,000 m and set for 90 days. This approach could also be applied to large mammals other than deer...
Comparing unmanned aerial systems to conventional methodology for surveying a wild white-tailed deer population, June, 2021 Wildlife Research
... Overall, UAS [unmanned aerial systems] yielded similar results to pellet-group counts for estimating population densities of wild ungulates; however, UAS surveys were more efficient and could be conducted at multiple times throughout the winter. Implications We demonstrated how UAS could be applied for regularly monitoring changes in population density. We encourage researchers and managers to consider the merits of UAS and how they could be used to enhance the efficiency of wildlife surveys...
Drones flying over Arlington to measure deer population March 29, 2021 Maryland,
INSIDENOVA.COM
... Thermal and infrared imagery has helped improve counting by relating animals’ unique heat and visibility signatures to precisely count only deer. In one study, it was shown that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, can be about 43-96% more accurate than ground or human-made observations in counting wildlife...
Enumerating White‐Tailed Deer Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles March, 2021 West Virginia, Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2021
... density estimates in 2 United States National Parks: Harpers Ferry National Historic Park (HAFE) and Monocacy National Battlefield (MONO)... spotlight surveys may significantly underestimate deer densities. Despite the logistical challenges to UAV operation, our findings demonstrate that UAVs will become an invaluable tool for wildlife management as technology improves...
Drones helping modernize deer counts through locating fawns March 4, 2021 Minnesota, Minneapolis Star Tribune
... Minnesota Department of Natural Resources whitetail biologists until recently flew over various deer permit areas. This method provided accurate census information, but was expensive and too dependent on safe flying weather and other variables...
Assessing Ungulate Populations in Temperate North America February, 2021, Canadian Wildlife Biology and Management
... we review major methods for estimating both absolute and relative abundance of ungulate populations across temperate North America, where season and habitat provide a further challenge to selecting and developing an appropriate survey method for a given species...
Detecting and Tracking the Positions of Wild Ungulates Using Sound Recordings
SI Salem, K Fujisao, M Maki, T Okumura, K Oki - Sensors, 2021
... A sound recording system was also developed to overcome the time drift problem in the internal clock of recorders, by receiving time information from GPS satellites. Determining deer position enables the elimination of repetitive calls from the same deer, thus providing a promising tool to track deer movement. The validation results revealed that the proposed technique can provide reasonable accuracy for the experimental and natural environment...
Where is my Deer?–Wildlife Tracking And Counting via Edge Computing and Deep Learning B Arshad, J Barthelemy, E Pilton, P Perez
... we presented a tracking pipeline, which couples a CNN-based object detector and a set of discriminative Filters to tackle the re-counting problem. During the 14-day field trial, 170 videos were taken, our proposed method counted 17 deer compared with 20 deer, manually identified by the operator (15% absolute error), thus proving our approach for removing re-counts is viable...
Evaluating the Use of Drones Equipped with Thermal Sensors as an Effective Method for Estimating Wildlife JT Beaver, RW Baldwin, M Messinger, CH Newbolt… - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2020
... The method provides the ability to perform accurate and reliable population surveys in a safe and cost‐effective manner compared with traditional aerial surveys and is only expected to continue to improve as sensor technology and machine learning analytics continue to advance. Furthermore, the precise replicability of autonomous flights at future dates results in methodology with superior spatial precision that increases statistical power to detect population trends across surveys...
New deer count method shows promising results for Southeast Alaska December 19, 2019 Alaska, KFSK
... a better way to estimate the local deer population by using a combination of data collecting– DNA tests, game cameras, and collaring... The DNA tests involve gathering deer fecal pellets and sending them to a lab to identify individual deer ...
Assessing precision and requirements of three methods to estimate roe deer density
A Marcon, D Battocchio, M Apollonio, S Grignolio - PLOS ONE, 2019
... Drive counts represented the most demanding method on account of the higher number of operators involved. Pellet-group counts yielded the most precise results and required a smaller number of operators, though the sampling effort was considerable. When compared to the other two methods, camera trapping resulted in an intermediate level of precision and required the lowest sampling effort...
