23 – The technology revolution: improving species detection and monitoring^305● (^) automated data handling and processing: automated data entry, species
identification, and data sorting (e.g. camera trap pictures)
● (^) new technologies have enormous potential to boost the capacity and power
of targeted monitoring, but may also allow the emergence of new paradigms
(e.g. permanent surveillance monitoring from sensor networks).
The use of technology does, however, come with challenges. Electronics require
a power supply and several of the aforementioned technologies rely on wireless
connectivity. Power and connectivity are often a challenge in field studies,
although technical advances may help improve this situation (e.g. low-power
communications, portable or local power supplies, mobile network coverage in
remote areas). Devices may fail or break, requiring specialised technical expertise
and equipment. Before novel technologies or new applications of technology can be
confidently deployed as monitoring tools, they must be extensively tested to verify
their reliability under field conditions. Last, but certainly not least, their cost-
efficiency compared with more traditional and well-tested methods should be
evaluated. Efficient survey methods need to be coupled with robust statistical
analyses that take account of the imperfect nature of detection in wildlife surveys
( Yo c c o z et al. 2 0 01).
This chapter highlights two relatively novel technologies that are slowly but
steadily becoming established tools for monitoring, but still require evaluation to
fully demonstrate their value in wildlife surveys: drones and environmental DNA.
Monitoring arboreal mammals using unmanned aerial vehicles
Two fundamental challenges when monitoring threatened species are reaching
difficult or dangerous locations, and being able to cover large extents of the
landscape. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or ‘drones’ or remotely piloted
aircraft systems) can deal with both of these challenges (Anderson and Gaston
2013). From their origin as high-tech military tools, the last 5 years have seen the
emergence of a consumer market for affordable (~A$2000) to inexpensive (~A$200)
drones. Although the capabilities, size and technology associated with mid-to-low
cost drones are obviously far inferior to that of military-grade ones, they still bring
great potential for conservation applications in which an aerial point of view brings
new opportunities. Drones have been tested as monitoring tools for a range of
marine and terrestrial species, from orang-utans to orcas; they can also provide
cost-efficient aerial imagery (e.g. to detect and measure illegal logging), and could
become a surveillance tool to combat poaching (Christie et al. 2016).
There are some important considerations when contemplating whether to use
drones for monitoring threatened species. The first is whether a high vantage point
helps in detecting or counting the target species – this will not necessarily always