Boise State University Boise, Idaho, United States
Spatial forecasts of plant population growth rate will aid restoration and conservation efforts at management-relevant scales. Individual plant measurements underlie current models for plant population growth rates. However, individual-level field measurements, including growth, survival, and recruitment, are limited to small spatial extents. Aerial imagery presents an appealing solution to scale up demographic rates but also poses challenges due to imperfect measurements, related to overlapping canopies, atmospheric conditions, and other inaccuracies. We argue that models for imperfect detection, such as occupancy models commonly used in wildlife studies, are well-posed to address imperfect detection in aerial measurements of plant demographic rates.