Detection of Animal Occurrence Using an Unmanned System J Lešetický, P Matějka, M Olmr - Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica, 2019
... We report on tests of mobile and power‐tethered unmanned aerial systems (UASs) equipped with thermal cameras, comparing between these systems as well as to more conventional ground‐based camera traps... Results suggested that wide fields‐of‐view and extended operational periods offered by power‐tethered UASs could be advantageous for spatially extensive and temporally continuous monitoring needs, but that mobile UASs more easily generated mapped data products for integration into existing Geographic Information Systems...
Best method for counting deer doesn't include corn, study finds July 26, 2019 Georgia, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources - University of Georgia
... “Baiting can alter movement patterns and affect hunter harvest rates,” said Johnson, noting that this method also assumes that the deer who come to the cameras to eat are coming at equal rates for males and females. But this is inaccurate, as female deer have smaller roaming areas and are more likely to visit certain cameras more often...
A Spatially and Temporally Concurrent Comparison of Popular Abundance Estimators for White-tailed Deer JM Haus, TB Eyler, JL Bowman - Northeastern Naturalist, 2019
... FLIR surveys had greater detection probabilities relative to spotlight surveys and required less effort to achieve sufficient precision. Jacobson camera surveys appeared to overestimate Deer density and provided no measures of precision. The N-mixture model camera surveys provided sufficient precision and generated point estimate and detection probabilities similar to FLIR surveys. Camera surveys were costlier and more labor intensive relative to road-based surveys. We recommend road-based distance sampling using FLIR technology ...
Wildlife biologists turn to solar-powered ear tags March 26, 2019 Idaho, LocalNews8.com-18 hours ago
... solar-powered ear tags ... expected to last four to five years... tags will record and save the locations of tagged bucks every 30 minutes, then transmit the data the next time the device is near cellular service ...
Determination of the big mammals migration corridors in the particular areas using remotely-operating intelligent camera system S Matuska, R Hudec, M Benco, P Kamencay - 2018 ELEKTRO, 2018
... Large mammals free movement through the large areas is fundamental element of the healthy mammals ecosystem. The migrations keep the balance between animal populations, maintain sufficient genetic diversity or prevent the temporary lack of food. With the growing rate of transportation, urbanization and industrialization across the all countries, the barriers in the countrysides are created. Because of these barriers, the natural migration corridors of big mammals are endangered ... The information about mammals movement, movement trajectory and time in the scene are send to the master and stored in the database. The system uses the algorithm of computer vision to automatically classify appropriate animal species for moving mammals ...
Way too many deer in NJ? Drones will count them November 18, 2018 New Jersey, nj1015.com
... A group of New Jersey farmers have overseen a test flight for an infrared-sensing drone to measure the number of deer around their fields... "The drones fly between 200 and 400 feet above the ground...
Use of track counts and camera traps to estimate the abundance of roe deer in North-Eastern Italy: are they effective methods? T Romani, C Giannone, E Mori, S Filacorda - Mammal Research, 2018
... drive count and vantage point count estimates (i.e. counts by hunters) have been reported to be the most effective to assess deer densities in woodlands, but they require a high volunteer human presence, which limit their feasibility. Results of count by hunters were thus compared with estimates obtained through camera trapping and track counts... Track-count survey was shown to be—with equal effectiveness—the cheapest method to infer roe deer density in forest areas (i.e. near 28% cheaper than camera trapping). ...
Do occupancy or detection rates from camera traps reflect deer density?
AW Parsons, T Forrester, WJ McShea… - Journal of Mammalogy, 2017
... Density estimation using camera-trap data is a commonly desired outcome, but most approaches only work for species that can be individually recognized, and researchers studying most mammals are typically constrained to measures of site occupancy or detection rate... Using occupancy or detection rate as proxies for density may be particularly problematic when comparing between areas where animals might to move or behave differently, such as urban–wild interfaces. In such cases, alternate methods of density approximation are recommended...
