Abstract
Information on animal population sizes is crucial for wildlife management. In aerial surveys, we used a silent light aircraft (microlight) and a combination of a computer–linked thermal infrared camera (640 x 480 pixels) to detect ungulates and high–resolution visual images (5,616 x 3,744 pixels) to identify specific species. From winter 2008/2009 to winter 2010/2011, we flew 48 missions over three German national parks and a German/ French biosphere reserve. Within each study area, we followed non–overlapping linear transects with a flying altitude ~450 m above ground level and scanned 1,500–2,000 ha every two hours of flight time. Animals best detected and identified were red deer and fallow deer. Detection rates with respect to the type and density of vegetation cover ranged from 0% (young spruce) to 75% (young defoliated beech) to 100% (open land). This non–invasive method is cost–effective and suitable for many landscapes.
Highlights
Data on the population size and/or density of larger mammals, such as ungulates, is essential for wildlife management, forestry, wildlife conservation, and land–use development (Apollonio et al, 2010)
The following ungulate species occur in the park: red deer, roe deer, and wild boar (Heurich et al, 2011)
The fact that the animals were not disturbed by the aircraft can be explained by the very low noise level of 59.1 db(A) of the used aircraft
Summary
Data on the population size and/or density of larger mammals, such as ungulates, is essential for wildlife management, forestry, wildlife conservation, and land–use development (Apollonio et al, 2010). Spotlight counts depend on a road network and good visibility in the forest stands (Focardi et al, 2001), Capture–Mark–Recapture studies are labour intensive and the laboratory work of genetic studies is currently still expensive. Both methods could deliver accurate and precise results (Gill et al, 1996; Cederlund et al, 1998; Lukacs & Burnham, 2005; Curtis et al, 2009)
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