The technology revolution: improving species detection and monitoring using new tools and statistical methods

New and emerging technologies offer great promise to improve our capaity to monitor threatened species, their habitats and the processes that threaten them. New technologies may enable more efficient and informative data collection, as well as improve the way we handle and analyse data. New technologies do, however, come with associated challenges, including, for example, supplying power and wireless connectivity and the technical know-how required to design, build or maintain these devices. The ultimate test of any new approach is whether is is more cost-efficient at performing its' task than well-tested traditional monitoring methods. Field pilot studies followed by data analysis are the best way to ascertain this. Such analyses require a clear decision context so that cost-efficiency can be evaluated in the right 'currency'. This chapter discusses in detail two technologies that hold great promise for threatened species monitoring: drones and environmental DNA.