Noninvasive genetic spatial capture‐recapture for estimating deer population abundance JL Brazeal, T Weist, BN Sacks - The Journal of Wildlife Management, 2017
... For deer (Odocoileus spp.), the use of closed-population, capture-recapture (CR) methods, in conjunction with noninvasive DNA sampling, has become increasingly practical, but, up to now, these methods have been used in a non-spatial modeling framework, which has limited their utility for population-level inferences. ... In comparison, non-spatial CR analysis produced density estimates on average 60% higher, likely reflecting bias resulting from use of the commonly employed mean maximum recapture distance (MMRD) to estimate effective sampling area.
Saving time and money by using diurnal vehicle counts to monitor roe deer abundanc M Pellerin, A Bessière, D Maillard, G Capron… - Wildlife Biology, 2017
... Despite being a widespread and important game species in Europe, scientifically reliable, easy applicable and cost effective methods for monitoring abundance of roe deer Capreolus capreolus populations do not yet exist... The positive correlation of AI-p and AI-v with CMR density estimates as well as the reduced costs of conducting surveys by car instead on foot (-47%) suggest that diurnal vehicle counts of roe deer can provide a suitable abundance index to monitor temporal trends in roe deer populations at operational management scales...
The Truth About Spotlight Deer Surveys January 24, 2017 South Carolina, deeranddeerhunting.com
... in South Carolina called Brosnan Forest. ... Researchers identified 4,508 deer during 79 Bronson Forest surveys. Thermal imagers detected 85 percent (3,861 deer) of the total deer seen, and spotlights detected only 48 percent (2,174 deer) of the total... This study demonstrated that the likelihood of detecting an individual whitetail during spotlight surveys is very low, averaging about 41 percent of the time...
Are camera surveys useful for assessing recruitment in white-tailed deer?
MC Chitwood, MA Lashley, JC Kilgo, MJ Cherry… - Wildlife Biology, 2016
... At Savannah River Site, South Carolina, we used six years of camera-based recruitment estimates (i.e. fawn:doe ratio) to predict concurrently collected annual radiotag-based survival estimates. The coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.445, indicating some support for the viability of cameras to reflect recruitment... because so few researchers concurrently estimate survival and camera-based recruitment, examining this relationship at larger spatial scales while controlling for numerous confounding variables remains difficult...
AnimalFinder: A semi-automated system for animal detection in time-lapse camera trap images JLP Tack, BS West, CP McGowan, SS Ditchkoff… - Ecological Informatics, 2016
... Although the use of camera traps in wildlife management is well established, technologies to automate image processing have been much slower in development, despite their potential to drastically reduce personnel time and cost required to review photos. We developed AnimalFinder in MATLAB® to identify animal presence in time-lapse camera trap images by comparing individual photos to all images contained within the subset of images ... Our results show that the program significantly reduced data processing time and may increase efficiency of camera trapping surveys...
Spring spotlight counts provide reliable indices to track changes in population size of mountain-dwelling red deer L Corlatti, A Gugiatti, L Pedrotti - Wildlife Biology, 2016
... The reliability of spotlight-based indices to monitoring deer population changes has been widely debated, possibly owing to inconsistent performances of the method in different landscapes. For mountain-dwelling deer populations living in similar habitats, our results suggest that spring spotlight surveys represent valuable tools in support of wildlife managers for long-term, large-scale monitoring programs; furthermore, they can provide appropriate indices to estimating population growth rates and thus modelling deer population dynamics...
Comparison of three different indirect methods to evaluate ungulate population densities
S Pfeffer - 2016
... For moose, camera traps yielded a population estimate similar to dung counts. However, estimated densities from the dung count approach were much lower for all other three ungulate species than densities from the camera trapping. Even though the use of camera traps is more time consuming and costly, this method is evaluated as a trustworthy estimator of population sizes. In addition, further information about habitat associations, activity patterns, behaviour, or community structure can be successfully accomplished...
A simple method for estimating the effective detection distance of camera traps
TR Hofmeester, JM Rowcliffe, PA Jansen - Remote Sensing in Ecology and …, 2016
... Camera traps can be used to estimate the abundance of terrestrial mammals, including elusive species, provided that the sensitivity of the sensor, estimated as the effective detection distance (EDD), is quantified... EDD estimates derived from simulated passages using binned detection distances approximated those obtained from continuous detection distance measurements if at least five intervals were used over the maximum detection distance...
