A 3D stereo camera system for precisely positioning animals in space and time

PLT was supported by the Scottish Funding Council (grant HR09011) through the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland.Here, we describe a portable stereo camera system that integrates a GPS receiver, an attitude sensor and 3D stereo photogrammetry to rapidly estimate the position of multiple animals in space and time. We demonstrate the performance of the system during a field test by simultaneously tracking the individual positions of six long-finned pilot whales, Globicephala melas. In shore-based accuracy trials, a system with a 50-cm stereo baseline had an average range estimation error of 0.09 m at a 5-m distance increasing up to 3.2 at 50 m. The system is especially useful in field situations where it is necessary to follow groups of animals travelling over relatively long distances and time periods whilst obtaining individual positions with high spatial and temporal resolution (up to 8 Hz). These positions provide quantitative estimates of a variety of key parameters and indicators for behavioural studies such as inter-animal distances, group dispersion, speed and heading. This system can additionally be integrated with other techniques such as archival tags, photo-identification methods or acoustic playback experiments to facilitate fieldwork investigating topics ranging from natural social behaviour to how animals respond to anthropogenic disturbance. By grounding observations in quantitative metrics, the system can characterize fine-scale behaviour or detect changes as a result of disturbance that might otherwise be difficult to observe.PostprintPeer reviewe

The potential of payment for ecosystem services for crop wild relative conservation

Crop wild relatives (CWR) have proven to be very valuable in agricultural breeding programs but remain a relatively under-utilized and under-protected resource. CWR have provided resistance to pests and diseases, abiotic stress tolerance, quality improvements and yield increases with the annual contribution of these traits to agriculture estimated at USD 115 billion globally and are considered to possess many valuable traits that have not yet been explored. The use of the genetic diversity found in CWR for breeding provides much-needed resilience to modern agricultural systems and has great potential to help sustainably increase agricultural production to feed a growing world population in the face of climate change and other stresses. A number of CWR taxa are at risk, however, necessitating coordinated local, national, regional and global efforts to preserve the genetic diversity of these plants through complementary in situ and ex situ conservation efforts. We discuss the absence of adequate institutional frameworks to incentivize CWR conservation services and propose payment for ecosystem services (PES) as an under-explored mechanism for financing these efforts. Such mechanisms could serve as a potentially powerful tool for enhancing the long-term protection of CWR

Self-Determination Theory in HCI : Shaping a Research Agenda

Self-determination theory (SDT) has become one of the most frequently used and well-validated theories used in HCI research, modelling the relation of basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, positive experience and wellbeing. This makes it a prime candidate for a ‘motor theme’ driving more integrated, systematic, theory-guided research. However, its use in HCI has remained superficial and disjointed across various application domains like games, health and wellbeing, or learning. This workshop therefore convenes researchers across HCI to co-create a research agenda on how SDT-informed HCI research can maximise its progress in the coming years

Systems thinking : an approach for understanding 'eco-agri-food systems'

The TEEBAgriFood ‘Scientific and Economic Foundations’ report addresses the core theoretical issues and controversies underpinning the evaluation of the nexus between the agri-food sector, biodiversity and ecosystem services and externalities including human health impacts from agriculture on a global scale. It argues the need for a ‘systems thinking‘ approach, draws out issues related to health, nutrition, equity and livelihoods, presents a Framework for evaluation and describes how it can be applied, and identifies theories and pathways for transformational change

The Economic Value of Crop Diversity in the Czech Republic

We estimate the willingness-to-pay for conserving crop diversity in the Czech Republic. Discrete choice experiments are used to elicit preferences for the conservation of wine, hop, and fruit tree varieties, while a double-bounded dichotomous choice approach is used to elicit preferences for the conservation of unspecified, "general" crop diversity. The WTP values are derived for both of these contingent products from a sample representative of the general Czech population (n=731) and a sample of respondents living in the South Moravian region that is characterized by agriculture and wine production (n=418). We demonstrate a strong preference for conserving fruit trees over hops and wine varieties, and derive positive mean WTP of the general Czech population (ages 18-69) of 56 Kč ($2.26). Mean WTP for the conservation of general crop diversity is 167 Kč ($6.80). On average, residents of South Moravia have a greater WTP for "general" crop as well as fruit tree conservation. In total, the Czech adult population (ages 18-69) has an aggregate WTP of ~1.25 billion Kč ($50.5 million) for the conservation of general crop diversity, and ~410 million Kč ($16.8 million) for the conservation of fruit trees, revealing the previously unmeasured social welfare benefits of these activities. The estimated benefits..

