This recent systematic review might be of interest: 'Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review'

Abstract

The use of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS; also known as “drones”) for professional and personal-leisure use is increasing enormously. UAS operate at low altitudes (<500 m) and in any terrain, thus they are susceptible to interact with local fauna, generating a new type of anthropogenic disturbance that has not been systematically evaluated. To address this gap, we performed a review of the existent literature about animals’ responses to UAS flights and conducted a pooled analysis of the data to determine the probability and intensity of the disturbance, and to identify the factors influencing animals’ reactions towards the small aircraft. We found that wildlife reactions depended on both the UAS attributes (flight pattern, engine type and size of aircraft) and the characteristics of animals themselves (type of animal, life-history stage and level of aggregation). Target-oriented flight patterns, larger UAS sizes, and fuel-powered (noisier) engines evoked the strongest reactions in wildlife. Animals during the non-breeding period and in large groups were more likely to show behavioral reactions to UAS, and birds are more prone to react than other taxa. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of wildlife disturbance and suggest guidelines for conservationists, users and manufacturers to minimize the impact of UAS. In addition, we propose that the legal framework needs to be adapted so that appropriate actions can be undertaken when wildlife is negatively affected by these emergent practices.

Mulero-Pázmány M, Jenni-Eiermann S, Strebel N, Sattler T, Negro JJ, Tablado Z (2017) Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0178448. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178448

Hi all

I would like to know your opinion about this footage:

https://vimeo.com/196847435

I fly drones in this place far away of birds for not disturbing them.

And then National Geographic fly a drone very close to birds to have an excellent footage.

You don't think that they are clearly disturbing them?

Hi!

Interesting subject indeed.

In most cases where UAVs are used in nature "documentaries" it is pretty obvious to a behavioural biologist that the animals were negatively affected.

I know that Sophie Gilbert collected bad examples of wildlife UAV harassment/disturbance at one stage.

Look forward to playing with it when mine arrives I have  a sd card arduino module also not finding much documentation on how to hook it up so was going to play with a server and see what I can do with it and photos 

I have a raspberry pi3 setup now as a video streaming server so I can keep a eye on my home while I am at work 

As someone who has practiced in information technology standards groups and actively worked on data schema standards to facilitate data sharing and even legally valid business transactions (https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/31222/ENML-1.0-Specification.pdf), my experience indicates it is important that you do the following:

1) Create a small workgroup of the right stakeholders who are committed to the process and results;

2) Pick a schema definition language - JSON or XML - to create the standard (JSON is the flavor of the day, but it is possible to do both with the right commitment);

3) Get people trained on the methodology and grammar for creating the schema;

4) Build the right semantic model up to a level of detail that is feasible for implementation within one year - if you go deeper than that the people who need to get things done in the field will move on while the workgroup will still be arguing details;

5) Build the schema; and

6) Build at least reference tools and applications in at least 2 different programming languages that show the model and schema working.

Without this process, it will be easy to miss the forest by getting lost in the trees (apologies for that).

Arshad

I don't know that it would be possible to create one scheme across all fields and collection tools. I'm involved in a project trying to define shared data standards with 10 private companies in one sector and that's a multi-year discussion. KDEs for seafood traceability (not even a full schema) took 5 years. If by standards you mean general agreements in principles, then maybe working with the ODI would be a good approach (see the work they did on engineering). if you want to get to schemas, maybe check with Matt Jones at NCEAS, bc data science for ecology is his career's work.

Hi skatewing,

I'm not a domain expert like most people in this forum, but I have created XML schemas using object oriented (OO) principles in the past; the same capability exists with JSON schemas.

The important thing is to create a heirarchy of schemas, starting with a generalized schema definition that applies to all participants at the upper layer, and inherit that schema as one starts diving deeper. This permits specialized schemas at lower layers that meets the needs of smaller groups, but as one moves up the schema hierarchy, one finds common parent objects that can be shared with other groups.

If it is impossible to create it in a hierarchy for all group participants, it is possible to start with a smaller general schema that meets everyone's needs and then each specialized group can create independent hierarchies, which can then be linked as necessary (https://json-schema.org/learn/getting-started-step-by-step.html#references)

This capability of inheriting parent schemas, and linking to external schemas, allows simultaneous - yet separate - development by many groups without having to involve everyone all the time. You do need to bring together many people for a short while for the more general parts of the schema at higher levels; but once defined, it can segment out to smaller groups as specialized schema branches/hierarchies are defined.

Arshad

Thank you for taking this on.

My particular interests are using local dogs trained by local people for scat detection (broadly defined), and how to evaluate and certify their performance. Local dog Toffee indicating on a training target; 

If and when you're ready to get a ton of attention (and maybe fundraise) for your conservation dog work send those pix to @dog_rates as I'm sure Matt would love to feature your pups.

Welcome to the group, @divyar !  Can you please tell us a little more about yourself and your interests in this thread?  Thanks!

Hi all!  I hope everyon had a restful break.  We have a couple new members to the group!  @dalenerusso and @ediminin can you please introduce yourselves here?

Hello All,

My name is Karima Cherif and I work for WildAid Marine and our focus is to end wildlife trafficking in our lifetime. I specialize in marine electronics and work in Gabon, Galapagos, Tanzania, and the Bahamas. In Gabon, we have many small scale fishing canoes that transport illegal bush meat such as pangolin and shark fin. Especially, with COVID the trafficking is increasing as people are becoming more despair to feed their families and cover their basic expenses. I append an article from NBC that discussing a new app that we developed in 2020 called O-Fish (Officer's Fisheries Information Sharing Hub). It is free and we invite MPA managers and agencies to try it.

Hi Akiba,
Yes, the TSL2591 has an interrupt pin and there are also a couple of example applications in the Adafruit and TSL2591MI libraries. I am doing tests making the connections with Dupont cables in the I2C connector of the Wildlogger, and for the interruption I will use the corresponding pin of the PIR connector
The connections do not concern me since, once the prototype has been tested and defined, my idea would be to make the maximum of welded connections to avoid failures
I'm still in the design phase, I already have the hardware quite defined, and now I have to enter with the most difficult part, the software, which for me is where I have the most difficulty
I have been gathering the elements to prepare the cake, and now is the time to enter the kitchen, I will not deny that I am excited and terrified at the same time
I'm already telling you ...
Regards !

I appreciate your encouragement !

Don't hesitate that I will keep you informed of the progress that I am making

Happy weekend !

Hi @Alex.L , I would suggest the same as for @mattzig at https://www.wildlabs.net/community/thread/1046#post-4348 :

I could try to connect you with some of the people and orgs we have worked with. If you go through https://www.vizzuality.com/project/ and identify the projects you would like to be look into, I can then try to connect you with the best person for each project.

And I would be very interested in learning more about your research group's work, besides your current research question, if possible!

Happy New Year! Luisa