What Wildbook should this feature be in? Flukebook
What would you like to see?
We are currently integrating a long-term (20+years) photo-identification dataset of bottlenose dolphins from the Shannon Estuary into Flukebook. As part of this process, we have identified several additional fields that are essential for our bulk imports but are not currently supported within the platform.
These variables are critical for accurately representing survey effort, environmental conditions, and group composition, and have been used extensively in previous studies of this resident population.
We would therefore like to request the addition of the following fields:
Survey Details:
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Tracklines (generally .txt files downloaded from handheld GPS, e.g., Garmin 73/78)
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Time left to port (time that the survey started)
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Time to port (time the survey ended)
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Survey duration (HH:MM format)
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Survey length (distance in nautical miles)
Environmental Variables:
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Wind direction (e.g. N, NW, W, etc.)
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Wind speed (miles per hour)
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Low tide time (multiple entries may be required for full survey days)
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High tide time (multiple entries may be required for full survey days)
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Glare (preferably text, alternatively an indexed scale)
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Precipitation (preferably text, alternatively an indexed scale)
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Sightability (preferably text, alternatively an indexed scale)
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Cloud cover (fraction out of 8)
Group Estimates
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Adults best estimate
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Adults maximum number
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Adults minimum number
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Calfs best estimate
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Calfs maximum number
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Calfs minimum number
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Neonates best estimate
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Neonates maximum number
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Neonates minimum number
Sighting Details
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End latitude of sighting (GPS coordinates)
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End longitude of sighting (GPS coordinates)
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End time of sighting (HH:MM format)
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Heading of the animals (group direction of travel)
How would this functionality help you?
Although this is a substantial number of additional fields, each of them provides important ecological and effort-related information that is essential for analysing this population. These variables have already proven to be highly valuable in previous studies of bottlenose dolphins in the Shannon Estuary.
Further details about this request were provided in a recent email sent by Mags Daly regarding the Shannon Dolphin Photo ID Project (in Flukebook).
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
We look forward to your response.
Ana