The aim of this project is to utilize drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to investigate sea turtle population dynamics, alongside and compared with more traditional surveying tools. Information gathered from this research could be used to gain key insights into the conservation and management of sea turtles, in addition to gaining a better understanding of the accuracy of drones in data collection.This project will include an investigation into the reliability and recommended use of drones as ecology-based research tools, in addition to answering key question relating to foraging and breeding populations of sea turtles. Specifically, there are four key research objectives:
1) Validate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as an effective tool for investigating sea turtle foraging population dynamics (Research Chapter 1)
2) Assess green and loggerhead turtle foraging population structure in Moreton Bay using UAVs, with comparisons to population structure derived from historical mark-recapture studies (Research Chapter 2)
3) Assess habitat structure in green and loggerhead turtle foraging areas in Moreton Bay and Heron Island, using UAVs and in-water ground-truthing (Research Chapter 3)
4) Assess the habitat use of foraging green and loggerhead turtles in relation to the habitat mapped in Research Chapter 3 (Research Chapter 4)