TY - JOUR
T1 - Climate-Change-Driven Droughts and Tree Mortality
T2 - Assessing the Potential of UAV-Derived Early Warning Metrics
AU - Ewane, Ewane Basil
AU - Mohan, Midhun
AU - Bajaj, Shaurya
AU - Galgamuwa, G. A.Pabodha
AU - Watt, Michael S.
AU - Arachchige, Pavithra Pitumpe
AU - Hudak, Andrew T.
AU - Richardson, Gabriella
AU - Ajithkumar, Nivedhitha
AU - Srinivasan, Shruthi
AU - Corte, Ana Paula Dalla
AU - Johnson, Daniel J.
AU - Broadbent, Eben North
AU - de-Miguel, Sergio
AU - Bruscolini, Margherita
AU - Young, Derek J.N.
AU - Shafai, Shahid
AU - Abdullah, Meshal M.
AU - Jaafar, Wan Shafrina Wan Mohd
AU - Doaemo, Willie
AU - Silva, Carlos Alberto
AU - Cardil, Adrian
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the UN Volunteering program ( https://app.unv.org/ ), the Morobe Development Foundation (Papua New Guinea), and to the following people for their support and contribution in terms of resource sharing, reviewing and/or editing the draft versions of the manuscript: Mikko Vasaranta, Rodrigo Vieira Leite, Andrea Luber, Sumedha Bhat, Gopika Gopan, Matthew Aghai, Anna Ptasznik, and William Anderegg. The authors would also like to thank the faculty/staff at the Department of Geography, University of California, the NGEE-Tropics team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and DroneSeed. The authors also appreciate the graphical illustrations related options offered by the CANVA graphic design platform. Sergio de Miguel benefitted from a Serra-Húnter fellowship provided by Generalitat de Catalunya. This research was also supported by the U.S. 530 Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2152671 (to DJNY) and National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2106015 (to DJJ, ENB, and CAS).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
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PY - 2023/5/18
Y1 - 2023/5/18
N2 - Protecting and enhancing forest carbon sinks is considered a natural solution for mitigating climate change. However, the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts due to climate change can threaten the stability and growth of existing forest carbon sinks. Extreme droughts weaken plant hydraulic systems, can lead to tree mortality events, and may reduce forest diversity, making forests more vulnerable to subsequent forest disturbances, such as forest fires or pest infestations. Although early warning metrics (EWMs) derived using satellite remote sensing data are now being tested for predicting post-drought plant physiological stress and mortality, applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are yet to be explored extensively. Herein, we provide twenty-four prospective approaches classified into five categories: (i) physiological complexities, (ii) site-specific and confounding (abiotic) factors, (iii) interactions with biotic agents, (iv) forest carbon monitoring and optimization, and (v) technological and infrastructural developments, for adoption, future operationalization, and upscaling of UAV-based frameworks for EWM applications. These UAV considerations are paramount as they hold the potential to bridge the gap between field inventory and satellite remote sensing for assessing forest characteristics and their responses to drought conditions, identifying and prioritizing conservation needs of vulnerable and/or high-carbon-efficient tree species for efficient allocation of resources, and optimizing forest carbon management with climate change adaptation and mitigation practices in a timely and cost-effective manner.
AB - Protecting and enhancing forest carbon sinks is considered a natural solution for mitigating climate change. However, the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts due to climate change can threaten the stability and growth of existing forest carbon sinks. Extreme droughts weaken plant hydraulic systems, can lead to tree mortality events, and may reduce forest diversity, making forests more vulnerable to subsequent forest disturbances, such as forest fires or pest infestations. Although early warning metrics (EWMs) derived using satellite remote sensing data are now being tested for predicting post-drought plant physiological stress and mortality, applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are yet to be explored extensively. Herein, we provide twenty-four prospective approaches classified into five categories: (i) physiological complexities, (ii) site-specific and confounding (abiotic) factors, (iii) interactions with biotic agents, (iv) forest carbon monitoring and optimization, and (v) technological and infrastructural developments, for adoption, future operationalization, and upscaling of UAV-based frameworks for EWM applications. These UAV considerations are paramount as they hold the potential to bridge the gap between field inventory and satellite remote sensing for assessing forest characteristics and their responses to drought conditions, identifying and prioritizing conservation needs of vulnerable and/or high-carbon-efficient tree species for efficient allocation of resources, and optimizing forest carbon management with climate change adaptation and mitigation practices in a timely and cost-effective manner.
KW - biotic factors of tree mortality
KW - climate extremities
KW - climate mitigation potential of forests
KW - drone remote sensing
KW - drought-induced tree mortality
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85160588709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/fe18c786-3098-30eb-b04c-1ea6a6549ff8/
U2 - 10.3390/rs15102627
DO - 10.3390/rs15102627
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85160588709
SN - 2072-4292
VL - 15
SP - 2627
JO - Remote Sensing
JF - Remote Sensing
IS - 10
M1 - 10
ER -