Resources

Publications

If you use ThruTracker in published work, please cite the relevant publication(s) below.

Request for Citation

Please cite ThruTracker in any publications, reports, or theses that use the software for analysis or results generation.

Primary reference (bioRxiv): https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.12.443854v1.full

Publication List

Special issue on survey methods for monitoring bat populations

Corcoran, A. J., & Weller, T. J. (2025). Introduction: Survey Methods for Monitoring Bat Populations. Journal of North American Bat Research, Special Issue 1, i–vii. Full text (PDF).

Highlights:

  • Introduction to special issue focused on thermal videography and automated bat census methods.
  • Overview of survey methods for monitoring bat populations.

ThruTracker software

Corcoran, A. J., Schirmacher, M. R., Black, E., & Hedrick, T. L. (2021). ThruTracker: Open source software for 2-D and 3-D animal video tracking. bioRxiv. Full text.

Highlights:

  • Primary methods reference for ThruTracker.
  • Recommended citation for analyses, derived measurements, and reported results generated by the software.

Independent validation and time savings (bat emergence censusing)

Ammerman, L. K., Loehn, A. E., Calderon, F. A., Pourshoushtari, R. D., Adams, E. R., & Dixon, M. T. (2025). Long-term monitoring of endangered Mexican Long-nosed Bats (Leptonycteris nivalis) and a test of an automated census approach. Journal of North American Bat Research, Special Issue 1, 11–29. Full text.

Highlights:

  • Overall ThruTracker correspondence/accuracy versus manual counts: 90.8% (range 64–99%).
  • Active operator time using ThruTracker was approximately 10 minutes per recording (excluding file conversion and processing time).
  • Manual counting could require approximately 8–10 hours of labor for a 2–3 hour recording, representing an estimated 48–60× increase in person-hours compared to automated methods.

Best practices for thermal imagery and automated counting

Ahlberg, S. E., Kuczynska, V., & Kloepper, L. N. (2025). A Perspective on Thermal Imagery for Bat Emergence Counts: Best Practices, Challenges, and Recommendations for the Future. Journal of North American Bat Research, Special Issue 1, 46–58. Full text.

Highlights:

  • Perspective on using thermal imagery for bat emergence recording and census data.
  • Discussion of automated bat counting software performance and factors affecting accuracy.
  • Best practices for obtaining accurate census data using thermal imagery.
  • Addresses challenges including camera quality and user methodology impacts on automated counting.

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