Abstract
Natural, semi-natural, and planted forests are a key asset worldwide, providing a broad range of positive externalities. For sustainable forest planning and management, remote sensing (RS) platforms are rapidly going mainstream. In a framework where scientific production is growing exponentially, a systematic analysis of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based forestry research papers is of paramount importance to understand trends, overlaps and gaps. The present review is organized into two parts (Part I and Part II). Part II inspects specific technical issues regarding the application of UAV-RS in forestry, together with the pros and cons of different UAV solutions and activities where additional effort is needed, such as the technology transfer. Part I systematically analyzes and discusses general aspects of applying UAV in natural, semi-natural and artificial forestry ecosystems in the recent peer-reviewed literature (2018–mid-2020). The specific goals are threefold: (i) create a carefully selected bibliographic dataset that other researchers can draw on for their scientific works; (ii) analyze general and recent trends in RS forest monitoring (iii) reveal gaps in the general research framework where an additional activity is needed. Through double-step filtering of research items found in the Web of Science search engine, the study gathers and analyzes a comprehensive dataset (226 articles). Papers have been categorized into six main topics, and the relevant information has been subsequently extracted. The strong points emerging from this study concern the wide range of topics in the forestry sector and in particular the retrieval of tree inventory parameters often through Digital Aerial Photogrammetry (DAP), RGB sensors, and machine learning techniques. Nevertheless, challenges still exist regarding the promotion of UAV-RS in specific parts of the world, mostly in the tropical and equatorial forests. Much additional research is required for the full exploitation of hyperspectral sensors and for planning long-term monitoring.
Highlights
IntroductionSemi-natural and planted forests are a key asset worldwide, providing a broad range of positive externalities
The search descriptors were a combination of keywords related to UAV platforms, namely “UAV”, “unmanned aerial vehicle”, “UAS”, “unmanned aerial system”, “drone” and terms related to forest science and management, namely “forest”
Figurein3terms shows the production of the period 2018–mid-2020 on the useand of UAVs in forestry research topof20 sources title ofand research papers filtered through papers’
Summary
Semi-natural and planted forests are a key asset worldwide, providing a broad range of positive externalities These kinds of benefits can be included in three main categories such as goods (timber, food, fuel, and bioproducts), ecosystem services (carbon storage, nutrient cycling, water, air quality, and wildlife habitat), and social and cultural features (recreation, traditional resource uses, and well-being) [1]. In this context, sustainable forest planning and management require understanding both short and long-term woodland dynamics [2]; a modernization of forestry inventory frameworks is needed and driven by the ongoing uncertainty on the future condition of forests related to climate [3]. For the adoption of precision forestry practices, promptness is a key requirement and this is especially true when the forest structure is changing in a hardly predictable way due to pressure from biotic or abiotic factors [3]
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