A UAS-based approach toward habitat suitability modeling of a rare endemic plant

Abstract

Predicting habitat and mapping species distributions are important to address declining biodiversity and species extinctions. Habitat suitability models (HSM) predict potential habitat based on a species’ ecological niche, demonstrating a valuable tool for recovery efforts. Many threatened and endangered species are limited in distribution and abundance, occurring in fragile habitats or in inaccessible locations, making them difficult to map through traditional field surveys. Conventional satellite and aerial remote sensing data also have limitations in mapping species due to a mismatch in the spatiotemporal scale of ecological processes. Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) can address these limitations to adequately model habitat for these species of concern. In this study, the rare endemic plant Hackelia venusta (Showy Stickseed) serves as a focal species to explore the role and utility of UAS in plant conservation. We predicted suitable habitat for H. venusta and compared HSMs built using UAS imagery with those built using traditional aerial and satellite imagery. We found that UAS models performed marginally better than models using aerial imagery, and both UAS and aerial models outperformed satellite imagery. The primary advantages provided by UAS include targeted acquisitions of high resolution (<10 cm/pixel) data, temporal discretion, and flexibility of sensor types. The growing use of UAS in environmental monitoring makes them an integral tool for future conservation applications.