Thread by @TabbyTabs24

1/7 Hello everyone, my name is Tabitha Siegfried and I am very excited to be presentations on my research “Validating the use of stereo-video camera to conduct remote measurements of sea turtles" for #SeaTurtleTalks

2/7 Stereo-video camera systems (SVCS) are a promising tool to remotely measure body size of wild animals without the need for animal handling. In this study we assessed the accuracy of SVCSs for measuring the straight carapace of sea turtles.

3/7 To achieve this, we hand captured and measured 63 individuals. Upon releasing these captured turtles we filmed them with the SVCS. We then compared the hand captured measurements to measurements extracted via the SVCS.

4/7 The mean percent bias of the SVCS measurements relative to the hand capture measurements ranged from -0.61% (± 0.11 SE) to -4.46 % (± 0.31 SE). We then calculated the linear model slope to directly compare hand measurements and SVCS measurements.

5/7 We then statistically analyzed potential diving factors of measurement error.
Using a linear mixed effects model we found that the distance between the turtle and the SVS was the primary factor influencing measurement error.

6/7 This study contributes to a growing number of studies that have validated the accuracy of SVCS for body length measurement independent of taxonomic clade. While indicating to be highly accurate for sea turtle species.

7/7 The implications for SVCS for conservation management efforts are immense and show great promise in enhancing current data availability by yielding critical data that are currently lacking for many populations globally.
Full article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…