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

许多野生动物物种被推入地球上为数不多的仍未被人类活动改变的区域，处于生存的边缘。无人驾驶飞行器(UAV)、遥控相机和声学技术以及通过机器学习进行大数据分析的能力的进步，现在为调查原本无法到达的地区提供了机会，并为保护关切的种群提供了强大的数据集，这些种群往往是神秘的物种。这项技术承诺--但尚未发挥其潜力--对徒步巡逻来说过于稀有和对卫星图像来说过于神秘的动物进行计数，在不干扰动物的情况下跟踪单个动物，并根据声音1量化森林生物多样性和狩猎频率--所有这些复杂的问题都不能通过直接观察来解决。您的项目将开发和测试评估这一承诺的方法。你将试用新开发的设备，并收集与哈萨克斯坦雪豹(IUCN Red被列为易危物种)和/或突尼斯的弯角羚羊(区域灭绝)、阿达克斯(极度濒危)和细角瞪羚(濒危)保护管理相关的野外数据。到本项目结束时，您将增加关于保护技术的价值和局限性的全球知识，增加对濒危哺乳动物种群轨迹的预测，并了解种群下降的原因。

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.