NAIRA: a tool in the management and processing of camera trap images

Abstract

Camera traps are an efficient tool for detecting terrestrial mammals and birds. Vast amounts of presence data and information about distribution and size of mammals and birds have been generated in a very short time using this approach. However, processing times, when done manually, can take longer because of the large amount of data collected. The first step processing the data is to analyze the photographs. The sequences of images captured are complex due to constant changes in the scenes, variation in light levels, and different climatic conditions between triggers and other variations resulting from the natural dynamics of the ecosystem. The manual analysis of camera trap information is time-consuming and as a consequence, conservation oriented strategies based on data are generated slower than the speed of the changes occurring in the study areas. Thus, it is necessary to design new tools that automate the processing of these photographs. Here we introduce a new version of the software NAIRA. This software provides the user with tools for handling large quantities of camera trap images. NAIRA uses computational intelligence techniques to extract metadata, build databases, assist species labeling and automatically classify species captured in images using the photo-trapping technique. The photographs are classified into pictures with animals and without animals using a fuzzy classifier and a second classification distinguishes between birds and mammals using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Finally NAIRA identifies the taxonomic order in the detected mammals using Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms. With Naira scientists can process information in less time. The attendees will know in detail the functions of the software to recognize the advantages of the processing of this type of images with NAIRA.