Browsing by Subject "photography"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Butterfly Photography
    (2014-09-12) Bode, Justin; Neary, Tim
    In this radio broadcast, Justin Bode discusses butterfly photography, including the differences between forest and bushveld butterflies and a rare sighting of the Golden Flash butterfly. Citizen scientists have been instrumental in developing knowledge of not only the adult life phase of butterflies, but also through recording the larval and pupal stages of both moths and butterflies in South Africa and discovering new localities for endangered species. Justin also discusses synergies with other research projects, such as ant researchers, that can be exploited by involving citizen scientists in the research process. Eyed Pansy Ilanda image provided courtesy of M Purves under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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    Collapse of an iconic conifer: long-term changes in the demography of Widdringtonia cedarbergensis using repeat photography
    (2016) White, J D M; Jack, S L; Hoffman, M T; Puttick, J; Bonora, D; Visser, V; February, E C
    BACKGROUND: Conifer populations appear disproportionately threatened by global change. Most examples are, however, drawn from the northern hemisphere and long-term rates of population decline are not well documented as historical data are often lacking. We use a large and long-term (1931-2013) repeat photography dataset together with environmental data and fire records to account for the decline of the critically endangered Widdringtonia cedarbergensis. Eighty-seven historical and repeat photo-pairs were analysed to establish 20th century changes in W. cedarbergensis demography. A generalized linear mixed-effects model was fitted to determine the relative importance of environmental factors and fire-return interval on mortality for the species. RESULTS: From an initial total of 1313 live trees in historical photographs, 74% had died and only 44 (3.4%) had recruited in the repeat photographs, leaving 387 live individuals. Juveniles (mature adults) had decreased (increased) from 27% (73%) to 8% (92%) over the intervening period. Our model demonstrates that mortality is related to greater fire frequency, higher temperatures, lower elevations, less rocky habitats and aspect (i.e. east-facing slopes had the least mortality). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that W. cedarbergensis populations have declined significantly over the recorded period, with a pronounced decline in the last 30 years. Individuals that established in open habitats at lower, hotter elevations and experienced a greater fire frequency appear to be more vulnerable to mortality than individuals growing within protected, rocky environments at higher, cooler locations with less frequent fires. Climate models predict increasing temperatures for our study area (and likely increases in wildfires). If these predictions are realised, further declines in the species can be expected. Urgent management interventions, including seedling out-planting in fire-protected high elevation sites, reducing fire frequency in higher elevation populations, and assisted migration, should be considered.
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    Medicine and the Arts Week 6 - Forensic aesthetics
    (2015-01-21) Smith, Kathryn
    In this video, Kathryn Smith, a forensic artist, presents a philosophical exploration of photography, truth, evidence and indexicality as each one intersects with the corpse. In terms of photographing the dead as a forensic artist, Kathryn describes how she sees capturing the face in death as a way of giving respect and identity to a corpse. This is the third video in Week 6 of the Medicine and the Arts Massive Open Online Course.
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    Science and Wild Fashion - Animal Identification by Appearance
    (2014-09-12) Bussiere, Elsa; Neary, Tim
    In this radio broadcast, Elsa Bussiere discusses tracking animal population density, movement and habitation patterns via the use of non-invasive techniques such as camera traps and the statistical models that have been developed to analyse the data captured through these techniques. Such techniques are very useful for capturing smaller or more secretive animals. Citizen scientists can also contribute by 'adopting a camera' by sponsoring a camera trap in a wide variety of areas, especially non-protected regions where animal demography is less well-documented. Image provided courtesy of Ian Gaigher under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.