Drones help scientists check the health of Antarctic mosses, revealing climate change clues

Published: September 11, 2017 6:50pm EDT

Zbyněk Malenovský, University of Tasmania, Arko Lucieer, University of Tasmania, Sharon Robinson, University of Wollongong

Authors

Zbyněk Malenovský
Researcher in Remote Sensing of Vegetation, University of Tasmania
Arko Lucieer
Associate Professor in Remote Sensing, University of Tasmania
Sharon Robinson
Professor, University of Wollongong

Disclosure statement

Zbyněk Malenovský has received grants from the ARC and Australian Antarctic Science. He is affiliated with the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Group at the University of Tasmania, the Centre for Sustainable Ecosystem Solutions at the University of Wollongong and the Global Change Research Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Arko Lucieer has received grants from the Australian Research Council and Australian Antarctic Science Grant Scheme.

Sharon Robinson receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Department of Environment, and the Herman Slade Foundation and in the past has received funding from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development. She is a Member of the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Effects Assessment Panel and the Australian Research Council College of Experts. She is an Editor for Global Change Biology. Member of Society for Experimental Biology and Australian Society of Plant Scientists.

Partners

University of Wollongong and University of Tasmania provide funding as members of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

Mosses are sensitive to even minor changes in their living conditions. Sharon Robinson, Author provided

Drones are helping scientists check the health of Antarctic mosses, revealing clues on the pace of climate change.

The scientists say their method could be used for similar research in other harsh environments like desert or alpine regions.

Mosses are sensitive to even minor changes in their living conditions, and scientists traditionally tramped through difficult terrain to collect data on them.

Using the specially-designed drones is faster, kinder to the environment and delivers detailed images that satellite imagery cannot match.

Drones also allow to map much larger areas than previously possible, showing how the moss health responds to meltwater in real time.

These methods could be used for similar research in other harsh environments like desert or alpine regions.

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 182,400 academics and researchers from 4,942 institutions.