Portable CCTV for mammal monitoring: new survey technology.

Abstract

Trail cameras are a popular method for determining the presence of species but are fixed in design and have few user-defined parameters. In contrast, closed-circuit television systems (CCTV) allow user choice of the system components and have comprehensive user-defined features. Portable CCTV systems are particularly useful to study species that can be difficult to monitor with trail cameras, such as bats, dormice, and otters. This paper describes portable CCTV systems and illustrates their use with particular respect to these species. The recent development of video content analytics in new CCTV systems dramatically increases the efficiency of video analysis, making CCTV a powerful tool for monitoring a wide range of wildlife.