A high-resolution panorama camera system for monitoring colony-wide seabird nesting behaviour

1. Obtaining accurate and representative demographic metrics for animal populations is critical to many aspects of wildlife monitoring and management. However, at remote animal colonies, metrics derived from sequential counts or other continuous monitoring are often subject to logistical, weather and disturbance challenges.The development of remote camera technologies has assisted monitoring, but limitations in spatial and temporal resolution and sample sizes remain. 2. Here we describe the application of a robotic camera system (Gigapan) which takes a tiled sequence of photographs that are automatically stitched together to form high-resolution panoramas. We demonstrate the application of the Gigapan using data collected during field-testing at a shy albatross colony on Albatross Island in northwest Tasmania. 3. We took daily panoramas over five days to estimate mean incubation shift-duration, an indirect measure for foraging trip duration, in an existing study area. Similar numbers of...

1. 获取动物种群准确且具代表性的种群统计指标，对野生动物监测与管理的诸多方面至关重要。然而，在偏远动物聚居地，通过连续计数或其他持续监测手段获得的指标常面临后勤、天气及干扰等挑战。远程摄像技术的发展虽助力了监测工作，但空间与时间分辨率及样本量方面的局限仍未解决。
2. 本文介绍了一种机器人摄像系统（Gigapan）的应用，该系统拍摄一系列分块照片并自动拼接形成高分辨率全景图。我们利用在塔斯马尼亚西北部信天翁岛的害羞信天翁聚居地进行实地测试时收集的数据，展示了Gigapan的应用。
3. 我们在现有研究区域内连续五天每日拍摄全景图，以估算平均孵化轮班时长——这是觅食行程时长的间接衡量指标。相似数量的...