Data from: Factors affecting carcass detection at wind farms using dogs and human searchers

1. The use of detection dogs to effectively monitor bird and bat
fatalities at wind farms is becoming increasingly popular. All studies to
date agree that dogs outperform human searchers at finding bird and bat
carcasses around wind turbines; however, it remains unclear how particular
conditions during the search may influence carcass detection. 2. We
investigate the effect of carcass size, habitat characteristics and
weather conditions on carcass detection probability, for both dogs and
humans, using data from the monitoring program of a wind farm in Spain. 3.
A generalized linear model reveals a high performance of dogs (~80%
detection probability), with no clear influence of any of the variables
analysed. Humans, on the contrary, were markedly affected by the size of
the carcass and to some extent, by the vegetation structure. Humans
performed poorly at detecting small carcasses (~20% detection
probability), more so in dense vegetation. 4. Synthesis and applications.
Our results provide evidence that dogs perform at a high level under a
wide range of environmental conditions. They are particularly well-suited
for the monitoring of fatalities of small, rare or inconspicuous species
in cluttered environments. Humans, by contrast, are very poor at detecting
all but the largest carcasses.16-Jun-2020

1. 利用检测犬（detection dogs）高效监测风力发电厂（wind farms）内鸟类与蝙蝠的死亡个体正日益普及。截至目前所有相关研究均证实，在风力涡轮机周边搜寻鸟类和蝙蝠尸体时，检测犬的表现远优于人类搜索人员；但目前仍不清楚搜索过程中的特定条件会对尸体搜寻效果产生何种影响。
2. 本研究依托西班牙某风力发电厂监测项目所获数据，探究了检测犬与人类搜索者的尸体检出概率分别受尸体体型、生境特征及天气条件的影响情况。
3. 广义线性模型（generalized linear model）分析结果显示，检测犬的搜寻表现优异，尸体检出概率约达80%，且未受所分析的任一变量的显著影响。与之相反，人类搜索者的搜寻表现则明显受尸体体型影响，同时在一定程度上受植被结构制约。人类仅能有效检出体型较大的尸体，对小型尸体的检出概率仅约20%，且在植被茂密区域的搜寻表现进一步恶化。
4. 综合与应用。本研究结果证实，检测犬在多样的环境条件下均能保持高水平的搜寻表现，尤其适用于在复杂生境中监测小型、稀有或难以发现的物种的死亡个体。与之形成鲜明对比的是，人类仅能检出体型最大的尸体，对其余类型的尸体搜寻效率均极低。
2020年6月16日