Mobile Data Collection and Analysis in Conservation M Wergeles, C Shang, Z Peng, H Wang, J Sartwell… - 2016 IEEE International …, 2016
... This paper presents some recent development of mobile computing and data analysis systems for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), including a mobile data collection system, an improved bear tracking website, and new analytics results obtained from real Missouri bear and deer GPS trajectories ... Using real world data, interesting movement patterns of a large number of bears and white-tailed deer have been obtained ...
A detection probability model for aerial surveys of mule deer
CJ Zabransky, DG Hewitt, RW Deyoung, SS Gray… - The Journal of Wildlife, 2016
... Population estimates derived from aerial surveys of ungulates are biased by imperfect detection, where probability of sighting groups is influenced by variables specific to terrain features and vegetation communities... Our detection probability model is a simple and effective means to reduce bias in estimates of mule deer population size in southwestern rangelands...
Comparison of Three Techniques to Identify and Count Individual Animals in Aerial Imagery [PDF] PA Terletzky, RD Ramsey - Journal of Signal and Information Processing, 2016
... Manual photo-interpretation had a high probability of detecting an animal (81% ± 24%), the lowest probability of over-counting an animal (8% ± 16%), and a relatively low probability of under-counting an animal (19% ± 24%). An unsupervised, ISODATA classification with subtraction of a background image had the highest probability of detecting an animal (82% ± 10%), a high probability of over-counting an animal (69% ± 27%) but a low probability of under-counting an animal (18% ± 18%). The multiimage, multi-step procedure incorporated more information, but had the lowest probability of detecting an animal (50% ± 26%), the highest probability of over-counting an animal (72% ± 26%), and the highest probability of under-counting an animal (50% ± 26%)...
Trail-Camera Surveys used to figure out deer population July 16, 2016 Alabama, Montgomery Advertiser
... A Trail-Camera Survey is an incredibly useful tool to give you a look at your deer population ... take your photos and start compiling. Count the number of bucks, does, and fawns, or deer under a year... a handy form [PDF] on QDMA’s website from Thomas to help you get all the details worked out ...
Observing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) behavior in Northwestern Vermont Using Trail Cameras [PDF] B Cole - 2016
... Non-invasive techniques significantly reduce induced stress levels and the risk of injury and/or death. They also require limited human-to-animal interaction... Average life span 4.5 years in the wild ... Resource preference: herbaceous plants, fruits, and fungi (summer) nuts, twigs and stems, leaves, and grasses (winter) ...
Visible and thermal infrared remote sensing for the detection of white‐tailed deer using an unmanned aerial system LP Chrétien, J Théau, P Ménard - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2016
... Some agencies are focusing on animal surveys to manage species such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)... Our pilot study (data collected on 6 Nov 2012 at Saint-David-de-Falardeau, QC, Canada) ... Overall, this approach had an average detection rate of 0.5, which is comparable to conventional aerial surveys. Visual obstructions by coniferous canopy and the spectral confusion associated with certain elements (e.g., bare soil, rocks) are problems that remain unresolved. Using UASs with image processing for surveys of deer and other species of large mammals is promising, but currently limited by the flight range of unmanned aerial vehicles ...
Wildlife research project encounters defective technology January 4, 2016 Delaware, Village Soup
... male deer after animals were found with severe neck injuries. Two years ago, Hopkins opened his land to researchers, who began tagging juvenile male deer in efforts to learn more about white-tailed bucks' travel patterns and mortality rates through a $395,000 Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife grant ...
Citizen scientists use hidden cameras to track urban wildlife October 22, 2015 South Carolina, News & Observer
... Until recently, information about the movements and habits of urban wildlife has been scarce due to a lack of widespread monitoring data. That data is becoming available with the help of more than 400 volunteers who have participated in the program in North Carolina and five other Southeastern states. “We generally ask people to set up the camera in their backyards or a nearby woods ...
