Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) for Ecological Research and Natural-Resource Monitoring (Florida)

• Published in: Ecological Restoration Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 13 - 14
• Main Authors: Watts, Adam C., Bowman, W. Scott, Abd-Elrahman, Amr H., Mohamed, Ahmed, Wilkinson, Benjamin E., Perry, John, Kaddoura, Youssef O., Lee, Kyuho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Wisconsin Press 01.03.2008
• Subjects: Birds; Ecology; Environmental assessment; Geomatics; Military vehicles; Restoration Notes; Sensors; Surveillance; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Wildlife ecology; Wildlife population assessment
• ISSN: 1543-4060; 1522-4740; 1543-4079
• DOI: 10.3368/er.26.1.13

The unmanned aircraft system (UAS), also known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, is emerging as an important new tool for remote observation, ecological research, and natural resource monitoring. These systems offer the ability to measure biomass, plant cover, animal populations, and hydrological attributes of large areas rapidly, and with great precision and accuracy. A UAS can be used in areas that are difficult or dangerous to enter, or to monitor phenomena for which an intermediate perspective between high-altitude aerial or satellite imaging and ground-based data collection is desirable. The increasing availability of small, lightweight sensors has enabled users to mount visible-spectrum, near- and thermal-infrared, and even hyperspectral and LiDAR sensors aboard UAS.