RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 On the Effectiveness of UAS for Anti-Poaching in the African Arid Savanna
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 660126
DO 10.1101/660126
A1 Marlice van Vuuren
A1 Rudie van Vuuren
A1 Graham D. Lutz
A1 Larry M. Silverberg
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/06/05/660126.abstract
AB This paper describes a field study that examined the effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in anti-poaching enforcement in parks and game reserves. In the field study, a UAV attempted to spot mock poachers while the mock poachers tried to spot the UAV. The field study was conducted at N/a’an ku sê, an operational game reserve in the central region of Namibia. In total, 118 trials were completed, providing 236 UAV-poacher interdiction scenarios. Of these, 198 were during the day, 152 with a quadcopter and 46 with a fixed-wing. Live spotting success during the day varied due to the hiding behavior of the mock poachers, with the highest and lowest success rates of spotting being 86% for poachers in the open and 25% for poachers hiding under canopy cover. The UAVs were demonstrated to be a potentially effective tool for anti-poaching patrol and interdiction, in part, because of their ability to spot poachers. The pursuit of integrating the UAV into current anti-poaching patrol and interdiction efforts in arid savanna landscapes is strongly recommended.