And, in terms of nature conservation, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) that carry several sensors and the use of deep learning are increasing, but they are generally used independently of each other. To take advantage of its great potential, it is necessary to integrate these tools.
Technological advances have provided many benefits for environmental research, with slower ground surveying equipment, lower resolution satellite imagery, and expensive and sometimes unavailable manned aircraft services being somewhat neglected. The available resources allow a very limited monitoring of biodiversity, since many times, operating in a traditional way faces great challenges for the detection and identification of species. Thus, in direct observations, traditional survey methods are often incredibly labor intensive, require a large team of human resources, time and resources, and can be affected by observer bias.
Why use drones for environmental monitoring?
Drones offer quick, easy and cost-effective information, on demand. Thanks to the miniaturization of electronics and improvements in the reliability and affordability of this type of technology, it has made it possible for consumer drones to improve scientific research in a number of areas. And they are becoming more and more popular for wildlife monitoring and testing and research.
Practical applications
Studying a nest of eagles that nest on a steep cliff, getting into a hurricane or imitating the flight of a dragonfly are some of the many applications of so-called eco-drones. Drone-borne thermal imagery can be combined with artificial intelligence to locate terrestrial bird nests on agricultural land. Also to use multiple small units to scare invasive birds away from crops. Even fixed-wing drones flying over rainforests to detect groups of orangutans, model and control glaciers, track coastal erosion, identify species or monitor seabird colonies and assess their population.
The implications of employing drones (or eco-drones) to study nature are particularly relevant for conservation professionals working in all sectors, such as biodiversity conservation and food production on farmland, helping to discover the potential of technology for conservation and adopting intersectoral transformations from the beginning; for example, integrating nest detection into the precision agriculture system that relies heavily on drone-carried sensors.
Given the enormous environmental challenges facing our planet, it is critical that the power of technology to help conserve nature takes off through innovation and transdisciplinary and cross-border cooperation. We cannot ignore that it is a very useful tool to monitor wildlife, hence it is also necessary to implement low-impact monitoring techniques for all types of animal and plant life.
