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A view from above - Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a new tool for assessing liana infestation in tropical forest canopies1.27 MB
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Journal article
A view from above: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a new tool for assessing liana infestation in tropical forest canopies
Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol.56(4), pp.902-912
2019
Abstract
1. Tropical forests store and sequester large quantities of carbon, mitigating climate change. Lianas (woody vines) are important tropical forest components, most conspicuous in the canopy. Lianas reduce forest carbon uptake and their recent in-crease may, therefore, limit forest carbon storage with global consequences for climate change. Liana infestation of tree crowns is traditionally assessed from the ground, which is labour intensive and difficult, particularly for upper canopy layers.2. We used a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to assess liana infestation of tree canopies from above. It was a commercially available quadcopter UAV with an integrated, standard three-waveband camera to collect aerial image data for 150 ha of tropical forest canopy. By visually interpreting the images, we assessed the degree of liana infestation for 14.15 ha of forest for which ground-based estimates were collected simultaneously. We compared the UAV liana infestation estimates with those from the ground to determine the validity, strengths, and weaknesses of using UAVs as a new method for assessing liana infestation of tree canopies.3. Estimates of liana infestation from the UAV correlated strongly with ground-based surveys at individual tree and plot level, and across multiple forest types and spatial resolutions, improving liana infestation assessment for upper canopy layers. Importantly, UAV-based surveys, including the image collection, processing, and visual interpretation, were considerably faster and more cost-efficient than ground-based surveys.4. Synthesis and applications. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) image data of tree canopies can be easily captured and used to assess liana infestation at least as accurately as traditional ground data. This novel method promotes reproducibility of results and quality control, and enables additional variables to be derived from the image data. It is more cost-effective, time-efficient and covers larger geographical extents than traditional ground surveys, enabling more comprehensive monitoring of changes in liana infestation over space and time. This is important for assessing liana impacts on the global carbon balance, and particularly useful for forest management where knowledge of the location and change in liana infestation can be used for tailored, targeted, and effective management of tropical forests for enhanced carbon sequestration (e.g., REDD+ projects), timber concessions, and forest restoration.
Details
- Title
- A view from above: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a new tool for assessing liana infestation in tropical forest canopies
- Authors
- Catherine Waite (Corresponding Author) - University of NottinghamGeertje M. F Heijden (Author) - University of NottinghamRichard Field (Author) - University of NottinghamDoreen S Boyd (Author) - University of Nottingham
- Publication details
- Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol.56(4), pp.902-912
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1111/1365-2664.13318
- ISSN
- 1365-2664; 0021-8901
- Copyright note
- © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Organisation Unit
- Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99587508902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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