A comprehensive review of a decade of camera trap data on Australian terrestrial vertebrates recently published in Biological Reviews (Bruce et al 2024), underscores the transformative potential of ARDC-supported Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs) for wildlife research. The review highlights how WildObs could significantly improve the efficiency, quality, and scale of research and management outcomes while solidifying Australia’s position as a global leader in wildlife monitoring.
Co-authored by prominent ecology researchers, including contributors to WildObs, the study synthesises findings from existing literature, an online survey of 132 professionals, and insights from a workshop with 28 leading experts. The research concludes that WildObs has the potential to revolutionise large-scale, long-term wildlife monitoring in Australia. However, achieving this requires a paradigm shift towards adopting best practices for collecting, curating, sharing, and analysing ‘Big Data.’
Dr Zachary Amir is a Principal Data Scientist at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) working on WildObs and a co-author of the article.
“Australia has led the way in deploying wildlife cameras to monitor species across diverse landscapes, but this review identifies critical challenges in realising their full potential,” said Dr Amir.
“Camera traps can capture huge amounts of high-quality data, but their potential is not being fully realised due to lack of standardised national research infrastructure.”
To overcome these barriers, the paper proposes the creation of WildObs—a collaborative effort led by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN),
the Atlas of Living Australia, and the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF), with contributions from universities, government agencies, and conservation organisations.
Hamish Holewa, Director of the ARDC’s Planet Research Data Commons, said, “WildObs is set to solve significant wildlife monitoring challenges in Australia with research infrastructure designed with researchers, for researchers. As part of the Planet Research Data Commons’ focus area National Machine Observation Processing Infrastructure, WildObs will work alongside an ecoacoustics project to establish machine observation data storage and processing to capitalise on these rich data to conduct unprecedented research on how biodiversity is changing.”
Camera traps have proven invaluable for tracking wildlife behaviour, abundance, and ecosystem responses to threats such as climate change, bushfires, and invasive species. However, researchers face key barriers that limit their effectiveness:
Taxonomic Biases: Studies are heavily focused on larger mammals in accessible areas, leaving significant knowledge gaps about other species and habitats. A comprehensive review of a decade of camera trap data on Australian terrestrial vertebrates recently published in Biological Reviews (Bruce et al 2024), underscores the transformative potential of ARDC-supported Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs) for wildlife research. The review highlights how WildObs could significantly improve the efficiency, quality, and scale of research and management outcomes while solidifying Australia’s position as a global leader in wildlife monitoring.
Co-authored by prominent ecology researchers, including contributors to WildObs, the study synthesises findings from existing literature, an online survey of 132 professionals, and insights from a workshop with 28 leading experts. The research concludes that WildObs has the potential to revolutionise large-scale, long-term wildlife monitoring in Australia. However, achieving this requires a paradigm shift towards adopting best practices for collecting, curating, sharing, and analysing ‘Big Data.’
Dr Zachary Amir is a Principal Data Scientist at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) working on WildObs and a co-author on the article.
“Australia has led the way in deploying wildlife cameras to monitor species across diverse landscapes, but this review identifies critical challenges in realising their full potential,” said Dr Amir.
“Camera traps can capture huge amounts of high-quality data, but their potential is not being fully realised due to lack of standardised national research infrastructure.”
To overcome these barriers, the paper proposes the creation of WildObs—a collaborative effort led by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN),
the Atlas of Living Australia, and the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF), with contributions from universities, government agencies, and conservation organisations.
Hamish Holewa, Director of the ARDC’s Planet Research Data Commons, said, “WildObs is set to solve significant wildlife monitoring challenges in Australia with research infrastructure designed with researchers, for researchers. As part of the Planet Research Data Commons’ focus area National Machine Observation Processing Infrastructure, WildObs will work alongside an ecoacoustics project to establish machine observation data storage and processing to capitalise on these rich data to conduct unprecedented research on how biodiversity is changing.”
Camera traps have proven invaluable for tracking wildlife behaviour, abundance, and ecosystem responses to threats such as climate change, bushfires, and invasive species. However, researchers face key barriers that limit their effectiveness:
Taxonomic Biases: Studies are heavily focused on larger mammals in accessible areas, leaving significant knowledge gaps about other species and habitats.
The Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs) is designed to overcome these barriers by creating an integrated, innovative solution. The initiative will:
WildObs will also support a strong community of practice by hosting workshops, training sessions, and demonstrations to ensure the initiative aligns with the needs of the wildlife monitoring community.
For more information about this initiative and to get involved, visit the WildObs website.
Read the journal article by Bruce et al: Large-scale and long-term wildlife research and monitoring using camera traps: a continental synthesis.
WildObs is a partner program of ARDC (doi.org/10.3565/bvg2-b035) TERN and QCIF, which are both enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
This article was originally published by QCIF.
