Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems

ABSTRACT Wild pig (Sus scrofa) population expansion and associated damage to crops, wildlife, and the environment is a growing concern in the United States. The destructive rooting behavior of wild pigs indicates where they have foraged and their general presence on the landscape. We used aerial ima...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sathishkumar Samiappan, Joby M. Prince Czarnecki, Hearne Foster, Bronson K. Strickland, Jessica L. Tegt, Robert J. Moorhead
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-06-01
Series:Wildlife Society Bulletin
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.868
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850064140605849600
author Sathishkumar Samiappan
Joby M. Prince Czarnecki
Hearne Foster
Bronson K. Strickland
Jessica L. Tegt
Robert J. Moorhead
author_facet Sathishkumar Samiappan
Joby M. Prince Czarnecki
Hearne Foster
Bronson K. Strickland
Jessica L. Tegt
Robert J. Moorhead
author_sort Sathishkumar Samiappan
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Wild pig (Sus scrofa) population expansion and associated damage to crops, wildlife, and the environment is a growing concern in the United States. The destructive rooting behavior of wild pigs indicates where they have foraged and their general presence on the landscape. We used aerial imagery with a small unmanned aerial system to assess damage of corn (Zea mays) fields by wild pigs in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Mississippi, USA, during the 2016 growing season. Images were automatically classified using segmentation‐based fractal texture analysis and support vector machines. We assessed the accuracy of automated classification with 5,400 Global Positioning System ground reference points collected in the fields. Classification accuracies for identification of damaged and nondamaged areas were between 65% and 78%. In general, automated classification underestimated the area of damage present within fields. Kappa values ranged from 0.26 to 0.51, on a scale of 0.0–1.0. Small unmanned aerial systems overcome limitations of existing methods because they can survey an entire field rapidly and without significant field labor. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.
format Article
id doaj-art-e64be9b35ba245bf8617c23ee02749a1
institution DOAJ
issn 2328-5540
language English
publishDate 2018-06-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Wildlife Society Bulletin
spelling doaj-art-e64be9b35ba245bf8617c23ee02749a12025-08-20T02:49:22ZengWileyWildlife Society Bulletin2328-55402018-06-0142230430910.1002/wsb.868Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systemsSathishkumar Samiappan0Joby M. Prince Czarnecki1Hearne Foster2Bronson K. Strickland3Jessica L. Tegt4Robert J. Moorhead5Geosystems Research InstituteMississippi State UniversityBox 9627Mississippi StateMS39762USAGeosystems Research InstituteMississippi State UniversityBox 9627Mississippi StateMS39762USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and AquacultureMississippi State UniversityBox 9609Mississippi StateMS39762USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and AquacultureMississippi State UniversityBox 9609Mississippi StateMS39762USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and AquacultureMississippi State UniversityBox 9609Mississippi StateMS39762USAGeosystems Research InstituteMississippi State UniversityBox 9627Mississippi StateMS39762USAABSTRACT Wild pig (Sus scrofa) population expansion and associated damage to crops, wildlife, and the environment is a growing concern in the United States. The destructive rooting behavior of wild pigs indicates where they have foraged and their general presence on the landscape. We used aerial imagery with a small unmanned aerial system to assess damage of corn (Zea mays) fields by wild pigs in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Mississippi, USA, during the 2016 growing season. Images were automatically classified using segmentation‐based fractal texture analysis and support vector machines. We assessed the accuracy of automated classification with 5,400 Global Positioning System ground reference points collected in the fields. Classification accuracies for identification of damaged and nondamaged areas were between 65% and 78%. In general, automated classification underestimated the area of damage present within fields. Kappa values ranged from 0.26 to 0.51, on a scale of 0.0–1.0. Small unmanned aerial systems overcome limitations of existing methods because they can survey an entire field rapidly and without significant field labor. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.868corndamage assessmenthuman–wildlife conflictMississippismall unmanned aerial systemsSus scrofa
spellingShingle Sathishkumar Samiappan
Joby M. Prince Czarnecki
Hearne Foster
Bronson K. Strickland
Jessica L. Tegt
Robert J. Moorhead
Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
Wildlife Society Bulletin
corn
damage assessment
human–wildlife conflict
Mississippi
small unmanned aerial systems
Sus scrofa
title Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
title_full Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
title_fullStr Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
title_short Quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
title_sort quantifying damage from wild pigs with small unmanned aerial systems
topic corn
damage assessment
human–wildlife conflict
Mississippi
small unmanned aerial systems
Sus scrofa
url https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.868
work_keys_str_mv AT sathishkumarsamiappan quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems
AT jobymprinceczarnecki quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems
AT hearnefoster quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems
AT bronsonkstrickland quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems
AT jessicaltegt quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems
AT robertjmoorhead quantifyingdamagefromwildpigswithsmallunmannedaerialsystems