Jonas Hentati Sundberg: Sensors and AI in seabird research and monitoring

New sensor technologies and Artificial intelligence can speed up learning about species and populations and increase the utility of ecological field studies to inform environmental management. We have developed automated methods for monitoring of seabirds, which are often monitored for their high conservation value and for being sentinels for marine ecosystem changes. 

Using video surveillance combined with automated image processing, we continuously monitor breeding seabirds in a semi-natural environment – an artificial cliff in the middle of a large seabird colony on Stora Karlsö, Sweden. 

We demonstrate how computer vision-based object detection can be used to accurately monitor phenology and chick growth and generate surprising insights on disturbances from predators and impacts of heat waves. 

Ongoing development includes automated identification and quantification of behaviors, prey deliveries, automated weighing of birds and tracking and identification of individuals.

Jonas Hentati-Sundberg, Associate Professor in ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Jonas obtained his PhD from Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University) 2015. PhD thesis title: “SEA CHANGE - Social-ecological co-evolution in Baltic Sea fisheries”. 

His research interest concerns The use of Ai for biodiversity monitoring and applied research, in particular using video suveillance, animal-borne loggers and sailing drones, in marine systems. Novel hydro-acoustical tools (eg. broadband hydroacoustics, marine drones) for fish data collection, interactions between fish-eating seabirds (particularly common guillemot), fish stocks and fisheries, and dynamics of linked social-ecological systems (such as fisheries) and the role of management in shaping fisheries and other resource use systems. https://www.slu.se/cv/jonas-hentati-sundberg/