Chapter 1 Abstract

There is significant potential for broad deployment of scalable drone-mounted remote sensing technologies in forestry. For example, forest genetics programs rely on large-scale phenotyping of individual trees throughout pre-selection, selection, and post-selection to inform seed choices that will promote resilient, productive forests. However, the number of sites and trees within sites that can be phenotyped is often constrained by the time and cost of labour. As climate change intensifies environmental stress for forest trees and forestry policies shift towards a focus on climate adaptation, there is increased need for efficient and cost-effective data collection methods to measure key phenotypic traits relating to climate adaptation and resilience. Drone-mounted sensors can be used to quantify a range of standard phenotypic data (i.e. height) and novel traits (i.e. vegetation indices) with data captured over entire trials within hours.

The information and workflows in this guide are informed by a collaborative project. Our team included the University of British Columbia (UBC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the BC provincial Ministry of Forests (MOF). The project objective was to use remote sensing tools to better understand how trees respond to climatic stressors by analyzing phenotypic (i.e. spectral indices and structural metrics) and genetic correlations at the tree level to guide genetics programs in the selection of trees better able to cope with future climates.

This guide is intended as a resource for the forestry community interested in incorporating remote-sensing tools for phenotyping. While this platform was built on gridded forest genetics trials, the data collection and processing on any gridded forest research trial capturing individual tree data would essentially remain the same. This guide covers ideal site selection for the remote sensing tools, flight preparations, equipment considerations and parameters, data management, step-by-step LiDAR and photogrammetric (multispectral and RGB imagery) workflows, tree georeferencing and crown delineation workflows, and a breakdown of equipment cost. All workflows are illustrated step-by-step with example images and code. This information has been published as a living bookdown document to allow for updates and the incorporation of edits by readers. It is designed to be a start to finish workflow with the final product being individual tree metrics and vegetation indices for analysis.

See the index for a more detailed breakdown of the information provided