Approaching birds with drones: first experiments and ethical guidelines

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones, are being increasingly used in ecological research, in particular to approach sensitive wildlife in inaccessible areas. Impact studies leading to recommendations for best practices are urgently needed. We tested the impact of drone colour, speed and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2015-02, Vol.11 (2), p.20140754-20140754
Main Authors: Vas, Elisabeth, Lescroël, Amélie, Duriez, Olivier, Boguszewski, Guillaume, Grémillet, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aircraft - ethics
Aircraft - instrumentation
Anas platyrhynchos
Animal Behaviour
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Charadriiformes - physiology
Color
Ducks - physiology
Ecology
Ornithology
Phoenicopterus roseus
Remote Sensing Technology - ethics
Remote Sensing Technology - instrumentation
Robot
Stress
Tringa nebularia
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones, are being increasingly used in ecological research, in particular to approach sensitive wildlife in inaccessible areas. Impact studies leading to recommendations for best practices are urgently needed. We tested the impact of drone colour, speed and flight angle on the behavioural responses of mallards Anas platyrhynchos in a semi-captive situation, and of wild flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) and common greenshanks (Tringa nebularia) in a wetland area. We performed 204 approach flights with a quadricopter drone, and during 80% of those we could approach unaffected birds to within 4 m. Approach speed, drone colour and repeated flights had no measurable impact on bird behaviour, yet they reacted more to drones approaching vertically. We recommend launching drones farther than 100 m from the birds and adjusting approach distance according to species. Our study is a first step towards a sound use of drones for wildlife research. Further studies should assess the impacts of different drones on other taxa, and monitor physiological indicators of stress in animals exposed to drones according to group sizes and reproductive status.
ISSN:1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0754