Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Surveying Freshwater Turtle Populations: Methodology Adjustment

Unmanned aerial vehicles (colloquially known as drones) equipped with a high-definition camera are regularly used in the monitoring of various species. To our knowledge, the current study presents first data on the successful application of drones in herpetological studies. In two field trips (ca. 50 min of aerial observation time), we registered a total of nine adult specimens of two freshwater turtle species from two localities. The main positives of using a drone include allowing access to otherwise hard to access areas, storing recorded photos or videos on memory card and watching recordings in real time from a laptop. The negatives include inability to fly in suboptimal conditions, difficulty in detecting smaller animals and possibly causing disturbance to more sensitive species. We also highlight the features that we consider to be most useful for specialized herpetological surveys.