Aerial survey manual for UWA

[Howard Frederick]

Hi all -

I've posted the first (Uganda) version of the WCS Flight Programme's "Aerial Wildlife Survey Manual", and made it available on my (draft) website for circulation: http://www.countinganimals.underdiverwaterman.com/ (click on "Publications"). It is available under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" license.

The manual is intended to take beginners (in a training course) step-by-step through the process of setting up and running sample counts or total counts, including:

• Some basic elements of sample design and survey strategy;
• Setting up cameras for calibrated, easy photography during flight;
  
• QGIS (free GIS software) steps for setting up transects and subunits;
• Budgeting tool for aerial counts in Excel.
  

There is also a set of example spreadsheets and an R script for stratified sample counts under "Tools".

Some of the procedures and steps are specific for UWA, but a more generalised version of the manual is underway, which can be adapted for specific needs.

I'd be keen to get comments on the manual - obviously, many agencies and survey folk have different procedures, and I would like to hear back from you, both on this Group site and directly.


Regards -

Howard Frederick
Aerial Survey & Environmental Consultant
Arusha
Tanzania

[Howard Frederick]

As requested, I have updated the R script for calculating stratified, multispecies counts with some instructions on the data format for using your own data instead of the example DBF files.

http://www.countinganimals.underdiverwaterman.com/ (click on "Tools", then click the "R Calculation script" link).

2011/6/22 Howard Frederick <simba...@gmail.com>