Automated monitoring

Feature publications 

Automating the analysis of fish abundance using object detection

​Ditria et al. 2020
Aquatic ecologists routinely count animals to provide critical information for conservation and management. Increased accessibility to underwater recording equipment such as action cameras and unmanned underwater devices has allowed footage to be captured efficiently and safely

Artificial intelligence meets citizen science to supercharge ecological monitoring

McClure et al. 2020
Citizen science and artificial intelligence (AI) are often used in isolation for ecological monitoring, but their integration likely has emergent benefits for management and scientific inquiry. We explore the complementarity of citizen science and AI for ecological monitoring, highlighting key opportunities and challenges. We show that strategic integration of citizen science and AI can improve outcomes for conservation activities.

Deep learning for automated analysis of fish abundance: the benefits of training across multiple habitats

Ditria et al. 2020
Environmental monitoring guides conservation and is particularly important for aquatic habitats which are heavily impacted by human activities. Underwater cameras and uncrewed devices monitor aquatic wildlife, but manual processing of footage is a significant bottleneck to rapid data processing and dissemination of results. Deep learning has emerged as a solution, but its ability to accurately detect animals across habitat types and locations is largely untested for coastal environments.

All automated monitoring publications 

All of Rod Connolly's publications relating to automated monitoring

2020
  • ​​Becken S, Friedl H, Stantic B, Connolly RM, Chen J (2020) Climate crisis and flying: social media analysis traces the rise of ‘Flightshame’. Journal of Sustainable Tourism (online Nov 2020) PDF
  • Ditria EM, Sievers M, Lopez-Marcano S, Jinks EL, Connolly RM (2020) Deep learning for automated analysis of fish abundance: the benefits of training across multiple habitats. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 192:698 PDF
  • McClure EC, Sievers M, Brown CJ, Buelow CA, Ditria EM, Hayes MA, Pearson RM, Tulloch VJD, Unsworth RKF, Connolly RM (2020) Artificial intelligence meets citizen science to supercharge ecological monitoring. Patterns 1:100109 PDF
  • Lopez-Marcano S, Brown CJ, Sievers M, Connolly RM (2020) The slow rise of technology: computer vision techniques in fish population connectivity. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (online July 2020) PDF
  • Ditria EM, Lopez-Marcano S, Sievers M, Jinks EL, Brown CJ, Connolly RM (2020) Automating the analysis of fish abundance using object detection: optimizing animal ecology with deep learning. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:429 PDF
  • Scott N, Le D, Becken S, Connolly RM (2020) Measuring perceived beauty of the Great Barrier Reef using eye-tracking technology. Current Issues in Tourism 23:2492-2502 PDF​

2019
  • Becken S, Connolly RM, Chen J, Stantic B (2019) A hybrid is born: integrating collective sensing, citizen science and professional monitoring of the environment. Ecological Informatics 52:35-45 PDF​

2018
  • Mandal R, Connolly RM, Schlacher TA, Stantic B (2018) Assessing fish abundance from underwater video using deep neural networks. IEEE IJCNN 2018:1-6. DOI: 10.1109/IJCNN.2018.8489482 PDF

2017
  • Becken S, Stantic B, Chen J, Alaei A, Connolly RM (2017) Monitoring the environment and human sentiment on the Great Barrier Reef: assessing the potential of collective sensing. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 203:87-97 PDF​