Title: An adaptive scaring device

Authors: Kim Arild Steen; Ole Roland Therkildsen; Henrik Karstoft; Ole Green

Addresses: Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark ' Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Rønde, Denmark ' Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark ' Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark

Abstract: The growing numbers of geese in NW-Europe has led to increasing conflict with agriculture. Today, a wide range of devices to detect and deter geese are in use, although their effectiveness is often highly variable due to habituation to disruptive or disturbing stimuli. An adaptive scaring device, focusing on and altering the disruptive stimuli to the presence of specific species could potentially reduce the risk of habituation and thereby provide an effective tool in the management of geese and other conflict species. In this paper, we present the first results of a preliminary field test of a newly developed adaptive bird scaring device. The system is able to recognise the behaviour of specific species based on their vocalisations and respond appropriately to this. The system reduced goose activity markedly when active, whereas goose activity increased when the system was deactivated.

Keywords: vocalisation; human-wildlife conflicts; adaptive scaring devices; barnacle geese; pattern recognition; grazing damage; agriculture; bird deterrents; disruptive stimuli; habituation; geese management; bird calls; distress calls; acoustic feature extraction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2015.070746

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2015 Vol.1 No.2, pp.130 - 141

Received: 07 May 2014
Accepted: 17 Jul 2014

Published online: 23 Jul 2015 *

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