Social Valuation of Genebank Activities: Assessing Public Demand for Genetic Resource Conservation in the Czech Republic

The use of diverse genetic resources to breed improved crop varieties has been a key driver of agricultural productivity improvements in the past century. At the same time, the adoption of modern varieties has contributed to substantial loss of traditional varieties. In this analysis, we estimate the social value provided by several proposed crop diversity conservation programs to be carried out by the Czech genebank system. We use a double-bounded dichotomous choice model to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for conserving additional crop varieties in the genebank for ten years using data collected through an online contingent valuation survey administered to a sample representative of the general Czech population (1037 respondents) and a smaller sub-sample representative of the agricultural region of South Moravia (500 respondents). Mean WTP was found to be about $9 for both the Czech and S. Moravian sub-samples, corresponding to country-wide benefits of ~$68 million. These benefits increase by 6–7% for every ten varieties conserved, implying total welfare benefits of ~$84 million for a program conserving the maximum number of 35 additional crop varieties offered in the experiment. The study illustrates an empirical approach of potential value for policymakers responsible for determining funding levels for genetic resource conservation

Short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihood of smallholder rice farmers in developing countries

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major international health crisis which has resulted in simultaneous economic, social and food security crises. This study aimed to provide a snapshot of the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder rice farmers in Côte d’Ivoire. Using three survey types (village-level, farmer association level, and household level), a total of 585 rice farmers were interviewed nine months after the starting of the pandemic in Cote d’Ivoire. Multivariate probit and Poisson regression models were used to analyze the determinants of the impact of the pandemic on farmers and the intensity of the impact, respectively. Results showed that all rice farmers were aware of coronavirus disease, and television and radio were the main sources of knowledge of the pandemic. After one growing season, the pandemic had negative impact on access to inputs, access to hired labor, yield, income and food security. Around 43% of farmers experienced at least one negative impact of the pandemic. About 30% of farmers perceived that the rice yield and income decreased due to the pandemic. Access to inputs and hired labor became more difficult and expensive for about 28% of farmers. Surprisingly, farmers in more remote villages were also affected by the pandemic as well. The main factors that influenced significantly and positively the intensity of the pandemic impact were the household size, being married, being producer of foundation seed, access to credit in the past, facing drought or flood as constraints. The facilitation of credit access for smallholder farmers could be one strategy to avoid food shortages and deficits among value chain actors

Precise geopositioning of marine mammals using stereo photogrammetry

Precise positioning of whales and other species in space and time is a key requirement for marine mammal research. It has been an elusive goal for years. We have developed a stereo camera based measurement system to meet the requirement. We have obtained preliminary results, and will describe ongoing improvements. The sounds of marine animals can be localized using multiple hydrophones. If these hydrophones are part of tags (like the DTAG) attached to individual animals, sometimes it is possible to identify which call is made by which individual. However, when social animals like pilot whales are very close together, it becomes very difficult to identify which individual is vocalizing. This is a critical problem for studies of marine mammal communication: we are not able to link the acoustic and tag data with the behavioral observations because we cannot accurately pinpoint where specific animals are in space, either on their own or relative to other animals. Precisely positioning the whales in space and time is also necessary to measure social cohesion, the critical variable for assessing the impact of anthropogenic sound on many vulnerable marine mammals. Current thought suggests that social whales, such as pilot whales, adopt a social defense strategy, grouping closer together under threat. Thus, of the dozens of sound and noise impact studies conducted on marine mammals throughout the world attempt to assess changes in cohesion during exposure to sound. However, they all estimate inter-animal distance by eye, something that is notoriously difficult and imprecise. In short, there is currently no accurate way to measure the fundamental variable that these millions of dollars of fieldwork are trying to assess. Positioning individual body parts instead of whole animals in space and time would allow precise mensuration of body part ratios, an essential statistic for assessing health and fat reserves that is currently difficult to measure in the field. Numerous techniques have been tried to address the geopositioning requirement, none have been wholly satisfactory. We developed a battery powered stereo camera system, integrated with a GPS receiver, an attitude reference system, and a laptop computer, and collected calibrated stereo imagery from a surface vessel. The stereo camera we used initially was an off the shelf firewire based system, originally intended for machine vision purposes. It was selected in part because of time pressures on development, and proved to have too short of a baseline for the precise work demanded by the scientific requirements. Other constraints of the off the shelf system made it difficult to accommodate lighting conditions in the bright marine environment, and we have since moved to a custom system. This custom system has many features in common with stereo systems we have developed for underwater use, shortening development time and testing. These common features include camera models and interface, calibration techniques and software elements, all of which will be described. Custom software has been developed for geopositioning of targets in the stereo overlap area. By differencing of positions of multiple targets, it becomes possible to achieve precise mensuration of body parts and sizes. These measurements can be made using both monoscopic viewing of two simultaneously collected images, or if three-dimensional viewing hardware is available, in stereo.</p