Directing predator control from space using satellites to detect beech tree flowering скачать в хорошем качестве

Directing predator control from space using satellites to detect beech tree flowering

Southern beech trees feature in approximately 4 million hectares of New Zealand indigenous forest. Every few years they experience a 'mast' event with a bumper crop of seeds which creates an explosion in the number of mice, rats, and stoats in our native forests. Once the seed runs out, these predators have to find other food sources so turn to native birds or other fauna. The Department of Conservation (DOC) is responsible for trying to control these predator populations to minimise their impact on our native species and need help with targeting predator control efforts. Beech masting events happen every few years and are largely controlled by temperature of the previous two summers, however weather and nutrient availability also play a role. Reliably predicting when and where they will occur is difficult, so observations of flowering or seeding are needed to help identify areas that may need more active predator control efforts. Ben Jolly has successfully used images from the ESA Sentinel-2 satellite programme to automatically detect and map beech flowering at national scale and will discuss some the techniques used and challenges faced during this project.