UAVs for monitoring responses of regenerating forests under increasing climate change-driven droughts - a review

Abstract

The impact of climate change-driven droughts on regenerating forests is poorly understood due to the complexities involved in regeneration processes and the difficulties in measuring the relevant parameters with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution in a timely manner. Drought increases tree mortality in both undisturbed and disturbed forests and may influence forest regeneration dynamics from seed germination to the recruitment, growth, and survival of tree seedlings. Seedlings and small saplings may be more susceptible to changes in water availability than larger individuals due to their shallower roots that may be unable to reach the deeper, moist soil layers, and due to uneven competition with adult trees for soil moisture. The potential range shifts and local extinction of drought-sensitive species can also result in changes in forest species community composition and diversity loss at different scales. There is a need for precise and low-cost monitoring systems that facilitate better capturing of the complexities of such processes for restoration measures. The objective of this paper is to study the use of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for monitoring responses of regenerating forests under increasing climate change-driven droughts. UAVs have several advantages over traditional field-based monitoring techniques and flexibility in selecting the required spatiotemporal resolution over other remote sensing methods, making them a promising tool for monitoring forest recovery. Although further research is required to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of UAV-facilitated measures for monitoring forest regeneration, UAVs possess great potential in forest management in the event of increasing occurrences of climate-change driven droughts.