Speaker: Cornelia Oedekoven, Senior Research Fellow, Center of Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, University of St. Andrews

Topic: From distance sampling to spatial capture recapture – new opportunities for visual and acoustic surveys using recent advances in technology

Methods for estimating the number of animals in a population (abundance) commonly require obtaining a count of the individuals detected during a survey and an estimate of what proportion of the population this count represents. For the latter, additional information needs to be gathered during the survey.

Distance sampling (DS), for example, is a commonly used method for estimating cetacean abundance during ship-based line transect surveys where this additional information consists of the perpendicular distances between the line and the detected cetacean schools. This method relies on that all animals directly on the line were detected. Using two observation platforms in a mark-recapture distance sampling survey can alleviate this potential issue. However, setting up a second observation platform in a meaningful way poses new challenges.

In this talk, I will present case studies which used new technology for improving abundance estimation, two marine studies which employed acoustic recorders or drones during cetacean surveys and one terrestrial study which employed newly developed acoustic recorders for monitoring gibbons using spatial capture-recapture. These studies highlight the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to population monitoring.