Iguanas from Above

1. Why is your project called Iguanas from Above?

During our field trips, we used drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) to take aerial photographs of the coastline of the islands. In previous years, the team monitored marine iguanas colonies realized how difficult it is to do it by land, as you need more time for surveys and conditions can be dangerous for the wildlife and people. This is why, as technology develops very fast, using drones became the next method to test; this approach has proved very efficient. Monitoring the marine iguanas from above is the future.

2. What is a conservation status?

The conservation status of a species indicates whether it still exists and how vulnerable it is to extinction in the near future. The most used system of monitoring conservation statuses is the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They have the Red List of Threatened Species. Based on scientific evidence, researchers categorize all the species that have enough information into seven categories: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened and Least Concern. These categories are very important when taking conservation action for any species or ecosystem.

3. Why does population size matter?

Population size is one of the main criteria the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species consider when assigning an extinction category to a species. If numbers are low, threats by external factors could more easily lead to extinction. Further, if they live only in a small area, the risk is higher because there is no refuge from these threats. When a species is endemic to a place (which means you cannot find it anywhere else), it is very important to protect them in their home environmental and monitor them carefully. The marine iguana only lives in the Galapagos and its population estimates are very rough and old. We hope to achieve have full population size estimates for all 11 marine iguana subspecies by the end of next year using aerial photographs and the help of volunteers.

4. How are you flying the drones?

We are using very normal 'amateur drones' (DJI Mavic 2); these are small helicopter-like drones that are reasonably quiet (less disturbing for wildlife) and easy to use. Whenever possible, we launch and land the drones from our boats. We do this for two big reasons:

1. Safety of the islands - whenever someone steps foot on land in 'pristine' protected areas like the Galapagos, even when they are very careful, there is always a small risk that they accidentally bring a "hitchhiker", probably something small like an ant or a nematode. Occasionally these alien species can cause real problems for the local wildlife and natural systems, so in not visiting the islands by foot, we avoid this risk entirely.
2. Safety of the team - The sea around the Galapagos Islands can be very rough, and there are no piers or safe landing places at most of the marine iguana colonies. In order to reach them by foot, our team would have to jump from a moving boat onto slippery and sharp lava rocks - this is very dangerous and small slips can lead to bad injuries. Moreover, some colonies are so remote (think a sharp wave-lashed cliff) that there is no way we would reach them on foot. With the drones, we can go places we never could before and find colonies that are new to science.

Of course flying a drone from a small boat is not easy and it's taken training and hard work to get it right. We learned so much on our pilot project that we are confident we can successfully roll out the project to cover all the islands of the Galapagos.

5. How do I know that I am seeing an iguana?

Always remember that marine iguanas are big lizards. You will be looking for a specific lizard shape in the rocks, sand or vegetation. Try to focus on finding a tail. Once you find a tail it is easier to see the rest of the body, which includes two arms, two legs, the trunk and head. Search carefully covering the the whole image following a zigzag pattern. Once you find an iguana double check around as it is common to find others near. Check our Field Guide tag for more examples of how iguanas look from above.

6. What if I misclassified by mistake a photo?

Don't worry, this can happen. If you have not yet submitted your classification, just click back and you can change the answer. However, if you already submitted it you can't change the answer, but it's fine. As we show the image to a many users, these occasional mistakes won't affect the outcome.

7. I am not sure this is an adult male?

The main advantage we have for these photographs is that the survey was done during reproduction season. In this time of the year adult males become reddish, maybe because they look better for the females. This colouration is very helpful to differentiate an iguana from a rock. If you find a big iguana with this characteristic, it is probably still an adult male. Sometimes they are less bright, however, some red is usually still visible there. You can check our Field Guide tag for more examples of how they look from above.

8. I am not sure this is a lek?

You might find some groups of iguanas but that does not necessarily mean it is a lek. You will be sure you found a lek if you spot only one big red adult male surrounded by other individuals. If you see other adult males too close, that is probably not a well defined lek. So just mark the lek when you see this pattern. A good example of it shown in the Tutorial and Field Guide tag.

9. I am not sure this is an iguana or a crab?

Sometimes when the iguana or the photo is a bit blurry you will doubt if it is an adult male or a crab, based on colouration. Always remember the lizard shape of the iguanas, very different from the crabs, which have 10 legs, two modified as claws, and no tail. If you are not sure it is not an iguana don't mark it.

10. I am not sure about another species

As in the question above, always look for the shape. If you find any individual you are sure is not an iguana, it could be a crab, sea lion, turtle or bird. You can check descriptions and photo examples of these species in the Field Guide tag. If none of the options describe what you see, mark "something else" and we will review it later.

11. I am not sure if this is plastic

An easy way to recognize a plastic is their colour. Any object you find yellow, green or blue, bright red or black could be plastic. Check our Field Guide tag for some examples. Look carefully as many small plastic objects and transparent plastic bottles usually finish underneath the rocks.

12. I have a comment on a photo. How can I contact the team about it?

Go through the whole process for that photo, and at the end you will find an option of Done & Talk. Here you can leave us any comment you have regarding that specific photo. This could be problems in classifying, recognizing the iguanas, see something interesting, or if you just think it is a nice photo.

13. How is this information going to be used?

We have experts counting iguanas from these photos too. Once we get results from citizen science, we are going to compare and evaluate how similar these are to the counts from volunteers. Based on other projects, we expect to find very similar results. In that case, we will keep asking volunteers to help us counting our surveys as we manage to cover the whole archipelago. Once we get total numbers, we will direct this information to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to re-evaluate the conservation status of all the subspecies and we will be able to make a conservation action plan to direct limited resources to the right places. This will directly impact conservation action for this emblematic species and should help ensure it's long-term future as an icon of the islands.

14. I have a question that is not in the list. How can I ask the team about it?

You can check our Talk tag, as many topics will be discussed there. There's also lots of info on our website: https://www.iguanasfromabove.com/ and we're adding to that all the time. If still don't have your answer, you can contact our team directly by emailing: iguana.drones@gmail.com with your inquiry. We will be happy to answer any question you have.