Developing a practical application of unmanned aerial vehicle technologies for conservation research and monitoring of endangered wildlife

开发无人机技术的实际应用，用于濒危野生动物的保护研究和监测

• 批准号: 2893495
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2893495
• 关键词: Developing; practical; application; unmanned; aerial

Many wildlife species have been pushed into Earth's few remaining areas still unmodified by human activities, at the edge of existence. Advances in the capabilities of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), remotely operated camera and acoustic technologies, and big-data analysis by machine learning, now offer opportunities to survey otherwise inaccessible areas and develop robust datasets for populations of conservation concern, which are often cryptic species. This technology promises - but has not yet delivered on its potential - to count animals too rare for foot patrols and too cryptic for satellite imagery, to follow individual animals without disturbing them, and to quantify forest biodiversity and hunting frequency from soundscapes1 - all complex problems insoluble by direct observation. Your project will develop and test methodologies for evaluating this promise. You will trial newly developed equipment and collect field data relevant to conservation management of snow leopards in Kazakhstan (IUCN Red Listed as Vulnerable), and/or scimitar-horned oryx (Regionally Extinct), addax (Critically Endangered) and slender-horned gazelles (Endangered) in Tunisia. By the end of this project, you will have added to global knowledge on value and limits of conservation technology, to projections for population trajectories of endangered mammals, and to understanding of causes of population declines.

在存在边缘，许多野生动植物被推入地球的剩余地区仍然没有被人类活动所塑造。通过机器学习的大型飞行器和声学技术的未驾驶能力（UAV），远程操作的相机和声学技术的进步，现在提供了调查其他不可访问的领域的机会，并为保护关注的人群开发可靠的数据集，这些数据集通常是隐性物种。这项技术有望 - 但尚未发挥其潜力 - 对动物进行计数，以使脚步巡逻太罕见，而对于卫星图像来说太含糊不清，无法在不打扰它们的情况下跟随单个动物，并从Soundscapes1中量化森林生物多样性和狩猎频率1-所有复杂的问题都无法直接观察。您的项目将开发和测试用于评估这一诺言的方法。您将试用新开发的设备并收集与哈萨克斯坦雪豹的保护管理有关的现场数据（列为脆弱的IUCN红色）和/或Scimitar-horned Oryx（区域灭绝），Addax（严重濒危）和Tunersed Gazelles（濒临灭绝）（濒临灭绝）。到该项目结束时，您将添加有关保护技术价值和限制的全球知识，对濒危哺乳动物的人群轨迹的预测以及对人口减少原因的理解。