OOS 68

Building Bridges – Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) Imagery to Link Ecological Observations

When ESA was founded, observations of organisms and their environments were largely conducted at the scale of 1-m2 quadrats. These quadrats were pivotal to foundational ecological principles and many continue to serve an unmistakably important role in long-term ecology. One hundred years later, the observation lens of ecologists has expanded exponentially in size (i.e., spatial extent) and scope. Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) constitute new technology that has the potential to transform ecological research by creating a bridge between field and remotely sensed data within this expanded observation lens. Our ability to characterize field conditions and record organismal and ecosystem responses has grown tremendously to examine and monitor ecological phenomena at spatial and temporal scales previously not possible. From this expanded capacity to observe and interpret responses at multiple scales (e.g., leaf, plant community, and ecosystem levels) has emerged the importance of examining patterns at multiple levels of organization simultaneously. Technological and analytical innovations provide opportunities to study ecological processes at multiple hierarchical levels (i.e., scales) as well as explore the interactions within and across scales. Yet, challenges remain in linking the observations made at different scales in this hierarchical framework. Remotely sensed imagery from satellite (e.g., Landsat or MODIS) or aircraft (e.g., aerial photography) remains a valuable for supplementing field-based ecological studies but have limitations associated with the cost of acquiring imagery at a resolution (i.e., pixel size) and/or sampling frequency commensurate with the process being investigated. For these cases, imagery from UASs offers a highly valued resource. UASs are particularly well-suited to bridge gaps in the spatial and temporal realms associated with airborne remote sensing (e.g., aerial photography and satellite imagery) and can be operated inexpensively at low altitudes with different types of payloads to accommodate a range of sensors which will significantly enhance ecosystem modeling activities. This organized oral session is designed to showcase the benefits of using very high resolution imagery acquired using UASs for ecological research using a diverse set of illustrative examples. The session will serve as a primer for ecologists on the advantages as well as the limitations of UASs for conducting ecological research. Our examples showcase applications in the fields of phenology (in widely varying ecosystems responding to different abiotic drivers), conservation biology, public land management, and agricultural production. The talks will be of interest to a large swath of ESA members and accessible to a broad audience.