Drones on the Coast

摘要

Over the past few years, drones have been increasinglyused in ecological applications including monitoring cropsand vegetation health; observing wildlife in difficult toaccess areas; and calculating sand erosion along beaches.Recently, Deakin University’s Marine Mapping Group hastrialled the use of drones, also known as unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs), for monitoring algal species found onintertidal rocky shores. Monitoring intertidal species iscommonly carried out through quadrat surveys which canbe time consuming and labour intensive, particularly whenyou are limited to data collection during low-tide periods.Through the implementation of drones for monitoring theseimportant regions, we hope to reduce the time and effortrequired to collect data on the inhabitants of these rockyshores.