Researchers develop heat-sensing drones that could help save endangered species: 'It's an exciting step forward'
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point have developed drone technology that can help biologists monitor and protect waterfowl populations, according to a news release.
Amanda Griswold, a graduate student in the College of Natural Resources, has worked on a two-year study along with her adviser, assistant professor Ben Sedinger, to survey wetland areas and identify waterfowl species.
Waterfowl, a diverse family of bird species normally found near water sources, are some of the most commonly recognized birds in the world. They include ducks, swans, geese, and more. According to Animal Diversity, 39 species of waterfowl, or anseriformes, are listed as threatened, with five critically endangered and seven endangered. These include the Hawaiian goose, Hawaiian duck, and long-tailed duck.
According to the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the most common threat to waterfowl is habitat loss due to agriculture expansion and urban development. Ducks Unlimited estimates nearly 113 million acres of wetlands have been lost since settlement. Other threats include hunting, invasive species, and the recent outbreak of bird flu.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has created wildlife refuges and waterfowl production areas in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota to protect waterfowl. Much of the funds for waterfowl protection comes from the Federal Duck Stamp.
To accurately survey and protect waterfowl, traditionally biologists have relied on aerial flights or satellite monitoring, which help avoid human disturbances. However, these surveying techniques come with limitations because of their expenses.
By using drones, Griswold significantly cut costs and minimized impact on the natural behaviors of waterfowl.
Griswold's drones used thermal imaging technology to greatly increase the ability to monitor and survey waterfowl. According to the university, Griswold identified 773 breeding pairs and 573 waterfowl broods, the young of the family.
"Our findings show that drones are a reliable and efficient tool for monitoring breeding waterfowl populations," Griswold said. "They improve detection rates while reducing the need for time-intensive ground surveys."
Should we be actively working to kill invasive species?
Absolutely
It depends on the species
I don't know
No — leave nature alone
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Griswold's research helps provide critical data on waterfowl breeding habits, allowing biologists and conservationists to prioritize certain efforts and areas.
The information on breeding pairs and the density of the pairs helped reaffirm the Wisconsin Waterfowl Habitat Conservation Strategy, a 15-year plan to identify prime conservation of wetland areas for waterfowl.
"Pair presence and density aligned well with the conservation rankings and wetland areas," Griswold said. "But brood densities depended more on seasonal timing and local conditions. This suggests our models need refinement to capture the complexities of quality brood habitat fully."
Even with the limitations, the project created a more affordable conservation effort by limiting labor, reducing costs, and maximizing efficacy. According to Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Griswold's project will give conservationists the tools to respond to habitat loss, habitat degradation, and the effects of climate change on waterfowl more quickly and more efficiently.
"This research combines advanced technology with ecological expertise to address real-world conservation challenges," Sedinger said. "Drones give us the ability to observe waterfowl in ways we couldn't before, allowing for more precise conservation strategies. It's an exciting step forward for waterfowl and wetland conservation."
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The proof that older people are getting smarter
Fitter, faster, stronger – and smarter. I'm paraphrasing, but that's how researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently summed up the Baby Boom generation in a recent report on the consequences of global ageing. The developed world may be running out of lithe young things to drive our economies forward as birth rates collapse, but the oldies that remain are brainier than any generation before and can pick up at least some of the slack, it said. The IMF's findings rely on data from 41 advanced and emerging market economies and show that, on average, older people from around the age of 50 are smarter or more cognitively able today than ever before. Moreover, of all the indicators of healthy ageing (better retained agility, flexibility, strength, stamina etc), it is an improvement in our mental capacities that is most marked in the data, says the IMF. 'We aim to offer a new perspective on the old argument that ageing will lead inevitably to slumping economic growth and mounting fiscal pressures', say Bertrand Gruss and Diaa Noureldin, lead authors of the new report. 'When it comes to cognitive capacities, the 70s are indeed the new 50s: A person who was 70 in 2022 had the same cognitive health score as a 53 year old in 2000. Older workers' physical health – such as grip strength and lung capacity – has also improved.' The IMF aren't the only people who have looked at this trend. A 2022 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US shows that when it comes to brain power, Baby Boomers (born between 1946 to 64) beat the Great Generation (1901-27) on all the researchers' key measures of cognition. 'We found better age-adjusted performance in the cognitive domains of processing speed, executive function, attention and verbal fluency in more recent generations compared to the Greatest Generation', said its authors. So why is the world seemingly getting smarter? Professor Axel Börsch-Supan, director of the Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich, said improvements in education have been key. 'That [Boomers] are smarter is essentially a function of their much better education than earlier generations', he says. 