The Wildsense iPad app, an initiative from a group of researchers at the University of Surrey, could change the way wildlife is monitored in the future
Wildsense aims to use citizen science, the concept of allowing people to get directly involved in science, to help in the conservation of rare and endangered species.
The Wildsense project team, from Surrey’s Digital Ecosystems research group, has created a game that loads photos from the web that are analysed by the player in return for points. The data is then collected and analysed to study animal behaviour including movement and context.
For example, thousands of tourists visit India’s tiger reserves every year and load their photographs on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This is a valuable and under-used source of data about tiger movements and habitats, which could provide important information about the activities of poachers if tigers go missing. By using the app, citizen scientists can then examine these photos and provide further context that does not typically exist with the image alone. For example, how many tigers are in the image, what are the tigers doing and what is their environment?
Aaron Mason, a PhD student in the Department of Computing, said: “People love to share photos online and the information about wildlife through these channels is vast and potentially very useful. We decided to turn this social data into a game that consolidates information on endangered animals and lets wildlife enthusiasts have a direct impact on welfare in an interactive way.
“Our initial focus is wild tigers, which is a challenge as it is difficult to distinguish between photos of actual tigers from the vast number of images online. If you type the word ‘tiger’ in a search engine you get inundated with everything from famous golf players to baseball teams and cuddly toys. Our algorithms sort images by relevance using image metadata, which includes location, usernames and tags, successfully separating images of real tigers in the wild from other images online.”
Professor Paul Krause, Professor of Software Engineering, added: “Monitoring top predators such as tigers provides an important indication of habitat quality, as well as gaining insight into these beautiful animals themselves. The Wildsense app is an important step forward in our programme of developing methods to track wild animals without resorting to intrusive physical tags or collars.”
Read more: NEW IPAD GAME USES CITIZEN SCIENCE TO TRACK ENDANGERED SPECIES IN THE WILD
The Latest on: Track Endangered Species
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Track Endangered Species” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Track Endangered Species
- Endangered crane rescued by birders (s)whooping into yard with grapes, puppeton April 30, 2024 at 7:30 am
When experts with the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin heard that a whooping crane needed rescuing in Wilmette, they loaded their “crane costume” and a bunch of grapes into a car and ...
- After 25 years, logging and bushfires, a greater glider has been spotted in Deongwar state foreston April 30, 2024 at 7:00 am
Native forest logging will cease in south-east Queensland this year – but how long will it take forests to recover?
- Jerry Seinfeld Lists ‘Curb’ & ‘Seinfeld’ Gags That Would Get Banned Todayon April 30, 2024 at 6:38 am
Seinfeld touched on Curb Your Enthusiasm, the hit HBO comedy from his Seinfeld co-creator, Larry David, which he acknowledged was able to get away with some edgy material. But he said that was because ...
- As Great Salt Lake nears key level, Utah finds inspiration elsewhere to help lake's recoveryon April 30, 2024 at 6:03 am
The Great Salt Lake continues to improve from a record low in 2022, but Utah natural resources officials recently took trips to two other sites to learn what may help keep the lake's recovery going.
- The New UC Berkeley Falcon Chicks Are Running Their Parents Raggedon April 29, 2024 at 4:42 pm
For eight years now, Bay Area bird nerds have been keeping track of the mating habits of Annie, a feisty peregrine falcon who nests on top of UC Berkeley’s campanile. What originally started as a ...
- 'Monsters' in toddler's bedroom turn out to be massive beehiveon April 29, 2024 at 8:54 am
Ashley Class and her family live in an older home in Charlotte. When Class' toddler began complaining about monsters in her bedroom, she thought it may have been her daughter's imagination acting up, ...
- More Montana conservation groups intend to sue over decision not to re-list wolveson April 28, 2024 at 10:17 am
Another coalition of conservation groups, including several from Montana, has given notice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it plans to sue to try and force the agency to give Endangered Species ...
- How scientists identify and track right whaleson April 24, 2024 at 3:25 am
Philip Hamilton, a senior scientist who leads a right whale research team at New England Aquarium, explains how researchers identify an track the endangered mammals.
- Endangered lemurs are now prey for equally endangered 'fosas'on April 20, 2024 at 3:14 pm
Lemurs are the cornerstone of a fosa's diet. Unfortunately, this puts them in direct conflict with conservation efforts.
- New tagging method provides bioadhesive interface for marine sensors on diverse, soft and fragile specieson April 16, 2024 at 8:40 am
Tagging marine animals with sensors to track and study their movements can provide researchers with important environmental and behavioral information, including energy usage, habitat changes, and ...
via Bing News