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The social implications of using drones for biodiversity conservation

Overview of attention for article published in Ambio, October 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (89th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
blogs
1 blog
policy
1 policy source
twitter
49 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
183 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
644 Mendeley
Title
The social implications of using drones for biodiversity conservation
Published in
Ambio, October 2015
DOI 10.1007/s13280-015-0714-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Chris Sandbrook

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or 'drones', appear to offer a flexible, accurate and affordable solution to some of the technical challenges of nature conservation monitoring and law enforcement. However, little attention has been given to their possible social impacts. In this paper, I review the possible social impacts of using drones for conservation, including on safety, privacy, psychological wellbeing, data security and the wider understanding of conservation problems. I argue that negative social impacts are probable under some circumstances and should be of concern for conservation for two reasons: (1) because conservation should follow good ethical practice; and (2) because negative social impacts could undermine conservation effectiveness in the long term. The paper concludes with a call for empirical research to establish whether the identified social risks of drones occur in reality and how they could be mitigated, and for self-regulation of drone use by the conservation sector to ensure good ethical practice and minimise the risk of unintended consequences.

Timeline
X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 49 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
As of 1 July 2024, you may notice a temporary increase in the numbers of X profiles with Unknown location. Click here to learn more.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 644 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 3 <1%
Brazil 3 <1%
Malaysia 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Switzerland 1 <1%
France 1 <1%
Unknown 634 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 132 20%
Student > Ph. D. Student 86 13%
Student > Bachelor 80 12%
Researcher 72 11%
Student > Postgraduate 33 5%
Other 104 16%
Unknown 137 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 144 22%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 114 18%
Engineering 58 9%
Social Sciences 57 9%
Computer Science 27 4%
Other 92 14%
Unknown 152 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 49. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 November 2023.
All research outputs
#917,265
of 26,222,667 outputs
Outputs from Ambio
#133
of 1,781 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,123
of 294,573 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Ambio
#3
of 29 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,222,667 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,781 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 294,573 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 29 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.