'If you look at the years of schooling, that immensely increased in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean countries, but also in the North and the East.' Education and better nutrition in childhood does not just help preserve good cognition in later years but improves employment prospects. And the longer you stay in employment, with all the mental and social stimulations that brings, the better things are for our brain health. Given the proportion of over 65s participating in the UK labour market has been slowly rising, and has more than doubled since 2000 participation was at 7.8 per cent over the first three months of that year, increasing to 15.7 per cent in 2025), no wonder our mental fire power is improving. Further Department of Work and Pensions data reveals that in the UK, 10 per cent of 70 to 74-year-olds were still in employment in 2024 (up from 5 per cent in 1984) as were over a quarter of 65 to 69s (27.6 per cent, up from 9.5 per cent in 1984). In 2024, the average age of people exiting the workforce hit its highest level since the 1960s (65.7 years old) and its highest level on record for women (at 64.5 years). On June 7 The Oxford University Longevity Project will gather for the Smart Ageing Summit 2025 in Rhodes House in the heart of Oxford. The meeting brings together leading longevity experts and enthusiasts from around the world to explore 'how we can age smarter and better now'. Leading lights include the runner and academic Sir Christopher Ball, 90, the father of the pace maker Professor Denis Noble, 88, and the broadcaster Angela Rippon, 80. Physician Sir Muir Gray, 80, a director of the Longevity Project and a pioneer in the area of evidence-based ageing, said the first thing to grasp about ageing is that 'ageing by itself' is not the problem. Instead 'controllable factors' including loss of fitness (mental and physical) and environmentally-linked disease were the things to look out for. 'The trick to healthy ageing is for all of us to have a plan', says Gray. 'A plan to understand ageing, a plan to regain lost fitness, a plan to reduce the risk of disease striking, a plan to better adapt to your environment… It's knowledge that's the elixir of life. 'In the 12 years since my myocardial infarction [heart attack], I've had 400 boxes of pills and not one prescription of exercise or diet from the NHS. The pills keep me going but it's all the other stuff that keeps me young,' he says. 'All the other stuff' includes the internet – Gray believes it has contributed to gains in cognition by keeping older people engaged with the world. The same applies not just to staying in the labour market for longer, but particularly to career changes – an increasingly common phenomenon that forces us to start over again in our learning and greatly broadens our knowledge and experience. Volunteering has a similar impact. 'Becoming a volunteer is a very good way of reducing your risk of dementia,' says Gray, because, as with staying in the labour market, it allows you to keep yourself 'mentally and physically challenged' by keeping you engaged with society and your local community. The threat of dementia is the perfect reason to heed Gray's call for people to better understand the process of ageing and plan for it. Only around 60 per cent of it is caused by Alzheimer's, leaving 40 per cent linked to behavioural and environmental factors – many of which we can avoid or mitigate. According to Gray, this also includes looking after your vascular heath through regular exercise; a good diet and the avoidance of binge drinking, smoking etc; and protecting the brain tissue from damage 'caused by stress, sleep problems and over medication'. Working has already proved its cognitive worth: a 2020 study by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation in the US found that American women who had paying jobs as young adults into middle age had slower rates of age-related memory decline than women who didn't, while women who did not have much paid work between the ages of 16 and 50 tended to have faster declines in memory later in life. Medical understanding had also completely changed in a generation, says Gray: 'we know now we can form new neural circuits at any age, whereas doctors who qualified before 2000 were taught that after 20 all that happened was that brain cells died off'. Until recently there has also been prejudice in the medical establishment, says Gray – some of it quite subtle. 'The effects of ageing on intellectual capacity have been greatly exaggerated because researchers have used tests that concentrate on quick decision-making, which does slow with age. But quick decision-making is only needed in pub quizzes and landing planes and [now] AI will do it for you. We actually get better at complex decision making as we live longer. As Oscar Wilde said, 'experience is the name we give our mistakes!'' But while the trend from the Greatest Generation to the Baby Boom generation shows an uptick in brain power, there are important caveats and nuances. Although the IMF points to an average gain in cognition worldwide, there are outliers who are faring less well, particularly in disadvantaged groups among Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980). 'Average health scores are significantly lower for individuals in rural locations, individuals with at most primary education, and lower-wealth households', says the IMF. 'Further analysis reveals that lifestyle factors, such as levels of physical activity, body mass index, and smoking, are significant determinants of the functional capacity of older individuals [even] after age and socioeconomic characteristics are controlled for.' 'The biggest changes in the UK are in the lower [socio economic] groups,' agrees Börsch-Supan. 'There's definitely a social gradient and it has a lot to do with health behaviours, nutrition and the big disaster of cheap prefab food. Look at the pizza which you buy for a pound – they're really bad quality.' In short, the trend can only continue if we don't sit on our laurels. Only those people cycling to work each day, climbing stairs or going to night classes will get a boost in the smart charts. To gain personally, you've got to put in the hard yards (and plenty of fruit and veg) yourself. Still, as the rest of the world continues to get smarter, the Boomer generation are the poster boys: it's why Mick Jagger, 81, and Iggy Pop, 78, are still touring. We just need to be wealthy, clean-living, gainfully employed and well connected to make it last. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Army to lead nuclear microreactor development to power bases
