Article
Environmental Sciences
James E. Lamping, Harold S. J. Zald, Buddhika D. Madurapperuma, Jim Graham
Summary: This study evaluated the ability of low-cost UAS DAP and HPGPS to accurately predict key forest attributes in various forest conditions in California, USA. The results showed that UAS DAP models were comparable to lidar models, and when combined with low-cost HPGPS, could accurately predict key forest attributes across a range of forest types.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alejandro Miranda, German Catalan, Adison Altamirano, Carlos Zamorano-Elgueta, Manuel Cavieres, Javier Guerra, Blas Mola-Yudego
Summary: The study evaluated the use of UAV technology for forest inventory in native forests in Southern Chile and successfully retrieved stand and tree-level attributes using structure from motion and digital aerial photogrammetry techniques. By comparing UAV imagery with ground data, it was found that the drone images accurately represented complex forest structures, leading to the development of individual-tree diameter models based on remote sensing data.
Article
Forestry
Wade T. Tinkham, Neal C. Swayze, Chad M. Hoffman, Lauren E. Lad, Mike A. Battaglia
Summary: The reliability of forest management decisions depends on data quality and extent. Using remote sensing-based data from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can improve data quality and extent. This study tested different models to predict missing diameter at breast height (DBH) using UAV-derived DBHs, and found that filtering the UAV DBHs using regionally derived height to DBH allometries significantly improved model performance.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Benjamin T. Fraser, Russell G. Congalton
Summary: The research utilizes Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and advanced image processing techniques to estimate tree diameters and various stand-level parameters in forests, with an average error reported. Stand-level parameters were either overestimated or underestimated, with a lesser overestimation for stands larger than 9 hectares. Random forest supervised classification achieved a promising overall accuracy of 85% in identifying large trees, offering local land managers opportunities for better understanding forested ecosystems. Future research on individual tree crown detection, especially for co-dominant or suppressed trees, will further enhance these efforts.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Luiz Felipe Ramalho de Oliveira, H. Andrew Lassiter, Ben Wilkinson, Travis Whitley, Peter Ifju, Stephen R. Logan, Gary F. Peter, Jason G. Vogel, Timothy A. Martin
Summary: Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have rapidly advanced in technology, allowing for low-cost capture of high-resolution images for deriving three-dimensional photogrammetric point clouds. This study evaluates the quality of three-dimensional datasets from two cameras and one lidar sensor collected over a managed pine stand with different planting densities. The results show that the higher-quality camera photogrammetric data is sufficient for individual tree detection and height determination, but lidar data is best overall. The automated tree detection algorithm performed well with lidar data, but slightly fell short in comparison to manual mensuration within the lidar point cloud.
Article
Forestry
Sean Krisanski, Mohammad Sadegh Taskhiri, James Montgomery, Paul Turner
Summary: Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) are being used as a replacement for conventional forest plot mensuration to monitor growth, estimate biomass, evaluate carbon stocks, and detect weeds. The use of UAS can improve safety, efficiency, and reduce costs compared to traditional sampling techniques. This study describes and demonstrates four iterations of 3D printed canopy sampling UAS, with the fourth iteration successfully collecting canopy samples from three tree species. Further development is envisioned to integrate advanced remote sensing techniques and achieve a fully-automated forest information capture system.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Poornima Sivanandam, Arko Lucieer
Summary: Effective methods for tree delineation and species classification in an Australian native forest were identified in this study. The study found that the highest classification accuracies were achieved at the superpixel scale, and the DeepForest method showed potential for tree detection compared to conventional methods.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Deepak Gautam, Bertram Ostendorf, Vinay Pagay
Summary: The use of UAV technology allows for the estimation of seasonal crop coefficients (k(c)) at the single vine level to capture the spatial variability of water requirements in a commercial vineyard. Structural information shows the strongest correlation with k(c), and the random forest model predicts k(c) with the highest accuracy. When combined with an energy balance model, precision irrigation can be achieved on a weekly or sub-weekly basis.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lukas Roth, Christoph Barendregt, Claude-Alain Betrix, Andreas Hund, Achim Walter
Summary: This study demonstrates the importance of high-throughput field phenotyping in the context of physiological and breeding-related analyses of crops using the example of soybean production in Switzerland. The results show that analyzing the dynamics of vegetative growth from remote sensing imagery can predict yield and protein content in soybean genotypes adapted to a temperate oceanic climate.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Kathryn A. Ayres, James T. Ketchum, Rogelio Gonzalez-Armas, Felipe Galvan-Magana, Alex Hearn, Fernando R. Elorriaga-Verplancken, Edgar M. Hoyos-Padilla, Stephen M. Kajiura
Summary: Established in 1995, Cabo Pulmo National Park has seen a significant increase in fish biomass. A study using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) found lemon sharks, bull sharks, and Pacific nurse sharks in shallow coastal habitats, with sharks being more common in the afternoon, potentially using warmer shallow areas for thermoregulation. This highlights the efficacy of UAV surveys for species identification compared to previous terrestrial surveys.
JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Maja Kucharczyk, Chris H. Hugenholtz
Summary: The study found biases in current drone-based remote sensing of natural hazard-related disasters and recommended future research to focus on a wider range of disasters and regions.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Douglas J. Krause, Jefferson T. Hinke, Michael E. Goebel, Wayne L. Perryman
Summary: The study found that behavioral responses by chinstrap penguins, Antarctic fur seals, and leopard seals to UAS flights at 30 m were not significantly different from control periods, compared with traditional ground surveys. Behavioral responses generally increased as UAS flew lower, and for penguins, those increases intensified as the breeding season progressed (i.e., guard and molt stages).
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Oluwatosin Ahmed Amodu, Chedia Jarray, Sherif Adeshina Busari, Mohamed Othman
Summary: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Terahertz (THz) communication are promising technologies for enhanced wireless performance. Research on the merger of these two technologies is gaining momentum, with the potential to meet the diverse application requirements in future wireless communication. Recent experimentation and modeling have shown the merits of THz-enabled UAV communication in critical and peculiar cases, revealing its great potential. This paper presents a literature survey on the experimental results, potential use cases, and research challenges of THz-UAV to provide insights into the opportunities in aerial wireless communications.
Article
Ecology
Alexander M. Brown, Simon J. Allen, Nat Kelly, Amanda J. Hodgson
Summary: This study presents a method of using UAVs to collect video of dolphins and investigate group size estimation error. The results show a positive correlation between availability and group size, and the existing manual estimation methods have a bias in group size estimation. Through resampling exercises, the study demonstrates that UAVs are an effective and relatively inexpensive method for studying dolphin availability.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Melodie Kern Sarubo Dorth Sinegalia, Giulio Brossi Santoro, Paulo Guilherme Molin
Summary: The development of technologies that enable large-scale monitoring in forest restoration is crucial. This study conducted a systematic review of how sensor-equipped drones have been used for forest monitoring, revealing a focus on tropical ecosystems and specific attributes such as forest structure and canopy height. However, there is a lack of research specifically addressing the application of these technologies in forest restoration monitoring.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kok-Boon Neoh, My Thi Nguyen, Vuong Tan Nguyen, Masayuki Itoh, Osamu Kozan, Tsuyoshi Yoshimura
JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION
(2018)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Reshmi Das, Xianfeng Wang, Masayuki Itoh, Satomi Shiodera, Mikinori Kuwata
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2019)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kotaro Iizuka, Tsuyoshi Kato, Sisva Silsigia, Alifia Yuni Soufiningrum, Osamu Kozan
Article
Environmental Sciences
Masayuki Itoh, Takashi Matsubara, Satomi Shiodera, Kotaro Iizuka, Ken Sakurai, Yoko Nakajima, Hiroki Ohashi, Ivan Manalu
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kotaro Iizuka, Yuichi S. Hayakawa, Takuro Ogura, Yasutaka Nakata, Yoshiko Kosugi, Taichiro Yonehara
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kotaro Iizuka, Takuro Ogura, Yuki Akiyama, Hiroyuki Yamauchi, Takeshi Hashimoto, Yudai Yamada
Summary: This study focuses on using unmanned aerial systems for geoscience-related studies, proposing a new method to improve model accuracy without ground control points by utilizing global navigation satellite system devices. The research suggests that this method could be a viable alternative to traditional GCP methods, especially in locations where setting multiple GCPs is difficult.
GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Milette U. Mendoza-Pascual, Masayuki Itoh, Jaydan Aguilar, Karol Sophia Agape R. Padilla, Rey Donne S. Papa, Noboru Okuda
Summary: This study found that deeper lakes store higher concentrations of CH4, while shallow lakes exhibit vertical mixing and transport of CH4. The average CH4 concentrations are influenced by depth and weather factors, with no apparent effect of daily weather parameters on CH4 concentrations below 30 meters depth in deep lakes.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Kotaro Iizuka, Yoshiko Kosugi, Shoji Noguchi, Sho Iwagami
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive model for estimating the relationship between diameter at breast height (DBH) and crown size for Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) and validates it using data acquired by unmanned aerial systems (UASs). The results suggest that UAS remote sensing has the potential for accurately surveying forest attributes, which has important implications for forest monitoring and management.
COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ayaka Sakabe, Kenshi Takahashi, Wakana Azuma, Masayuki Itoh, Makiko Tateishi, Yoshiko Kosugi
Summary: Tree-mediated methane emissions are influenced by seasonal variations, with dissolved CH4 concentration in groundwater being the major controlling factor. Soil environmental conditions and tree physiological processes also play a role in determining stem CH4 fluxes.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kenshi Takahashi, Ayaka Sakabe, Wakana A. Azuma, Masayuki Itoh, Tomoya Imai, Yasuki Matsumura, Makiko Tateishi, Yoshiko Kosugi
Summary: This study explored the mechanism of methane emission from the stem surfaces of Alnus japonica in a riparian wetland. The researchers found that stem methane emission included a component dependent on sap flux for diurnal changes and a component independent of sap flux for background continuous emissions, with the contribution ratios of the two processes varying with the season. Root anatomy analysis indicated that the intercellular space of the cortex and empty xylem cells in fine roots played important roles in methane transport.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Jing Chen, Sri Hapsari Budisulistiorini, Masayuki Itoh, Mikinori Kuwata
Summary: Peatland fires in Southeast Asia are a significant source of primary organic aerosol. This study investigates the chemical aging of these aerosols and demonstrates the influence of relative humidity on this process. The results show that at higher humidity levels, the conversion of peat combustion particles from primary to oxygenated organic aerosol is more pronounced, impacting regional climate through optical and hygroscopic properties.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Masayuki Itoh, Ken'ichi Osaka, Kotaro Iizuka, Yoshiko Kosugi, Marryanna Lion, Satomi Shiodera
Summary: The water quality in rivers in peninsular Malaysia is significantly affected by oil palm plantations, with factors such as evaporative enrichment and the addition of pollutants playing a role. The concentrations of major ions are higher in the oil palm areas, and the dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration does not differ among the groups, but the dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved nitrogen, and δ15N-NO3- are higher in the oil palm area. Denitrification plays a substantial role in reducing the NO3- concentration in rivers in the oil palm area.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Chao Li, Mingyang Li, Kotaro Iizuka, Jie Liu, Keyi Chen, Yingchang Li
Summary: Accurate estimation of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is crucial for understanding carbon accounting and climate change. This study combined Landsat 8 images and forest inventory data to estimate AGB in western Hunan Province, China. The piecewise model with FCD gradients showed better accuracy in estimating AGB for different forest types. FCD was identified as an important parameter influencing AGB estimation.
Article
Fisheries
Chia-Ying Ko, Tomoya Iwata, Jun-Yi Lee, Aya Murakami, Junichi Okano, Naoto F. Ishikawa, Yoichiro Sakai, Ichiro Tayasu, Masayuki Itoh, Uhram Song, Hiroyuki Togashi, Shinich Nakano, Nobuhito Ohte, Noboru Okuda
MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH
(2019)
