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Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species

Holly Stokes, Jeanne A. Mortimer, Jacques‐Olivier Laloë, Graeme C. Hays Orcid Logo, Nicole Esteban Orcid Logo

Ecosphere, Volume: 14, Issue: 3

Swansea University Authors: Holly Stokes, Nicole Esteban Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/ecs2.4444

Abstract

Estimating population abundance is central to many ecological studies and important in conservation planning. Yet the elusive nature of many species makes estimating their abundance challenging. Abundance estimates of sea turtles, marine birds, and seals are usually made when breeding adults are ash...

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Published in: Ecosphere
ISSN: 2150-8925 2150-8925
Published: Wiley 2023
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62644
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spelling v2 62644 2023-02-10 Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species 6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7 Holly Stokes Holly Stokes true false fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319 0000-0003-4693-7221 Nicole Esteban Nicole Esteban true false 2023-02-10 SBI Estimating population abundance is central to many ecological studies and important in conservation planning. Yet the elusive nature of many species makes estimating their abundance challenging. Abundance estimates of sea turtles, marine birds, and seals are usually made when breeding adults are ashore, while life stages spent at sea, including as juveniles, are often poorly sampled. We used a combination of high-resolution satellite tracking (Fastloc-GPS), uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys, and capture-mark-recapture approaches to assess the abundance of immature hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in a tidal lagoon of the Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean). We captured, marked, and released 50 turtles (48 hawksbill and 2 green turtles) prior to UAV surveys and used satellite tracking data from 27 immature turtles (25 hawksbill and 2 green turtles) to refine the estimated numbers of marked turtles available for resighting and those likely to have emigrated from the study area. We estimated a total of 339 turtles in the lagoon with a density variation at different tidal heights between 265 turtles km−2 at high water and 499 turtles km−2 at low water. Of these, 91% were hawksbills and 9% were green turtles. These hawksbill densities are the highest reported among 17 foraging sites recorded around the world and likely reflect successful long-term protection of turtles in the Chagos Archipelago. Journal Article Ecosphere 14 3 Wiley 2150-8925 2150-8925 Conservation, density, drone, endangered species, marine megafauna, marine protected area (MPA), mark-resight, satellite tracking, shifting baseline 1 3 2023 2023-03-01 10.1002/ecs2.4444 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4444 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) This work was supported by the Bertarelli Foundation as part of the Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science (BPMS-2017-4 and 820633). All work was approved by the Swansea University and Deakin University Ethics Committees and the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Administration of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office. The study was endorsed through research permits (0006SE18, 0009SE18, 0004SE19, and 0001SE21) from the Commissioner's Representative for BIOT, and the research complied with all relevant local and national legislation. We thank the many volunteers on Diego Garcia for logistical and fieldwork support. 2023-06-01T16:02:02.1920179 2023-02-10T09:40:56.4432130 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Holly Stokes 1 Jeanne A. Mortimer 2 Jacques‐Olivier Laloë 3 Graeme C. Hays 0000-0002-3314-8189 4 Nicole Esteban 0000-0003-4693-7221 5 62644__26835__7be5a7aada5c4f749f96897257ef1f11.pdf 62644.pdf 2023-03-13T10:42:56.3198938 Output 2170684 application/pdf Version of Record true This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 167 Nicole Esteban true https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08m1p false
title Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
spellingShingle Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
Holly Stokes
Nicole Esteban
title_short Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
title_full Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
title_fullStr Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
title_full_unstemmed Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
title_sort Synergistic use of UAV surveys, satellite tracking data, and mark-recapture to estimate abundance of elusive species
author_id_str_mv 6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7
fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6ee6932996059ed9e4d581641acce2f7_***_Holly Stokes
fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319_***_Nicole Esteban
author Holly Stokes
Nicole Esteban
author2 Holly Stokes
Jeanne A. Mortimer
Jacques‐Olivier Laloë
Graeme C. Hays
Nicole Esteban
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container_title Ecosphere
container_volume 14
container_issue 3
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 2150-8925
2150-8925
doi_str_mv 10.1002/ecs2.4444
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4444
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description Estimating population abundance is central to many ecological studies and important in conservation planning. Yet the elusive nature of many species makes estimating their abundance challenging. Abundance estimates of sea turtles, marine birds, and seals are usually made when breeding adults are ashore, while life stages spent at sea, including as juveniles, are often poorly sampled. We used a combination of high-resolution satellite tracking (Fastloc-GPS), uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys, and capture-mark-recapture approaches to assess the abundance of immature hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in a tidal lagoon of the Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean). We captured, marked, and released 50 turtles (48 hawksbill and 2 green turtles) prior to UAV surveys and used satellite tracking data from 27 immature turtles (25 hawksbill and 2 green turtles) to refine the estimated numbers of marked turtles available for resighting and those likely to have emigrated from the study area. We estimated a total of 339 turtles in the lagoon with a density variation at different tidal heights between 265 turtles km−2 at high water and 499 turtles km−2 at low water. Of these, 91% were hawksbills and 9% were green turtles. These hawksbill densities are the highest reported among 17 foraging sites recorded around the world and likely reflect successful long-term protection of turtles in the Chagos Archipelago.
published_date 2023-03-01T16:02:01Z
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