AI-Driven Real-Time Monitoring of Ground-Nesting Birds: A Case Study on Curlew Detection Using YOLOv10
This provides a solution for conservationists and ecologists to monitor declining bird species like curlews more efficiently, though it is incremental as it applies an existing AI method to a specific ecological domain.
This study tackled the problem of resource-intensive manual processing of camera trap data for monitoring ground-nesting birds by developing an AI-driven system using YOLOv10, achieving high detection performance with sensitivities of 90.56% for curlews and 92.35% for curlew chicks.
Effective monitoring of wildlife is critical for assessing biodiversity and ecosystem health, as declines in key species often signal significant environmental changes. Birds, particularly ground-nesting species, serve as important ecological indicators due to their sensitivity to environmental pressures. Camera traps have become indispensable tools for monitoring nesting bird populations, enabling data collection across diverse habitats. However, the manual processing and analysis of such data are resource-intensive, often delaying the delivery of actionable conservation insights. This study presents an AI-driven approach for real-time species detection, focusing on the curlew (Numenius arquata), a ground-nesting bird experiencing significant population declines. A custom-trained YOLOv10 model was developed to detect and classify curlews and their chicks using 3/4G-enabled cameras linked to the Conservation AI platform. The system processes camera trap data in real-time, significantly enhancing monitoring efficiency. Across 11 nesting sites in Wales, the model achieved high performance, with a sensitivity of 90.56%, specificity of 100%, and F1-score of 95.05% for curlew detections, and a sensitivity of 92.35%, specificity of 100%, and F1-score of 96.03% for curlew chick detections. These results demonstrate the capability of AI-driven monitoring systems to deliver accurate, timely data for biodiversity assessments, facilitating early conservation interventions and advancing the use of technology in ecological research.