Wildlife Detection and Tide Gate Analysis

A data science pipeline for analyzing wildlife detection patterns in relation to tide dynamics, gate configurations, and environmental conditions using camera trap and sensor data.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. About The Project
2. Analysis Framework
3. Built With
4. Getting Started
5. Usage
6. Roadmap
7. Contributing
8. License
9. Contact

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About The Project

This project analyzes wildlife camera trap detections in tidal environments to understand how animal activity and detection success vary with:

• Tide gate opening configurations
• Tidal flow states
• Environmental conditions
• Temporal patterns

A key goal of the project is to separate operational bias from biological behavior by comparing two complementary analytical frameworks.

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Analysis Framework

The project implements multiple complementary analytical layers to separate operational bias from biological behavior.

1. Camera Activity Pattern Analysis

• Treats all monitoring periods as potential observation windows
• Measures when cameras were operational
• Identifies equipment and environmental biases in data collection

2. Wildlife Detection Efficiency Analysis

• Restricts analysis to periods when cameras were active
• Measures detection success when monitoring was occurring
• Focuses on animal behavior rather than equipment performance

3. Tidal Cycle and Phase Analysis

• Classifies tidal states (rising, falling, slack tides)
• Models continuous tidal phase across the full tidal cycle
• Identifies peak wildlife detection periods relative to tidal motion
• Analyzes species-specific tidal preferences

Together, these layers support robust ecological interpretation of wildlife camera trap data in managed tidal systems.

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Built With

• Python 3
• pandas
• NumPy
• SciPy
• statsmodels
• Plotly
• matplotlib

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9 or newer
• pip or conda

Install required packages:

pip install pandas numpy scipy statsmodels plotly matplotlib

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your_username/your_repo.git

Navigate into the project directory:

cd your_repo

Prepare your input CSV files (camera data and water/tide data)

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Usage

Run the full analysis pipeline:

python main.py

The pipeline produces:

• A combined and interpolated camera + sensor dataset
• Species diversity and detection summaries
• Environmental and gate configuration detection analyses
• Tidal state and tidal phase detection analyses
• Species-specific tidal preference tables
• Interactive and static visualizations (HTML and PNG)
• All plots and tables are saved to disk for reproducibility and reporting.

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Roadmap

Add mixed-effects models for repeated camera locations

Add spatial analysis support

Improve automated report generation

Add configuration file support

See the open issues for proposed features and known limitations.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome, especially in the areas of:

Ecological modeling

Statistical validation

Visualization improvements

Performance optimization

Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

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License

Distributed under the project license. See LICENSE for details.

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Contact

Charles Davis LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-a-davis-v/]

Project Link: https://github.com/cdavisv/Tidegate-Analysis-App

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