Drone surveying of invasive non-native plant species on rivers
Published on by David Gray, Project Manager at River Stewardship Company in Technology
My company needs to generate accurate data on the abundance and distribution of a number of plant species on UK rivers (Japanese Knotweed, Giant Hogweed, Floating Pennywort and others). We are carrying out surveys on the ground using GPS recording, photography and other information about the sites. I would like to test the potential for using drones to produce high quality images (easy) with accurate GPS positioning (also easy) and then, either automatically or using a desk-based operator, identify the plants and approximate areas (not so easy). These plant's distributions vary year on year and so up to date information to help plan and deliver treatment programmes is essential.
I think the other not so easy aspect of this project are the practical issues of flying drones along rivers with public access and spotting vegetation sitting under overhanging trees but since drones seem to be the future for everything, I think it's worth investigating and piloting.
Any suggestions welcome.
Taxonomy
- Innovation
- Environmental
- Natural Resource Management
2 Answers
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Dear David,
I think it's an excellent idea to use drones for surveying invasive alien plant species, for example their spatial distribution and their expansion. I'm particularly interested in surveying the expansion of Amorpha fruticosa in floodplains. I think drones can be used if the invasive alien plants have colonized the landscapes, because they form a homogeneous landscape and habitat. It has nothing to do with drones, but I'm planning to use LiDAR data to survey homogeneous invasive alien plant habitat to estimate the volume.
I'm interested if you managed to move forward with your plan.
Best,
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@ Drones Surveying of non-native plants species...
All the best my friend....
Having worked in an agricultural research institute for over three decades, I think using Drones it may be very very difficult to identify the plants distributions and approximate areas, and other related information which vary considerably from year on year.
It would be very desirable to generate reliable ground truth up to date information.