Experimental Analysis of the Shinnery Oak Shrub Using High Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery
Session Number
Project ID: ENVR 04
Advisor(s)
Dr. Chuck Cannon; Morton Arboretum
Colby Borchetta; Morton Arboretum
Discipline
Environmental Science
Start Date
19-4-2023 10:50 AM
End Date
19-4-2023 11:05 AM
Abstract
The Shinnery Oak (Quercus havardii) is an endangered short clonal deciduous shrub native to the Great Plains of North America. The species play a keystone role in its community, yet over one million acres of the Shinnery Oak have been eradicated. The species’ restoration is vital to biodiversity, the well-being of endangered species in the community, erosion control, and livestock production. Therefore, revegetating areas that supported the plant is an important conservation concern. Yet, little research has been done on the disappearing species ecology. Long term research is being planned on natural populations, including the use of routine aerial surveys. This is a new research technique for this type of research, so it is exploratory without established methods for this particular purpose. This work aims to: (a) find and explore ways remotely sensed image data captured with Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles(UAV) can be used to study this critical species, (b) assess the accuracy and resolution needed to carry out the proposed analyses, (c) establish a workflow for the proposed analysis. Agisoft Metashape photogrammetry software was used to generate the 3D model and orthomosaic used for analysis. A DJI Phantom 4 drone was used to take aerial photographs of study sites in the North Central Plains of western Texas. Photos of the area were taken over three different time periods: June 2021, January 2022, and March 2022. To optimize the image collection and data extraction, we focused on three clones of varying size and shape. Three clones were analyzed to compare differences in canopy size, color, and height resulting from seasonal changes. We are currently in the early stages of our investigation, so the orthomosaic will b used to analyze distances between mottes, sizes, and shapes of mottes through R packages Furthermore, error points and point density were compared to assess the accuracy of each data set.
Experimental Analysis of the Shinnery Oak Shrub Using High Resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery
The Shinnery Oak (Quercus havardii) is an endangered short clonal deciduous shrub native to the Great Plains of North America. The species play a keystone role in its community, yet over one million acres of the Shinnery Oak have been eradicated. The species’ restoration is vital to biodiversity, the well-being of endangered species in the community, erosion control, and livestock production. Therefore, revegetating areas that supported the plant is an important conservation concern. Yet, little research has been done on the disappearing species ecology. Long term research is being planned on natural populations, including the use of routine aerial surveys. This is a new research technique for this type of research, so it is exploratory without established methods for this particular purpose. This work aims to: (a) find and explore ways remotely sensed image data captured with Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles(UAV) can be used to study this critical species, (b) assess the accuracy and resolution needed to carry out the proposed analyses, (c) establish a workflow for the proposed analysis. Agisoft Metashape photogrammetry software was used to generate the 3D model and orthomosaic used for analysis. A DJI Phantom 4 drone was used to take aerial photographs of study sites in the North Central Plains of western Texas. Photos of the area were taken over three different time periods: June 2021, January 2022, and March 2022. To optimize the image collection and data extraction, we focused on three clones of varying size and shape. Three clones were analyzed to compare differences in canopy size, color, and height resulting from seasonal changes. We are currently in the early stages of our investigation, so the orthomosaic will b used to analyze distances between mottes, sizes, and shapes of mottes through R packages Furthermore, error points and point density were compared to assess the accuracy of each data set.