Data from: 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 occupied nests could be observed at a distance of ~100m in the Gigapan panoramas compared to ground-based counts (115 and 117 respectively). Of these, birds on 90% of nests visible in the panoramas could be unambiguously identified as marked or unmarked with a small daub of paint throughout the study period and thus a shift change reliably recorded. Gigapan-based shift duration was estimated using a novel instantaneous statistical method and were longer than estimates earlier in the egg brooding period, potentially revealing a new pattern in shift duration. 4. This example field application provides proof-of-concept and demonstration that the relatively low cost Gigapan system provides the spatial advantages of satellite or aerial photos with the detail and temporal replication of land-based camera systems. The Gigapan system can extend or enhance traditional data collection methods, particularly for simultaneous observations, at distance, of the behaviour of many surface nesting colonial seabirds..1. 获取动物种群精准且具有代表性的种群统计指标（demographic metrics），是野生动物监测与管理诸多环节的核心前提。然而，针对偏远动物聚居地，通过连续计数或其他持续监测手段获取的统计指标，往往会受到后勤保障、天气状况及外界干扰的多重制约。远程摄像技术的发展为监测工作提供了助力，但空间分辨率、时间分辨率与样本量的局限仍未突破。 2. 本文介绍了一款自动摄像系统（Gigapan）的应用方案：该系统可拍摄分幅序列照片，并自动拼接为高分辨率全景图像。我们利用塔斯马尼亚州西北部信天翁岛灰头信天翁（shy albatross）聚居地的野外测试数据，对该Gigapan系统的应用效果进行了验证。 3. 我们在既定研究区域内连续五日每日拍摄全景图像，以此估算平均育雏轮班时长——这是觅食旅程时长的间接衡量指标。与地面计数结果（分别为115个和117个）相比，在约100米外的Gigapan全景图像中，可观测到的栖息巢位数量与地面计数相近。在此范围内，全景图像中90%可见巢位上的海鸟，可在整个研究周期内被明确辨识为带有少量颜料标记或未标记个体，从而可靠记录轮班更替事件。基于Gigapan系统的轮班时长估算采用了一种全新的瞬时统计方法，其结果长于卵期育雏阶段早期的估算值，或可揭示轮班时长的全新分布模式。 4. 本次野外应用实例完成了概念验证与应用演示，证实该低成本Gigapan系统兼具卫星或航空影像的空间观测优势，以及地面摄像系统的细节分辨率与时间重复采样能力。该系统可拓展或优化传统数据采集方法，尤其适用于在远距离下同时观测诸多地面筑巢群居海鸟的行为。