Employing Ultrahigh-Frequency RFID Technology on Deer Farm Managment L Hsiao-Mei, W Chih-Hwa, H Yan-Der, H Kuo-Hsiang - Indian Journal of Animal …, 2015
... This project uses ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) ear tags and readers with a readable range of 3 to 5 m. Forty stags were tagged with radio-frequency identification (RFID) ear tags and allocated into 20 pens. When deer with RFID ear tags walked through the aisle, handheld RFID readers, used as personal digital assistants (PDAs), and stationary RFID readers in frequency range received signals from the tags, and individual deer tag data were transmitted immediately and completely through wireless PDAs to a computer. The inputted data were sent to the deer-farm management system to be collated and organized. Farmers obtained individual deer data without approaching the deer, which decreased the risk of the deer attacking. Employing UHF-RFID technology integrated with software contributes to enhancing the efficiency of deer identification and farm management.,,
Entering a 'golden age' of animal tracking June 12, 2015 Science Daily
... Driven, in part, by consumer demand in the past five years, radio-tracking technology has been replaced by smaller GPS tags that allow scientists to accurately track vastly larger numbers of animals and use satellites to track individuals as they move across the globe....
How to Conduct a Trail-Camera Survey QDMA. It's almost trail-camera survey time again! Formal 14-day trail-camera surveys should be conducted after velvet has shed but before acorns start falling or hunting season opens. The results can help you track deer density, buck:doe ratio, buck age structure, and fawn recruitment.Our online guide tells you how.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Two Distance-Sampling Techniques for Monitoring Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) Densities F Horcajada-Sánchez, I Barja - Annales Zoologici Fennici, 2015
... In this study, we compare the results of roe deer sampling based on distance detection performed by two techniques: surveys on foot in the evening and nocturnal surveys by car... when it is necessary to estimate absolute densities of roe deer populations, nocturnal distance sampling by car seems to be the most appropriate method due to its low cost, yet the influence of the vehicle on the distribution of roe deer and, therefore, on the estimated density, must be taken into account when carrying out such studies.
Comparing Population Density Estimation Techniques for Columbia Black-tailed Deer ... : Fecal Standing Crop and Distance … JD Brenneman - 2014 Washington
... I estimated deer density and population size on Blakely Island, WA, using the fecal standing crop (FSC) method described by Martin et al. (2011). I compared the FSC method with a well established and broadly applicable estimation method, distance sampling... As the FSC density estimation was much greater than that of distance sampling, and because it did not compare to other high-density island populations of deer, I concluded that this newer technique may not be comparable to well established methods...
Animals Spy a New Enemy: Drones October 20, 2015 New York Times
.... They programmed autonomous quadcopters to fly in circles over four adult black bears and several cubs in forest, shrub land and farms in northwest Minnesota. In an earlier study, the adult bears had been outfitted with GPS collars and small heart rate monitors. Judging by appearance alone, the bears did not seem particularly disturbed. They rarely made an attempt to evade the drones ...
Estimating sex‐specific abundance in fawning areas of a high‐density Columbian black‐tailed deer population using fecal DNA ZT Lounsberry, TD Forrester, MT Olegario, JL Brazeal… - The Journal of Wildlife …, 2014, California
... The recent development of fecal-genetic capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods has increased the feasibility of estimating abundance of forest-dwelling ungulates that are difficult to survey using visual methods. Unless genetic markers differentiating sex are incorporated into such studies, however, genetic CMR approaches risk missing sex-specific differences in population trends.... Incorporating sex and individual markers into a single assay provided a cost-effective means of applying CMR estimation based on fecal DNA to a high-density ungulate population in a forested ecosystem and emphasized the importance of explicitly modeling sex in abundance estimation.
