Hi Tom,

I'm with Akiba, you have to test.  A collaborator has deployed solar-augmented kit in secondary jungle and some of them got enough light, and others didn't, so it can work.  The open circuit voltage of solar panels doesn't change a whole lot in dim light, but the current drops drastically.  So you would choose an oversize panel of the same voltage (or a bit higher).

Thanks

I've been intrigued by this topic. Thinking about ways you could use drones or some kind of launcher to deploy panels above the canopy. Sadly I live in the great white north so I have no way of testing any concepts. Maybe even some kind of solar balloon that could float above the canopy. Interesting design problem.

Hey Tom,
Since the output is dependent on a couple of factors such as the solar irradiance of the place, shading from the canopy, the type of solar panels (mono, poly or amorphous) and orientation of the panels, etc, I'd suggest you use a software to simulate the different parameters to get an almost accurate estimation of the output. You can try PVsyst- it has a free month trial (I haven't used it before but I hear it's great) or any other PV software :)

Hello,

I'm working on a light weight light trap based on Bjerge et al 2021, however I opted to use an ArduCam 64mp (9152 x 6944 resolution). Designed for the pi specifically and at $60 it checks many of your criteria. I haven't put everything together yet so I can't speak for white balance and power usage, but the autofocus appears to work well from initial tests, and it is tiny.

Cheers,

Hubert

Hi folks! Great to have this group online! I actually am a marine ecologist specializing in bioacoustics but recently joined a Pollinator Monitoring group a Cal-State San Marcos and am helping with an automated camera aspect of the project. We are using the PICT guide and recently migrated to use of VIAME for insect track detection (well, we are just trying it out now). Very exciting work, look forward to learning from you all! Has anyone worked work PICTS? 

- Liz Ferguson

Hi there!

I am a field biologist and research technician working with ecosystem monitoring at the research station Zackenberg in Northeast Greenland. For the last couple of years we have been cooperating with Toke Høye and have deployed his timelapse cameras on Dryas flowers to monitor polinator activity but also to compare to our nearby flower phenology monitoring plots. We have also done yellow pit fall trap monitoring in plots and have a long time series of 25 years. We are considering testing camera based methods for this though and I am happy to see many folks working along those lines. Hopefully I can get some inspiration here and we can start testing it out.

Cheers, Lars

No - the trap was in their path and they just walked through it. I've now moved it to a place they can't go. The biggest threat to the moths is from pied currawongs. I schedule the trap so it shuts off at least two before sunrise to try to avoid them feasting on the larger insects.

At first I was finding wings below the screen in the morning when I put our units out. So I put a game camera on the units to see what was feeding and when. I found three bird species, likely 3 individuals, quickly found it to be a good bird feeder- Song Sparrow (most frequent), House Wren, and this Tufted Titmouse. I changed my units to turn off about 1.5 hours before dawn and that worked! Nearly all the moths left the scene before the birds came to visit. 

My most prized camera trap image - a hummingbird caught on camera!