Data for: Assessment of the accuracy of counting large ungulate species (red deer Cervus elaphus) with UAV-mounted thermal infrared cameras during night flights

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly used in wildlife surveying, including estimation of population densities. It is essential that we evaluate and test new survey methods to guide optimal sampling strategies. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of using a UAV-mounted thermal infrared (TIR) camera to count red deer Cervus elaphus populations, and how this was influenced by flight season, height and velocity, in order to help guide future census design. We flew 57 flights across a captive population of red deer in a 13 ha deer park enclosure of semi-natural habitat, representative of the species’ range in northern Germany. Flights and image assessments were performed with no prior knowledge of actual population size. Accuracy was quantified by comparing real population size (known only to deer park staff) and independently estimated population sizes from UAV TIR images. Accuracy was significantly influenced by ecological season (early and late winter, spring and early sum..., ,无人飞行器（Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs）如今已愈发广泛地应用于野生动物调查工作，涵盖种群密度估算领域。评估与测试新型调查方法以指导最优采样策略，具备重要的实践意义。本研究旨在评估搭载热红外（Thermal Infrared, TIR）相机的无人飞行器，用于统计马鹿（Cervus elaphus）种群数量的准确性，同时探究飞行季、飞行高度与飞行速度对该准确性的影响，以期为未来的种群普查设计提供参考依据。我们在一处占地13公顷的半自然栖息地鹿园围栏内，针对圈养马鹿种群完成了57次飞行观测，该栖息地可代表德国北部该物种的自然分布范围。所有飞行作业与影像评估均在未知实际种群数量的前提下开展。通过将仅为鹿园工作人员知晓的实际种群数量，与基于无人飞行器热红外影像独立估算的种群数量进行对比，量化得到调查准确性。结果显示，调查准确性显著受生态季（冬初、冬末、春季及初夏……）影响，