Climate-Change-Driven Droughts and Tree Mortality: Assessing the Potential of UAV-Derived Early Warning Metrics

Brief

This project counts with the main objective of determining the potential of unmannedaerial vehicles (UAVs) in assessing forests during drought conditions andpresents approaches for their application, being classified into physiologicalcomplexities, site-specific and confounding factors, biotic agent interactions,forest carbon monitoring and optimization and technological developments forupscaling UAV-based frameworks. Ecoresolve aims to identify and prioritizeconservation needs of vulnerable and/or high-carbon-efficient tree species forefficient allocation of resources and optimizing forest carbon management withclimate change adaptation and mitigation practices in a timely andcost-effective manner.

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Specific goals

Ecoresolve conducted an analysis to achieve the evaluation of the impact of droughts onforest carbon sinks, an identification of EWMs (Early Warning Metrics) throughsatellite remote sensing data, prioritize conservation needs of vulnerable andhigh-carbon-efficient tree species for efficient resource allocation, andoptimize forest carbon management practices with climate change adaptation andmitigation strategies.

Execution

The project will involve conducting comprehensive studies on the impact of droughtson forest carbon sinks and plant hydraulic systems. Satellite remote sensingdata will be analyzed to derive EWMs for predicting plant stress and mortality.UAV technology will be explored to assess forest characteristics during droughtconditions. The project will develop UAV-based frameworks encompassing variouscategories and approaches. Field inventory and satellite remote sensing datawill be integrated using UAVs to bridge the gap in assessment capabilities.

Impacts & Results

Ecoresolve emphasizes that the use of UAVs and remote sensing in forest management willallow to understand and mitigate the effects of climate-change-driven droughtsand tree mortality. Thanks to the high-resolution and temporal data providedfrom the UAVs, a deeper conceptualization of EWMs and their characterizationcan be achieved. Also, to integrate this data with satellite remote sensingwill improve the mapping of tree mortality and forest carbon allocation.