Use of aerial thermography to reduce mortality of roe deer fawns before harvest

PeerJ

article

Jan Cukor¹  Jan Bartoška³  Jan Rohla¹  Jan Sova⁴  Antonín Machálek⁶ 

[1] Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague;Forestry and Game Management Research Institut;Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague;Workswell s.r.o.;Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague;Research Institute of Agricultural Engineering

关键词: Roe deer fawn mortality;    Wildlife-friendly farming;    Agricultural machinery;    UAV utilization;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.6923

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

In agricultural landscape, there are thousands of young wild animals killed every year. Their deaths are caused mostly by agricultural fieldworks during spring harvest. Among the affected animals there are also fawns of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), which react to danger by pressing themselves against the ground in order to be protected from predators. There were various methods tested in the past aimed at decreasing roe deer mortality caused by agriculture machinery with varied levels of success. This contribution presents technology that documents the possibility of searching for fawns with a thermal imaging device carried by an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The results are based on field research that estimated the ideal height of flight being ±40 meters above ground. If the climatic conditions are favourable, it is possible to monitor and mark fawn locations using GPS coordinates in an area of about 14 ha in 25 minutes, which is the average flight time of UAV on one battery charge. The thermo-camera is very reliable in finding fawns in early morning hours (4 to 6 a.m.) when there is the highest temperature contrast between the searched object and its surroundings. The main limiting factors are climatic conditions and the short time span in which the thermo-camera can be used. If the basic requirements are met, the rate of successful fawn detection can be even up to 100%. An undisputed advantage of this method is the possibility of involvement of local gamekeepers. Thus the agricultural fieldworks are not interrupted.

【 授权许可】

CC BY