Using Mark-recapture Distance Sampling to Estimate Sitka Black-tailed Deer Densities in Non-forested Habitats of Kodiak Island, Alaska [PDF] MCA Cobb - 2014
Management goals for Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) at
Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge are to minimize deer impacts to native flora and
fauna while maintaining subsistence harvest opportunities. Accomplishment of
these goals requires statistically-robust estimates of deer abundance. We
estimated deer abundances in non-forested, non-mountainous habitats of southern
Kodiak Island using double observer (mark-recapture) distance sampling applied
to traditional line-transect aerial counts... This survey provides the first statisticallyrobust
means of indexing annual trends in deer densities and abundances on
Kodiak Island
Monitoring ungulates in steep non-forest habitat: a comparison of faecal pellet and helicopter counts October 24, 2014 New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Zoology
... There was a positive curvilinear (concave down) relationship between faecal pellet and helicopter counts. Compared with faecal pellet counts, helicopter counts were cheaper, could identify ungulate species and provided estimates of absolute density. Helicopter counts are a cost-effective method for monitoring ungulates in the steep non-forest habitats of New Zealand's Southern Alps...
Aerial vertical‐looking infrared imagery to evaluate bias of distance sampling techniques for white‐tailed deer JT Beaver, CA Harper, RE Kissell, LI Muller… - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2014
... Despite its higher cost (US$10,000) over spotlight surveys, we recommend aerial imaging instead of road-based ground surveys for monitoring populations of deer and discourage the continued use of non-random road-based surveys as a method for estimating white-tailed deer populations.
Comparison of occupancy modeling and radiotelemetry to estimate ungulate population dynamics JF Duquette, JL Belant, NJ Svoboda, DE Beyer Jr… - Population Ecology, 2014
... Radiotelemetry and unmarked occupancy modeling have been used to estimate animal population growth, but have not been compared for ungulates. ... Radiotelemetry provided more precise population growth estimates, while allowing collection of vital rates and location data. However, the Royle–Nichols occupancy model may be preferred to radiotelemetry because it reflected yearly variation in population growth with reduced labor and no invasive marking...
2013 White-tailed Deer Surveys [PDF] Brian S. Haroldson, Farmland Wildlife Populations and Research Group. John H. Giudice, Wildlife Biometrics Unit
... The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) uses simulation modeling within 125 permit areas (PA) to estimate and track changes in white-tailed deer... abundance and, subsequently, to develop harvest recommendations to keep deer populations within goal levels. In general, model inputs include estimates of initial population size, and spatial and temporal estimates of survival and reproduction for various age and sex cohorts. Because simulated population estimates are subject to drift as model input errors accumulate over time, it is imperative to periodically recalibrate the starting population within these models with independent deer population estimates (Grund and Woolf 2004)...
[PDF] Aerial-based Inventory Methods for Selected Ungulates: Mule Deer B Harris, F Iredale, B Jex, G Kuzyk, C Procter, A Reid. British Columbia - 2013
... Standard stratified random block surveys using helicopters are routinely used in many of the western United States, and have successfully been used to estimate Mule Deer population size in the Peace Region of British Columbia... Mule Deer show strong fidelity to small ranges in winter, so movements are limited and replicate counts of blocks have produced virtually identical results. The applicability of this method in other areas of the province has not been tested and thus stratified random block surveys for Mule Deer are not recommended. However, stratified random block surveys for Mule Deer may be possible once a sufficiently accurate/precise sightability model is developed.
From Battle To Birds: Drones Get Second Life Counting Critters April 25, 2013 NET Website
... the U.S. Geological Survey, has been trying to find a second life for retired military drones in the areas of environmental and wildlife management ... The USGS office overseeing these drones gets more than a dozen calls a week from other Interior Department units interested in using them. Upcoming experiments include surveying pygmy rabbit habitat in Idaho, counting mule deer in Nevada and a climate change study near Niwot, Colo.
Incorporating detection probability into northern Great Plains pronghorn population estimates CN Jacques, JA Jenks, TW Grovenburg, RW Klaver… Journal of Wildlife Management, 2013
... Detection probability of pronghorn was not constant but depended on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. When pronghorn detection probability is a function of animal group size, animal activity, landscape complexity, and percent vegetation, traditional aerial survey techniques will result in biased pronghorn abundance estimates. Standardizing survey conditions, increasing resighting occasions, or accounting for variation in individual heterogeneity in mark-resight models will increase the accuracy and precision of pronghorn population estimates.
