Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Using Drones To Generate New Data For Conservation Insights, Paul Lorah, Alice Ready, Emma Rinn

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Human impact on the environment is driving a decline in biodiversity that heightens the need for informed management of conservation lands. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are an increasingly cost-effective tool for generating high-quality data used to map landscape features, analyze land cover change and assess the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Traditional sources of remotely sensed data such as satellites and aircraft can be costly, inflexible and unable to detect fine-scale surface variation. This paper explores the advantages (and challenges) of analyzing data collected by drones to generate useful conservation management insights. We focus on three key …