Some Army installations could be powered by nuclear microreactors under an executive order recently issued by President Donald Trump. The order, published May 23, calls for deploying advanced nuclear reactor technologies for national security and directs Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to establish a program using the technology for both installation and operational energy. It orders the operation of a nuclear reactor at a domestic military base or installation by Sept. 30, 2028. 'Advanced nuclear reactors include nuclear energy systems like Generation III+ reactors, small modular reactors, microreactors, and stationary and mobile reactors that have the potential to deliver resilient, secure, and reliable power to critical defense facilities and other mission capability resources,' according to the order. Pentagon to build micro nuclear reactor to power far-flung bases Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George took multiple questions from various committee members on the initiative. Driscoll indicated his support for the move in response to a question from Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., as to where microreactors fit into America's national security strategy. 'I think microreactors can be an incredible asset as we solve against the future energy needs of the United States Army, both CONUS [continental United States], OCONUS [outside the continental U.S.] and peacetime and wartime,' Driscoll said. 'We are excited to lead that effort.' Neither Driscoll nor George had details as to which installation might feature such a reactor. But both said the reactors could provide energy resilience and independence for some installations. Pentagon officials announced in early 2022 that the Defense Department would build a nuclear microreactor that could be flown to an austere site by a C-17 cargo plane and set up to power a military base. The initiative, dubbed 'Project Pele,' outlined a 40-ton reactor that could fit in three to four 20-foot shipping containers and provide one to five megawatts of power on full power for up to three years before refueling. The name is a reference to the Hawaiian deity Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanos. The acronym also stands for Portable Energy for Lasting Effects. The Pentagon awarded an initial $300 million contract in June 2022 to Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWX Technologies to build the reactor.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Why three-toed sloths risk their lives to help moths
For centuries, people encountering sloths for the first time have reacted by ridiculing them. In 1526, Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés wrote that the sloths he'd seen in the American tropics were 'ugly,' 'useless,' and 'the stupidest animal that can be found in the world.' In 1749, French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, called them 'the lowest form of existence' and judged that 'one more defect would have made their lives impossible.' Harsh words about a creature that's survived for at least 50 million years. Yes, sloths have poor hearing and eyesight, and they're slow—the slowest mammal on Earth. But their lethargy is an energy-saving strategy; despite the inability to outrun threats, sloths have figured out what works for them. And while they may appear to be solitary, they don't succeed alone. Sloths operate as one-third of a partnership with moths and algae, which both live in the mammal's thick fur (along with fungi and ticks and mites, oh my). 'Sloths are these fascinating, fantastic, weird mammals that have enlisted really unexpected organisms to help them make their living,' says Jonathan Pauli, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who has studied this symbiosis. After a three-toed sloth has lounged for days in the forest canopy, napping and grazing on poisonous leaves—slowly, so that its liver and four-chambered stomach can break down the toxins—the time comes for its weekly poop. Rather than rain droppings from high up, the animal makes a drawn-out descent. As captured on camera in National Geographic's Underdogs series, the move is exceptionally risky, burning a tenth of the sloth's daily calories and exposing it to predators on the jungle floor, where it's mostly—but not always—helpless to defend itself. More than half of the sloth deaths documented by Pauli's team of researchers in Costa Rica occurred on bathroom breaks. But if a jaguar isn't waiting at the tree's base, a sloth digs a small depression in the soil—a toilet bowl—and relieves itself at last. Cue the moths. Females, including species found only on sloths, lay their eggs in the fresh dung. The eggs become coprophagous larvae, feeding on the feces, and larvae become adult moths that flutter off in search of their own hairy habitats. As many as 120 moths have been counted on a single sloth. Moths fertilize sloth fur with nutrients, like nitrogen, whether by delivering fecal matter there or dying and decomposing. Along with rainwater, nitrogen encourages the growth of algae. And algae give sloths a green coloring—effective camouflage from birds of prey patrolling overhead. The more moths on a sloth, the more nitrogen and algae. Sloths also eat the green stuff as a sort of dietary supplement. Although researchers haven't observed the behavior, Pauli's team tested the contents of sloths' stomachs and found algae. What seems clear to researchers is that sloths, moths, and algae all benefit from their shared arrangement. And now, a team of scientists in Costa Rica is exploring whether the microbiome living on sloths could boost human health, too. Many experts believe sloths are resistant to illness or infection; testing fur samples, the Costa Rican team isolated previously unknown bacteria that may lead to new antibiotics. As concerns mount about superbugs that are capable of defeating existing medications, what if remedies are discovered on the backs and bellies of sloths? An animal maligned in the past as useless and an unlikely survivor would prove to be a hero, sophisticated enough to save human lives. Perhaps we were awfully slow to recognize the sloth's potential. Underdogs will premiere on National Geographic June 15th and stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Please check local listings.
