Marc Franch

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Marc Franch is a conservation technologist whose work bridges robotics, computer vision, and wildlife ecology. His research focuses on developing automated systems to monitor and mitigate the impact of roads on amphibian populations—one of the vertebrate groups most vulnerable to roadkill. Franch’s major contribution lies in pioneering the use of mobile mapping devices and supervised classification algorithms to detect amphibians on roads, replacing costly, time-consuming manual surveys with scalable, robotic solutions. His 2019 paper, "Where to look when identifying roadkilled amphibians?" (9 citations), established key visual cues for automated detection, while his 2018 work on a road mobile mapping device (5 citations) demonstrated a proof-of-concept for real-time, in-field classification. Though still early in his career, Franch’s work is foundational for developing autonomous roadkill monitoring systems that can inform road ecology and conservation planning. By integrating engineering with field biology, he is helping to create the tools needed to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and protect vulnerable species.