The integration of computer assisted technology into camera trapping — Promaco Conventions

The integration of computer assisted technology into camera trapping (#683)

Paul D Meek 1 , Guy Ballard 1 2 , Karl Vernes 3 , Greg Falzon 3 , Peter Fleming 1 2
  1. NSW Dept. Primary industries/University of New England, NSW Dept. Primary Industries/University of New England, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia
  2. VPRU, NSW Dept. Primary Industries, Orange, New South Wales, Australia
  3. University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

Camera trapping is used extensively across the globe for the detection of wildlife in research and monitoring programs. Numerous comparisons have been undertaken to evaluate the cost effectiveness of this method compared to historical ecological survey practices, and many papers have highlighted the benefits to conservation of using this technique. An advantage of camera trapping is that devices can be deployed for prolonged periods of time, gathering hundreds of thousands of images per deployment: a significant improvement in collecting spatial and temporal scale ecological knowledge. However, the negative side to camera trapping is the large volume of image data that must be coded and analysed. Computer assisted technology offers a number of opportunities for practitioners to further save processing time and in some cases excludes the need for physical visitation to the deployed devices. We will outline how we are integrating computer science into camera trapping techniques to aid image library processing, and describe a prototype device we are building called Wild Dog Alert.

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