Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have already become an affordable and cost-efficient tool to quickly map a targeted area for many emerging applications in the arena of ecological monitoring and biodiversity conservation. Managers, owners, companies, and scientists are using professional drones equipped with high-resolution visible, multispectral, or thermal cameras to assess the state of ecosystems, the effect of disturbances, or the dynamics and changes within biological communities inter alia. We are now at a tipping point on the use of drones for these type of applications over natural areas. UAV missions are increasing but most of them are testing applicability. It is time now to move to frequent revisiting missions, aiding in the retrieval of important biophysical parameters in ecosystems or mapping species distributions. This Special Issue shows UAV applications contributing to a better understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem status, threats, changes, and trends. It documents the enhancement of knowledge in ecological integrity parameters mapping, long-term ecological monitoring based on drones, mapping of alien species spread and distribution, upscaling ecological variables from drone to satellite images: methods and approaches, rapid risk and disturbance assessment using drones, mapping albedo with UAVs, wildlife tracking, bird colony and chimpanzee nest mapping, habitat mapping and monitoring, and a review on drones for conservation in protected areas.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have already become an affordable and cost-efficient tool to quickly map a targeted area for many emerging applications in the arena of ecological monitoring and biodiversity conservation. Managers, owners, companies, and scientists are using professional drones equipped with high-resolution visible, multispectral, or thermal cameras to assess the state of ecosystems, the effect of disturbances, or the dynamics and changes within biological communities inter alia. We are now at a tipping point on the use of drones for these type of applications over natural areas. UAV missions are increasing but most of them are testing applicability. It is time now to move to frequent revisiting missions, aiding in the retrieval of important biophysical parameters in ecosystems or mapping species distributions. This Special Issue shows UAV applications contributing to a better understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem status, threats, changes, and trends. It documents the enhancement of knowledge in ecological integrity parameters mapping, long-term ecological monitoring based on drones, mapping of alien species spread and distribution, upscaling ecological variables from drone to satellite images: methods and approaches, rapid risk and disturbance assessment using drones, mapping albedo with UAVs, wildlife tracking, bird colony and chimpanzee nest mapping, habitat mapping and monitoring, and a review on drones for conservation in protected areas.

Increasing numbers of ecologists and conservation biologists have begun to explore the use of drone technology to obtain accurate and up-to-date data on the distribution and density of species, as well as the threats to their habitats, in their ongoing attempts to conserve and monitor biodiversity. Conservation drones are low-cost, autonomous, and operator-friendly unmanned aerial vehicles that can be used for surveying, mapping, and monitoring both habitat and biodiversity. They are fast becoming a valuable complement to ground-based surveys and satellite imagery for a wide range of ecological and conservation applications. The authors pioneered the use of conservation drones for the purpose of monitoring orangutan populations in Southeast Asia. They subsequently founded ConservationDrones.org to share their knowledge of building and using drones with colleagues in the wider environmental community. This website has proved highly popular and this book aims to further build capacity to use drones and inspire others to adapt emerging technologies for practical conservation.

This volume presents the conference proceedings from FinDrones 2023. The book highlights recent drone technology developments by experts and academicians for applications in agriculture, forestry, and other industries. This iteration of FinDrones presents research using autonomous drones in various fields from environmental monitoring to farm robotics and from photogrammetry to search and rescue missions. Emphasis is placed on contextualizing the conference presentations and content to Finland and the unique challenges typical to the region. The work will interest academicians, entrepreneurs, and professionals involved in remote sensing applications of unmanned aerial vehicles and enthusiasts of drone technological developments.

This book compiles a set of original and innovative papers included in the Special Issue on UAVs for vegetation monitoring, which proves the wide scope of UAVs in very diverse vegetation applications, both in agricultural and forestry scenarios, ranging from the characterization of relevant vegetation features to the detection of plant or crop stressors. New methods and techniques are developed and applied to diverse vegetation scenarios to meet the main challenge of sustainability.

Long-term monitoring programs are fundamental to understanding the natural environment and managing major environmental problems. Yet they are often done very poorly and ineffectively. This second edition of the highly acclaimed Effective Ecological Monitoring describes what makes monitoring programs successful and how to ensure that long-term monitoring studies persist. The book has been fully revised and updated but remains concise, illustrating key aspects of effective monitoring with case studies and examples. It includes new sections comparing surveillance-based and question-based monitoring, analysing environmental observation networks, and provides examples of adaptive monitoring. Based on the authors’ 80 years of collective experience in running long-term research and monitoring programs, Effective Ecological Monitoring is a valuable resource for the natural resource management, ecological and environmental science and policy communities.

This timely Research Handbook provides a broad analysis and discussion on how academics are managed. It addresses key issues, including the changing nature of academic work and academic labour markets, issues of power, leadership, ageing, human resource management practices, and mobility.