Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, P.O. Box 423, Warrnambool, 3280, Victoria, Australia.
Victorian UAS Training, 57 Koroit-Woolsthrope Road, Koroit, 3282, Victoria, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 31;7(1):10259. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10818-9.
Monitoring of intertidal reefs is traditionally undertaken by on-ground survey methods which have assisted in understanding these complex habitats; however, often only a small spatial footprint of the reef is observed. Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide new opportunities for monitoring broad scale coastal ecosystems through the ability to capture centimetre resolution imagery and topographic data not possible with conventional approaches. This study compares UAV remote sensing of intertidal reefs to traditional on-ground monitoring surveys, and investigates the role of UAV derived geomorphological variables in explaining observed intertidal algal and invertebrate assemblages. A multirotor UAV was used to capture <1 cm resolution data from intertidal reefs, with on-ground quadrat surveys of intertidal biotic data for comparison. UAV surveys provided reliable estimates of dominant canopy-forming algae, however, understorey species were obscured and often underestimated. UAV derived geomorphic variables showed elevation and distance to seaward reef edge explained 19.7% and 15.9% of the variation in algal and invertebrate assemblage structure respectively. The findings of this study demonstrate benefits of low-cost UAVs for intertidal monitoring through rapid data collection, full coverage census, identification of dominant canopy habitat and generation of geomorphic derivatives for explaining biological variation.
对潮间带珊瑚礁的监测传统上采用地面调查方法，这些方法有助于了解这些复杂的栖息地；然而，通常只能观察到珊瑚礁的一小部分空间足迹。无人机 (UAV) 的最新发展为通过捕捉厘米级分辨率的图像和传统方法无法获得的地形数据来监测广泛的沿海生态系统提供了新的机会。本研究将无人机遥感技术应用于潮间带珊瑚礁监测与传统的地面监测调查进行比较，并探讨了无人机衍生的地貌变量在解释观测到的潮间带藻类和无脊椎动物群落中的作用。一架多旋翼无人机用于从潮间带珊瑚礁中捕获<1cm 分辨率的数据，并与地面潮间带生物数据的四分位距调查进行比较。无人机调查能够可靠地估计优势冠层藻类，但下层物种被遮挡，往往被低估。无人机衍生的地貌变量表明，海拔和到海礁边缘的距离分别解释了藻类和无脊椎动物群落结构变化的 19.7%和 15.9%。本研究的结果表明，通过快速数据收集、全面普查、识别优势冠层栖息地以及生成地貌衍生产品来解释生物变化，低成本无人机在潮间带监测方面具有优势。
