sUAS study of Feral Goat population in the Natural area of Paratge Natural de la Serra de Tramuntana

These large feral goat populations cause a range of human-wild conflict issues through their overabundance and over grazing. Currently, there are some basic estimations about the abundance of this herbivore in the island, but historically it has proved difficult to calculate densities, due to the rugged terrain and access issues (the management diversity between public and private properties).

We developed a Remote Sensing methodology to estimate these population which would provide more reliable population estimates and further locational and spatial information; all of which would be high valuable for public managers.

A small-Unmanned Aircraft System (AKA drone) was deployed using a Thermomap camera payload configured for this research project. We collected thermal survey data of the site and this data is being used (via both photo and video format) to estimate population numbers of a target group of feral goats. This data will be cross-validated and compared with both traditional GPS-collar data and a high resolution thermal camera ground survey.

Ongoing