Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms

ABSTRACT We conducted a designed experiment to test whether having a thermal‐imaging camera available affected researchers' nest detection rates when searching for bird nests in cropland and grassland habitat in an agricultural landscape of Iowa, USA, in 2016. With known active nests present, n...

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Main Authors: Matthew D. Stephenson, Lisa A. Schulte, Robert W. Klaver
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-06-01
Series:Wildlife Society Bulletin
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.962
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author Matthew D. Stephenson
Lisa A. Schulte
Robert W. Klaver
author_facet Matthew D. Stephenson
Lisa A. Schulte
Robert W. Klaver
author_sort Matthew D. Stephenson
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT We conducted a designed experiment to test whether having a thermal‐imaging camera available affected researchers' nest detection rates when searching for bird nests in cropland and grassland habitat in an agricultural landscape of Iowa, USA, in 2016. With known active nests present, naïve observers searched for nests with and without a thermal imager available. We did not find a difference in detection probabilities, although only a large difference would have been detectable with our sample size. Extraneous heat signatures from reflected solar radiation and dense vegetation were key factors limiting the usefulness of thermal imagers for locating nests. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
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record_format Article
series Wildlife Society Bulletin
spelling doaj-art-3dcbf21201564d67b7635dcd669d054d2025-08-20T02:36:12ZengWileyWildlife Society Bulletin2328-55402019-06-0143230230710.1002/wsb.962Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farmsMatthew D. Stephenson0Lisa A. Schulte1Robert W. Klaver2Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management Iowa State University 2310 Pammel Drive, 339 Science Hall II Ames IA 50011‐1031 USADepartment of Natural Resource Ecology and Management Iowa State University 2310 Pammel Drive, 339 Science Hall II Ames IA 50011‐1031 USAIowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit U.S. Geological Survey 2310 Pammel Drive, 338 Science Hall II Ames IA 50011‐1031 USAABSTRACT We conducted a designed experiment to test whether having a thermal‐imaging camera available affected researchers' nest detection rates when searching for bird nests in cropland and grassland habitat in an agricultural landscape of Iowa, USA, in 2016. With known active nests present, naïve observers searched for nests with and without a thermal imager available. We did not find a difference in detection probabilities, although only a large difference would have been detectable with our sample size. Extraneous heat signatures from reflected solar radiation and dense vegetation were key factors limiting the usefulness of thermal imagers for locating nests. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.962detection probabilitygrassland birdsnest searchesnest survivalprairie stripssample size
spellingShingle Matthew D. Stephenson
Lisa A. Schulte
Robert W. Klaver
Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
Wildlife Society Bulletin
detection probability
grassland birds
nest searches
nest survival
prairie strips
sample size
title Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
title_full Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
title_fullStr Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
title_short Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
title_sort quantifying thermal imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
topic detection probability
grassland birds
nest searches
nest survival
prairie strips
sample size
url https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.962
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AT lisaaschulte quantifyingthermalimagereffectivenessfordetectingbirdnestsonfarms
AT robertwklaver quantifyingthermalimagereffectivenessfordetectingbirdnestsonfarms