Accuracy of Aerial surveys (taken from news article) September 3, 2013 WDNR News
... Deer change their movements in response to weather, food availability and other factors and are not evenly distributed through a deer management unit. Aerial surveys often show a large number of deer in one square mile of habitat with very few deer in one of the neighboring square-mile blocks ... Kevin Wallenfang, the big game ecologist for the state Department of Natural Resources ...
Example: Sunset Hills ... September 4, 2013 Missouri, Call Newspapers
... Two studies conducted when deer were at their peak population in Sunset Hills last December found 72 deer per square mile in the area of the city ... Residents conducting the study drove through another part of town and did not find enough deer for their study...
Using a Double-Count Aerial Survey to Estimate Moose Abundance in Maine August, 2013b LE Kantar, RE Cumberland - … : A Journal Devoted to the Biology and Management of Moose Abundance in Maine. 2013
... The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife most recently used the relationship between moose sightings by deer hunters and moose abundance to produce density indices within Wildlife Management Districts (WMD). Due to the marked decline of deer hunters in much of northern Maine that invalidates use of this technique, we tested a double-count aerial survey method to estimate moose abundance in 9 northern WMDs. ...The density estimates tracked closely with trends in moose sighting rate by moose hunters, harvest level, and hunter success rate in the survey area, and were consistent with jurisdictions in eastern Canada that also have low levels of predation and a preponderance of younger-aged forests. The double-count aerial survey is considered the preferred method to estimate population density, whereas hunter sighting indices would be most useful to track temporal population changes within a WMD.
Using DNA to Test the Utility of Pellet‐Group Counts as an Index of Deer Counts
TJ Brinkman, DK Person, W Smith, FS Chapin… - Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2013
... Despite widespread use of fecal pellet-group counts as an index of ungulate density, techniques used to convert pellet-group numbers to ungulate numbers rarely are based on counts of known individuals, seldom evaluated across spatial and temporal scales, and precision is infrequently quantified... Assuming that our DNA-based results were a more accurate and precise metric of true deer count, we do not support the use of pellet-group count to index deer count in southeast Alaska unless confounding factors are accounted for at fine spatial (e.g., habitat patch) scales...
Reliability and precision of pellet-group counts for estimating landscape-level deer density 2013 Human-Wildlife Interactions. 7(1): 60-68.
...This study provides hitherto unavailable methodology for reliably and precisely estimating deer density within forested landscapes, enabling quantitative rather than qualitative deer management... Precision on the small landscape was high; 95% confidence intervals for individual counters were <7.5% of mean estimates of density, and coefficients of variability were <10%. Precision on the larger landscapes was acceptable: 95% confidence intervals were 18.4 to 30.4% of mean estimates and coefficients of variability were <25%. The pellet-group technique produces reliable and precise estimates of deer density, is inexpensive, requires little training to implement, and is best suited to northern hardwood forests where snow and cold result in minimal deterioration of pellet groups. Unless corrected for hunter harvest and overwinter mortality, pellet-group counts represent average overwinter density and overestimate spring density...
Road bias for deer density estimates at 2 national parks in Maryland September 22, 2011 Wildlife Society Bulletin, William J. McShea, Chad M. Stewart, Laura Kearns, Scott Bates
Estimating the population density of deer is an essential task for public agencies that plan a herd reduction... Many of these surveys are conducted along public roads due to limited resources and accessibility, which may violate a critical assumption of distance sampling and potentially introduce sampling bias. We used infrared cameras to confirm deer activity with respect to survey roads ... Although density estimation using DISTANCE can account for most sources of error introduced by use of public roads, our data indicate bias is likely to occur in landscapes with high road densities and long sight distances...
Accuracy of two techniques used to estimate pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) numbers in Chihuahuan Desert rangelands F Clemente-Sánchez, JL Holechek, R Valdez… - Journal of Applied Animal Research…, 2013
... It can be concluded that driving transect sampling is an accurate method to study pronghorn densities in the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem, while walking transect sampling estimations need to be adjusted to obtain accurate population sizes...
