Use of unmanned aerial system to assess wildlife (Sus scrofa) damage to crops (Zea mays)

Damage caused by ungulates to agricultural areas is difficult to evaluate because the real extent of the damage remains usually poorly described and potentially leads to conflicts. Recent advances in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) provide new versatile mapping and quantification possibilities in a wide range of applications. We used crop fields (Zea mays) damaged by wild boar (Sus scrofa) and compared the extent of the damage by means of three methods: (i) traditional ground-based assessment; (ii) UAS orthoimages with operator delineation; and (iii) UAS crop height model with automatic delineation based on height threshold. We showed for the first time that UAS can be applied for assessing damage of ungulates to agriculture. The two methods using UAS imagery provide coherent and satisfactory results and tend to underestimate the damage area when compared to in-use ground-based field expertise. However, we suggest that performance of UAS should further be tested in variable conditions to assess the broad ap...

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