Vehicle-mounted cameras reveal negative impact of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident on large-bodied bird abundance via paddy field abandonment

Populations of birds utilizing farmlands are declining due to farmland abandonment and agricultural intensification. Effective conservation strategies require appropriate monitoring approaches, including efficient and scalable survey methods. In this study, we developed a large-scale monitoring method for herons and egrets (family Ardeidae, hereafter referred to as herons) using vehicle-mounted video cameras and distance sampling models that incorporate location uncertainty. The survey was conducted in and around the evacuation zone of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. A total of 7031 km of roadside video footage was recorded, covering 24.41 km² of farmland. Herons were observed only outside the evacuation zone and were entirely absent within it. Predicted abundance differed greatly between areas inside (0.0279 Â± 0.0307/km2) and outside (4.57 Â± 5.36/km2) the evacuation zone. Incorporating location uncertainty into the distance sampling mod..., , # Data from: Vehicle-mounted cameras reveal negative impact of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident on large-bodied bird abundance via paddy field abandonment

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.jq2bvq8pm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jq2bvq8pm)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset was collected by the authors to estimate the abundance of herons and egrets in paddy fields using vehicle-mounted video cameras and distance sampling models. The data were obtained from roadside surveys and UAV-based validation, and are used to model bird abundance in relation to farmland abandonment following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.The dataset consists of the following three .csv files:

### Files and variables

#### 1. Grid-level farmland data (d0.csv)

**This file contains grid-level data used for modeling heron and egret abundance based on roadside video surveys. Each row represents a grid cell within a farmland polygon.**

##### Variables

* `pol...,