Hi Sarah,

in general yellow is probably the color which attracts the widest range of different pollinators, however there are especially many bee species who are mostly (or only) attracted by e.g. white or blue/violet.

We chose the "flower" colors and shapes for our current platform version only by trying to mimic some common flowering plants like Daucus carota, Ranunculus sp. and Cichorium intybus. From our preliminary tests last year I would say there is definitely some attraction but probably not optimised for a wider range of taxa (or specific taxa if a kind of "attraction filter" should be implemented).

Currently we are running several experiments to test different materials, colors (there are many shades of yellow...), shapes and UV reflectant properties. We are especially interested in hoverfly monitoring, so this is our target group for the tests.

@tom_august, @albags and Abra Ash are also doing research on different kinds of artifical flowers and their attraction potential (more focused on bees and bumblebees).

Hi Sarah,

I am working with @Max_Sitt on the same project to develop artificial flowers as a platform for hoverfly monitoring (also as a landing platform for his camera trap).

We have preliminary results on the attractiveness of different shapes and colors on two hoverfly species in the lab. We can not help you with useful results without fieldwork data, but maybe some ideas.

According to the literature, bees will probably go for different (structurally more complex) flowers than hoverflies. If this is the case, you won't find a highly attractive "one-fits-all" solution for the shape or any other floral characteristic. However, the color could be the most basic flower trait and, therefore, could address a variety of pollinators. With a simple structure and a universally attractive color, you might have a chance for a good trade off between attractiveness and species spectrum.

The spray colors used as standard colors for pan traps in Germany (according to C. Westphal) could be a good start for you:

Sparvar 3107 "Leuchtblau", Sparvar 3104 (aka RAL 1026) "Leuchtgelb" and Sparvar "Leuchtweiß" 3108

These strong fluorescent colours have also been tested in Diestelhorst et al. 2014 (only available in German) and they showed a good response of pollinators in general for the white and yellow color in comparison with non-fluorescent colors. If you look for publications by Klaus Lunau, you will find a lot on fluorescent colors and UV-reflectance in (artificial) flowers. But once again, there seems to be no universal pattern among all flowers and all pollinators that we can use to trigger landings.

Currently, we are experimenting with fluorescent, translucent PMMA aka Suncatchers. When we sprayed orange Suncatchers with a strong fluorescent neon yellow on the bottom side, they were very attractive to one of our tested species. Their "sun catching effect" is then visible all over the surface as a diffuse glowing.

We also had good experiences with some glass droplets that resemble nectar. Specifically a half-sphere of 5 mm diameter with mirror foliage underneath. You can get them at a DIY store.

My best guess would be to paint a platform all green and then have circles in different diameters (2-8 cm) sprayed on them with the three pan trap colors. Add some glass droplets, and you might be good for now. However, the field trials will show how much my guesses are worth here:)

Best regards,

Max

Hi Chris, we looked into solar powered battery systems for Reconyx because we had a customer want to use them along side our Solar BAR bioacoustic recorder. We made a power out port and custom cable to run his camera traps and also so someone else in France could use them with another company's bat detector. Typically they had a 10W solar panel, 8Ah lead acid battery and a charge controller built into a sealed box stuck to the back of the solar panel. You could save some weight by choosing a LiFePo4 battery instead like this but you can only use them when you know you will charge them when the temperature is over 0 degrees C or you will damage them. Use lead acid if you're not sure they will always be charged over 0 degrees C.

You can find MPPT solar charge modules on Aliexpress and Ebay. I used the search term "mppt solar charge module". LiFePo4 can be charged at the same voltage as lead acid and most lead acid chargers do constant current charging anyway becuse you can use it with lithium batteries then as well. It's better to get a LiFePo4 charger if you can get it to make sure it's constant current then constant voltage but they're pretty tough unless you charge them under 0 degrees.

A typical 10W 12v solar panel will have it's Maximum Power Point at 18v so your charge controller must be set to 18v as it's input voltage. The panel will make a maximum of 20v when it's not plugged into anything. A 10W panel will make about 0.5A so if you pick a 3A charger it'll get limited to 0.5A because of the panel.

A module like this where the parameters are adjustable might be good.

On the other hand if you want something that can't be fiddled with after you made it get one with 18v MPPT voltage and set to charge a lead acid or whatever battery chemistry that you're using. Often using terms like lead acid when you search will help narrow it down. If you're going to use a 12v LiFePo4 note that's is a 3S 3.7v pack. That is 3 x 3.7v makes 11.1v (which they call a 12v pack).

If you're unsure feel free to email me at markc@frontierlabs.com.au to check what you're planning to buy.