Mapping Urban Deer Populations Using GPS and GIS, Brandalena Gianette Blake, University of Texas at San Antonio. Stephen Castlebury Brown, University of Texas at San Antonio. Abstract: "Using a real-time, differentially corrected GPS receiver connected to a laser range finder, researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio were able to create GIS maps of the white-tail deer community in Hollywood Park. These researchers were then able to document the various factors that influence this white-tail deer herd."
Aerial Censusing of White-Tailed Deer and Comparison to Sex-Age-Kill Population Estimates in Northern Indiana 1997. SJ Burgdorf, HP Weeks Jr, Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 2013
... : Accurate estimates of population size and composition are important for effective deer management. White-tailed deer {Odocoileus virgini- anus) population estimates were obtained in two northern Indiana Counties, Marshall and Steuben, by winter aerial censusing in 1990 and 1991. To optimize helicopter flight time and decrease the variance among sample areas,stratified random sampling with optimal allocation was used to census 25% of each County. Ground truthing a subsample of woodlots provided a check on the accuracy of the aerial counts. Mean posthunt deer density calculated from aerial counts was 0.09 deer/ha in Steuben County in 1990 and 1991. In 1991, mean deer density in Marshall County was 0.04/ha. Compared to combined ground counts, the aerial counts were 93% accurate. Stratified counts from a helicopter were relatively accurate for northern Indiana when adequate snow cover was present. Population estimates from aerial counts approxi- mated the sex-age-kill model estimates.
The value of a random sampling design for annual monitoring of national populations of larger British terrestrial mammals LJ Wright, SE Newson, DG Noble - European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2013
Making use of an extensive network of volunteer birdwatchers, this study illustrates how a large-scale monitoring scheme originally designed for common breeding birds can be adapted to also provide robust monitoring data for medium- to large-sized, easily detectable terrestrial mammals. Compared with bird monitoring, the monitoring of common and widespread terrestrial mammals is rarely carried out using a well-designed sampling design and is largely restricted to sites selected by the observer or biased towards particular habitats of interest, making it difficult to know whether trends are representative of the populations of interest.... Here, we present population trends at national and regional scales for nine species of common mammal over the first 18 years of BBS mammal monitoring and examine these in relation to our current knowledge on these species...
GIS for Wildlife Conservation File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat GIS for Wildlife Conservation. 3. Launching Spacecraft From a Wildlife Refuge .... GIS FORWILDLIFE CONSERVATION. As the Joint Base Operations Support ...
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Geospatial Services Home Aug 18, 2010 ... Home page of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Geospatial Services. ...Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a system of hardware and ...
This site is to serve as a reference for individuals interested in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in wildlife studies. ...
Analyzing Wildlife Movement Corridors in Montana Using GIS by R Walker Using Geographic Information System (GIS) software, the best available spatial data on habitats, and considering the habitat preferences of 3 select ...
GIS-Generated, Expert-Based Models for Identifying Wildlife ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
by AP CLEVENGER - 2002
Modeling habitat linkages with a geographic informa- tion system (GIS) is another means of determining opti- mal placement of wildlife crossing structures. ...
Index of Available GIS Data Disclaimer: The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) is currently in the process of updating its GIS data. The data associated with some of these ...
GIS Tools and Information for Designing Wildlife Corridors ... Aug 11, 2010 ... GIS tools and information for designing wildlife corridors. Our goal is to transfer everything we've learned about designing wildlife ...
Bill's Wildlife Sites; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ... Bill's Wildlife Sites; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Telemetry/Data Acquisition Equipment/Information.
GIS and GPS in Wildlife Ecology File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - Introduction to GIS for Habitat Analysis and Home Range Estimation
Analyzing animal movement patterns using potential functions HK Preisler, AA Ager, MJ Wisdom - Ecosphere, 2013
... we present a statistical framework for analyzing movement data that is based on the concept of a potential surface. The potential surface is motivated by the assumption that animals are moving on a space-time surface with regions or points of attraction or of repulsion. We demonstrate the use of the technique by analyzing movement data from a long-term controlled experiment to evaluate the responses of free ranging Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) to anthropogenic disturbances that vary in time and space. Our results demonstrated a strong avoidance of elk to all-terrain vehicles detected up to one km from the disturbance...