FragMAP: a tool for long-term and cooperative monitoring and analysis of small-scale habitat fragmentation using an unmanned aerial vehicle

ABSTRACT

Small patches of fragmented landscape cannot be resolved using remote-sensing satellite images and they are too numerous and too irregular to be measured easily and efficiently on the ground. As a result, studies of habitat fragmentation at small scales are inadequate. The major objective of this study is to develop a practical tool that can be used for the long-term and cooperative monitoring and analysis of small-scale habitat fragmentation with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This tool has two components. The software consists of: (1) field trip preparation; (2) auto-piloting; (3) image location and selection; and (4) image analysis. The hardware comprises: (1) a desktop computer; (2) a Phantom 3 Professional four-wheel drone (DJI Innovation Company Inc.); and (3) a Huawei Pad with an Android 4.4 operating system. This tool was demonstrated during field trips on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) in the summer of 2015. It is stable, robust, efficient, and easy to operate. More importantly, it is designed to be used in a cooperative way within a team and among groups and for long-term repeated monitoring. This tool is suitable for widespread deployment to establish a monitoring network studying small-scale habitat fragmentation status and rate of change.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mr Xiaofeng Deng, Jianjun Chen, XinleiGuo, Tianfeng Wei, and Dr Yu Qin for testing this tool on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, and Dr Wei Wang for improving figure quality. This study was jointly supported through grants from the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation Commission (41271089, 41422102, and 41501081).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation Commission [41271089], [41422102] and [41501081].