ArticleScientific reports2019
Terrestrial mammalian wildlife responses to Unmanned Aerial Systems approaches.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Behavioural responses of Neotropical raptors to drone approaches to nests.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Combining Artificial Intelligence and Local Ecological Knowledge to Document the Largest Ever-Counted Cape Buffalo Mega-Herd.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Wildlife Responses to Drone Noise: A Preliminary Approach for Quantifying Disturbance During Single- and Dual-Drone Flights.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Ecological Exposure History Shapes Giraffe Vigilance Responses to Anthropogenic Noise: A Multisite Playback Experiment.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Elephant habituation to drones as a behavioural observation tool.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Closing the air gap: the use of drones for studying wildlife ecophysiology.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Best practice guidance for recreational and professional drones near colonial breeding birds.PloS one · 2025Article
- Drone Observation for the Quantitative Study of Complex Multilevel Societies.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Towards the fully automated monitoring of ecological communities.Ecology letters · 2022Review
- Using piecewise regression to identify biological phenomena in biotelemetry datasets.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Article
- Robust Algorithms for Drone-Assisted Monitoring of Big Animals in Harsh Conditions of Siberian Winter Forests: Recovery of European elk (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Perspectives in machine learning for wildlife conservation.Nature communications · 2022Review
- Responses of turkey vultures to unmanned aircraft systems vary by platform.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Sociability strongly affects the behavioural responses of wild guanacos to drones.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The behavioral responses of a nocturnal burrowing marsupial (Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Improving Animal Monitoring Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and Deep Learning Networks.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Fewer bat passes are detected during small, commercial drone flights.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Measuring disturbance at swift breeding colonies due to the visual aspects of a drone: a quasi-experiment study.Current zoology · 2021Article
- An experimental approach to evaluate the potential of drones in terrestrial mammal research: a gregarious ungulate as a study model.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are increasingly being used recreationally, commercially and for wildlife research, but very few studies have quantified terrestrial mammalian reactions to UAS approaches. We used two Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) UAS to approach seven herbivore species in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, after securing the relevant permissions. We recorded responses to 103 vertical and 120 horizontal approaches, the latter from three altitudes above ground level (AGL). We ran mixed logistic regressions to identify factors triggering (i) any response and (ii) an evasive response. We included effects of activity, altitude, direction of approach, distance, habitat, herd type, herd size, other species, target species, time, VTOL type and wind strength. Response triggers were linked to altitude, distance, habitat and target species. Elephant (Loxodonta africana), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and zebra (Equus quagga) were most affected by VTOL approach, impala (Aepyceros melampus) and lechwe (Kobus leche) were least responsive, and tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus) displayed intermediate sensitivity. VTOLs flown lower than 60 m AGL and closer than 100 m horizontal distance from target animals triggered behavioural responses in most species. Enforced regulations on recreational UAS use in wildlife areas are necessary to minimise disturbance to terrestrial mammals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.