If you're gluing a box with the charge controller onto the back of a solar panel use neutral cure silicone or check with the supplier about what glue you can use if you need something stronger than that.

If there is sufficient demand for these sorts of accessories please let me know and we can consider it as a product. 

Mark

Hey there! Not sure what your funding constraints are but I have been using Reolink Go PT, which is solar powered. This model has been discontinued. However they have an upgraded version. Adding link here. 

I have used this in the field in the swaps of Florida, exposed to heat, humidity and moisture. It has held up really well. Great sensors that can even be adjusted for sensitivity.

Not sure if audio data would be of any use to you, but if so FishSounds has some - I just tried their search function and there is a location tag for 'Mediterranean & Black Sea'. 

You might try reaching out to the folks at Name that Fish, Innovasea, or perhaps an entity on the Fisheries Tech list would have Mediterranean stuff? 

Hi,

If this is still relevant, you can try reaching out to the Belmaker lab, they do BRUV surveys in the eastern Mediterranean and have hours of video, some of it I believe is annotated. Particularly, Shahar might be helpful, he's the PhD student running point on the project.

We have made available our underwater videos on YouTube as a playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnhVZKKy8WkZKriCIV6r7upWhHNVrU_7L 

It's about 1.113 short video clips with annotation and each is linked to the corresponding www.iNaturalist.org observations. The iNaturalist.org observations are research quality and have been uploaded to GBIF.org. The observations have been made between 2014 and 2022 around the Ionian Islands (Greece).

If you would need the original videos please contact me.

Hi @vishnuthavara so you need a camera that does both timelapse and is motion activated? Something like this maybe: 

Hi Vishnu,

Considering only motion detection video, it is possible to modify (most) camera traps to trigger an external piece of equipment like an audio recorder.  I'm not aware of any suitable off-the-shelf recorder, but I can build you one.  However many camera traps that will take video will also record audio, although the quality may not be suitable for all types of audio analysis.

Hi Tom,

I'm with Akiba, you have to test.  A collaborator has deployed solar-augmented kit in secondary jungle and some of them got enough light, and others didn't, so it can work.  The open circuit voltage of solar panels doesn't change a whole lot in dim light, but the current drops drastically.  So you would choose an oversize panel of the same voltage (or a bit higher).

Thanks

I've been intrigued by this topic. Thinking about ways you could use drones or some kind of launcher to deploy panels above the canopy. Sadly I live in the great white north so I have no way of testing any concepts. Maybe even some kind of solar balloon that could float above the canopy. Interesting design problem.

Hey Tom,
Since the output is dependent on a couple of factors such as the solar irradiance of the place, shading from the canopy, the type of solar panels (mono, poly or amorphous) and orientation of the panels, etc, I'd suggest you use a software to simulate the different parameters to get an almost accurate estimation of the output. You can try PVsyst- it has a free month trial (I haven't used it before but I hear it's great) or any other PV software :)

Hi Chris, 

We developed a time-lapse camera for Penguin Watch that ran for 3 years straight in Antarctica, so should be able to survive in the Arctic. With your Plotwatcher did you use any supplementary solar (we do in the summer months). If not, we're aiming to upgrade the camera and introduce a lower power camera module this year, which should get you the 500k images on 4 x AA 1.5v batteries, but we're a number of months away from that build so couldn't help you right away. It would be good to keep in touch to see where you get and we can help you downstream. 

More on the current camera here; 

https://arribada.org/2021/12/16/three-years-in-antarctica-affordable-and-durable-time-lapse-monitoring

Hi Pen-Yuan. 

I need to revise what I said before. Browning devices within a specific model number have similar PCBs, ie: we worked with the BTC-8A for the Spec Ops Advantage. They're currently on the BTC-8E which we've found to have a different PCB. So I think the rule we're using on Browning at the moment (and most vendors) are that the model number needs to match, else it's likely the PCB is different. This also happened to us with Bushnell Trophycams. We're running into this issue now with a Boombox customer planning a Browning deployment. We're currently getting the camera trap in so we can reverse engineer the newer model and interface it to Boombox. 

Akiba

I'd be happy to chat with you if you wanted! My expertise is within passive acoustic monitoring particularly. The Conservation Tech Directory might be useful for you in identifying relevant actors within the space.

Happy to contribute tgray@woodsholegroup.com 

My original background is in ecology and conservation, and am now in the elected leadership of the Gathering for Open Science Hardware which convenes researchers developing open source tech for science. I am not working on a specific piece of technology right now, but am happy to contribute some higher-level views for your interview if that helps.