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Inspire Session

Session: : Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity, Physiological Stress and Ecosystem Function in a Rapidly Changing World

INS 16-2 - Using drones to study disturbances across tropical forest landscapes

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM PDT
Location: 254

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KC

    KC Cushman

    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, California, United States

    • Co-author(s)

  • RA

    Raquel Araujo

    Brazilian Institute of Development and Sustainability

  • MD

    Matteo Detto

    Princeton University; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

  • MG

    Milton Garcia

    Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

  • HM

    Helene C. Muller-Landau

    Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

Variation in disturbance rates and associated mortality is poorly understood in tropical forests, in part because of the challenge of detecting variation with statistical power using traditional field-based sampling. We used drone-based photogrammetry to efficiently monitor > 11,000 new canopy disturbances during a 5-year period on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Temporal variation in disturbances was driven by high mortality during extreme precipitation events, and spatial variation in disturbances was primarily related to soil types and forest age with a secondary effect of topography. Future fusion with hyperspectral, thermal, and lidar data could further illuminate ecological mechanisms underpinning these patterns.