Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology.

Abstract

Premise of the study Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro-unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Methods Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. Results We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. Discussion The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology.

Plant phenotyping relevance

UAV画像から植生分類、種密度・被覆率を推定し、手動法と自動法の精度を比較しており、植物状態の取得・抽出手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

The paper's automated k-means habitat classification R scripts are explicitly stated to be publicly available on GitHub at the authors' URL, which matches an allowed URL. No image/phenotype data deposit is mentioned.