计算动物种群是理解生态过程的基础。计数可以在特定时间点估计动物种群的大小,这是了解人口变化的重要信息。然而,在人口众多的情况下,计数是耗时的,特别是如果手动执行。这里,我们利用卷积神经网络(CNN)来计算222张照片中的巢入口总数,这些照片覆盖了世界上最大的已知鹦鹉(Aves)殖民地。我们在最大的洞穴鹦鹉Cyanoliseuspatagonus殖民地进行了研究,位于ElCóndor村附近面向大西洋的悬崖上,在巴塔哥尼亚东北部,阿根廷。我们还旨在研究殖民地沿悬崖的巢穴入口的分布。为此,我们使用了三种CNN架构,U-Net,ResUnet,DeepLabv3U-Net架构表现出最佳性能,计算整个殖民地平均有59,842个洞穴鹦鹉巢入口,测试补丁的平均绝对误差为2.7个嵌套入口,测量为每个补丁的实际计数和预测计数之间的差异。与20多年前在ElCóndor殖民地进行的研究相比,CNN架构还发现了悬崖上巢穴入口分布的显着差异。我们表明,在巢穴入口分布中观察到的强烈变化是人类对ElCóndor洞穴鹦鹉殖民地的长期干扰记录的可衡量影响。鉴于ElCóndor的洞穴鹦鹉殖民地至关重要,集中了这个物种世界上71%的人口,我们主张,在鹦鹉的适应能力达到极限之前,必须减少这种干扰。
Counting animal populations is fundamental to understand ecological processes. Counts make it possible to estimate the size of an animal population at specific points in time, which is essential information for understanding demographic change. However, in the case of large populations, counts are time-consuming, particularly if carried out manually. Here, we took advantage of convolutional neural networks (CNN) to count the total number of nest-entrances in 222 photographs covering the largest known Psittaciformes (Aves)
colony in the world. We conducted our study at the largest Burrowing Parrot Cyanoliseus patagonus
colony, located on a cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of El Cóndor village, in north-eastern Patagonia, Argentina. We also aimed to investigate the distribution of nest-entrances along the cliff with the
colony. For this, we used three CNN architectures, U-Net, ResUnet, and DeepLabv3. The U-Net architecture showed the best performance, counting a mean of 59,842 Burrowing Parrot nest-entrances across the colony, with a mean absolute error of 2.7 nest-entrances over the testing patches, measured as the difference between actual and predicted counts per patch. Compared to a previous study conducted at El Cóndor
colony more than 20 years ago, the CNN architectures also detected noteworthy differences in the distribution of the nest-entrances along the cliff. We show that the strong changes observed in the distribution of nest-entrances are a measurable effect of a long record of human-induced disturbance to the Burrowing Parrot colony at El Cóndor. Given the paramount importance of the Burrowing Parrot
colony at El Cóndor, which concentrates 71% of the world\'s population of this species, we advocate that it is imperative to reduce such a degree of disturbance before the parrots reach the limit of their capacity of adaptation.