Unmanned aerial vehicle application for mapping individual plants: the case of the Nebrodi beech forest

Abstract

The UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are small unmanned aircraft remote controlled electronically, commonly called "drones", which can serve as a vector to carry one or more sensors for georeferenced digital image capture. The development of these platforms is begun in the 50s for military purposes and is today successfully applied in the civil sphere with levels of technology and higher performance. It is a remote sensing technique to the scale of detail that allows for monitoring, measuring and mapping of several environmental data in a short time. The use of NDIR sensors (Non Dispersive Infrared sensor) for the detection of plant cover, allows discriminating plant species, mapping individual plants and evaluating the vegetative state. This technology has been tested to monitoring the state of health of the beech forests of Monte Soro, in the Nebrodi Natural Park (Sicily), which in recent years are show signs of desiccation of numerous stumps. It was drawn up a map of the stumps of beech distinct classes of health: l) healthy plants; 2) diseased plants; 3) dead plants. The goal is to develop a useful document to manage the evolution of the process of spreading the disease.