YAKUTSK, October 3. /TASS/. Artificial intelligence was used for the first time to monitor the polar bear population in the Bear Islands Nature Reserve in Yakutia's north. Scientists used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the predators, the expedition's leader, the EcoFactor Ecological Center's Director Ilya Chernuk told reporters.

In 2023, Yakutia has implemented the second stage of the Polar Bear Census roadmap. In 2022, scientists explored the Wrangel Island in Chukotka, and this year, for the first time, they have used a drone to take pictures of the Bear Islands Nature Reserve's island and mainland territories.

"An Orlan-10 long-range UAV has sent more than 25,000 aerial photographs. <...> It is impossible to process with eyes that large number of photos during the expedition. That's why we have used artificial intelligence for the first time," the expert said. The scientists have used a specially trained neural network to detect promptly target objects on the received images.

"During the monitoring, we counted more than 150 polar bears. The exact figures will be available as we process all the images," he added.

Scientists forecast the polar bear population may decrease by 30% by 2050. Presently, the population is estimated at 25-27 thousand. Yakutia is home for the Laptev population, estimated at 800-1200 animals.

The ecology survey materials will be used to assess how the polar bear population is distributed in the nature reserve, and additionally scientists will be able to assess the accumulated environmental damage there. "Together with the National Park, we plan to attract the Russian Geographical Society, the Navy and volunteers to a cleanup mission in the nature reserve to cope with the accumulated damage," he continued, adding the scientists planned to analyze how the nature reserve could develop ecological tourism.

Use of drone

Another result of the conducted survey is that the scientists have found that the Orlan-10 drone is suitable for work in the Arctic: its temperature range is from minus 30 degrees to plus 40 degrees and it is resistant to wind load. It covered the routes of 2,700 kilometers. "We have received a large volume of instrumental data on polar bears in the Bear Islands Nature Reserve. Additionally, this project has confirmed as effective the use of a long-range drone to survey polar bears in the Arctic," the scientist said.

The expedition results will be used to make the nature reserve's cartographic portal. "We will develop a five-year program for the reserve's regular instrumental air monitoring by long-range UAVs, and we will use the Bear Islands to create a model territory for annual instrumental air-monitoring long-term studies of the polar bear population," he added.

Innokenty Okhlopkov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, noted a great interest in using drones to study the polar bear populations, as well as in surveys of other animals in the Arctic, including wild reindeer.

About nature reserve

The Bear Islands Nature Reserve was established in June, 2020. It is under the jurisdiction of the Lena Pillars National Park. The reserve includes the Kolyma River delta, the Indigirka-Kolyma Lowland tundra landscapes and the Medvezhy Islands archipelago (Bear Islands) with the adjacent East Siberian Sea water area. The Bear Islands is one of the main places where Yakut polar bears form ancestral dens - it is located in the region's Nizhnekolymsky District. The archipelago consists of a marine area (468,000 hectares - water, 14,000 hectares - islands) and a mainland area (333,500 hectares).

According to Larisa Shelokhovskaya of the Lena Pillars National Park, the reserve's territory is relatively accessible, thus experts may conduct almost all-season ground and aviation monitoring every year. Field trips stop in winter only.

In 2020, Yakutia conducted the first air monitoring of polar bears. In the spring, scientists count ancestral dens. "Since 2021, we have been using camera traps to record polar bears on our cordons and inside the reserve. In 2022, together with the Russian Academy of Sciences' Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, for the first time in Yakutia, we made satellite radio tracking of a female polar bear to study its movement", she said.