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UAV Technology as an Effective Tool to Assess Chimpanzee Abundance in Degraded Landscapes

Cuadrado, Luna, Garriga, Rosa M., Amarasekaran, Bala, Humle, Tatyana (2019) UAV Technology as an Effective Tool to Assess Chimpanzee Abundance in Degraded Landscapes. In: Folia Primatologica. Our Primate Heritage, Our Primate Legacy. . Karger (doi:10.1159/000502392) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:77681)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
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https://www.efp-psgb2019.com/Abstracts_EFP-PSGB201...

Abstract

Estimating population size and density of a population of a species are essential to inform conservation management strategies and land-use planning. However, some landscapes dominated by fallow areas pose great challenges when it comes to traditional transect surveys. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and camera trapping technologies have demonstrated great potential when it comes to surveying wildlife. In this study, we employed camera trapping in combination with spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models for estimating chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) numbers in a non-protected area in the Moyamba district in south-western Sierra Leone, ca. 90 square kilometres. We estimated trapping rate per 1.25 km square grids across the target area based on a systematic layout of camera traps (N=30). In this environment practically devoid of forest, chimpanzees only nest in semi-domesticated oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) which are prevalent in the landscape. Due to the nesting specificity of the chimpanzees in this area, we were readily able to estimate nest density per grid and across the entire target area using drone imagery based on a sampling regime of 3 missions (200 meter square each) within each sample grid. We compared these abundance estimates with those generated from the SERC model and individual chimpanzee identification. Our study reveals that drone imagery data yields equivalent results and can effectively estimate chimpanzee population parameters across such degraded landscapes. The application of UAV technology in such environments can serve to inform conservation and land-use planning for chimpanzees, especially in areas prone to infrastructure and industrialized agricultural development.

Item Type: Conference or workshop item (Poster)
DOI/Identification number: 10.1159/000502392
Uncontrolled keywords: Chimpanzee Conservation; Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture ; Camera Trapping
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH75 Conservation (Biology)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Tatyana Humle
Date Deposited: 22 Oct 2019 08:17 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 15:55 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/77681 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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