Many remote islands present barriers to effective wildlife monitoring in terms of challenging terrain and frequency of visits. The sub-Antarctic islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are home to globally significant populations of seabirds and marine mammals. South Georgia hosts the largest breeding populations of Antarctic fur seals, southern elephant seals and king penguins as well as significant populations of wandering, black-browed and grey-headed albatross. The island also holds important populations of macaroni and gentoo penguins. The South Sandwich Islands host the world’s largest colony of chinstrap penguins in addition to major populations of Adélie and macaroni penguins. A marine protected area was created around these islands in 2012 but monitoring populations of marine predators remains a challenge, particularly as these species breed over large areas in remote and often inaccessible locations. During the 2019/20 austral summer, we trialed the use of an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV; drone) to monitor populations of seals, penguins and albatross and here we report our initial findings, including considerations about the advantages and limitations of the methodology. Three extensive southern elephant seal breeding sites were surveyed with complete counts made around the peak pupping date, two of these sites were last surveyed 24 years ago. A total of nine islands, historically recorded as breeding sites for wandering albatross, were surveyed with 144 fledglings and 48 adults identified from the aerial imagery. The UAV was effective at surveying populations of penguins that nest on flat, open terrain, such as Adélie and chinstrap penguin colonies at the South Sandwich Islands, and an extensive king penguin colony on South Georgia, but proved ineffective for monitoring macaroni penguins nesting in tussock habitat on South Georgia as individuals were obscured or hidden by vegetation. Overall, we show that UAV surveys can allow regular and accurate monitoring of these important wildlife populations.

中文翻译：

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正在开发对乔治亚州南部和南桑威奇群岛的标志性陆基海洋捕食者的无人机

从偏远的地形和探访频率来看，许多偏远岛屿为有效的野生动植物监测提供了障碍。南乔治亚南部亚岛和南桑威奇群岛是全球范围内海鸟和海洋哺乳动物种群的家园。佐治亚州南部拥有最多的南极海豹，南象海豹和帝王企鹅繁殖种群，以及大量流浪，黑眉和灰头信天翁。该岛还拥有重要的通心粉和gentoo企鹅种群。除了主要的阿德利和通心粉企鹅种群外，南桑威奇群岛还拥有世界上最大的chinstrap企鹅殖民地。2012年在这些岛屿周围建立了一个海洋保护区，但是监测海洋捕食者的数量仍然是一个挑战，尤其是因为这些物种在偏远且通常无法到达的地方大面积繁殖。在2019/20夏季，我们试用了无人飞行器（UAV;无人机）来监测海豹，企鹅和信天翁的数量，在此我们报告了我们的初步发现，包括对方法学优点和局限性的考虑。调查了三个广泛的南部象海豹繁殖地点，并在高峰期附近对它们进行了完整计数，其中两个地点最近在24年前进行了调查。总共对九个岛屿进行了调查，这些岛屿在历史上被记录为信天翁的繁殖地，并从航空影像中调查了144只雏鸟和48只成年动物。无人机可以有效地调查在平坦，开阔的地形上筑巢的企鹅种群，例如南桑威奇群岛的阿德利（Adélie）和下巴企鹅（chinstrap）企鹅殖民地，以及乔治亚州南部的大面积企鹅国王殖民地，但由于监视人员被植被遮盖或掩盖，因此无法有效监控通心粉企鹅筑巢于南乔治亚州的草丛栖息地。总的来说，我们表明无人机调查可以对这些重要的野生动植物种群进行定期和准确的监测。