Unmanned Aerial Vehicle–Based Rangeland Monitoring: Examining a Century of Vegetation Changes

Rangelands comprise a large component of the terrestrial land surface and provide critical ecosystem services, but they are degrading rapidly. Long-term rangeland monitoring with detailed, nonsubjective, quantitative observations can be expensive and difficult to maintain over time. Unmanned aerial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rangeland ecology & management 2019-09, Vol.72 (5), p.858-863
Main Authors: Ts. Sankey, Temuulen, Leonard, Jackson M., Moore, Margaret M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
change detection
Datasets
Decision making
Digitization
Dominant species
drone
Ecological monitoring
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Environmental changes
Environmental degradation
Flowers & plants
Indicator species
Introduced species
Invasive species
Land management
Land use
Land use management
Livestock
Monitoring
Range management
Rangelands
Remote sensing
Terrestrial environments
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Vegetation
Vegetation changes
Vegetation cover
woody encroachment
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Summary:Rangelands comprise a large component of the terrestrial land surface and provide critical ecosystem services, but they are degrading rapidly. Long-term rangeland monitoring with detailed, nonsubjective, quantitative observations can be expensive and difficult to maintain over time. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an alternative means to gather unbiased and consistent datasets with similar details to field-based monitoring data. Comparing summer 2017 UAV images with long-term plot measurements, we demonstrate that rangeland vegetation cover changes can be accurately quantified and estimate an increase in total absolute shrub/subshrub cover from 34% in 1935 to > 80% in 2017 in central Arizona. We recommend UAV image-based rangeland monitoring for land managers interested in a few specific and dominant species, such as the foundation species, indicator species, or invasive species that require targeted monitoring. Land managers can identify and continuously monitor trends in rangeland condition, health, and degradation related to specific land use policies and management strategies.
ISSN:1550-7424
1551-5028
DOI:10.1016/j.rama.2019.04.002