Get reliable rangeland science

The use of drones in studies of rangeland ecology and management has increased significantly in the last 10-15 years. Drone imagery has been used to measure woody cover, forage biomass, spatiotemporal changes in vegetation cover, rangeland condition, and to monitor wildlife habitat in rangeland systems. The development of 3D models derived from drone imagery has facilitated new opportunities to quantify the spatial structure of land cover. For example, fine-scale structural changes influenced by grazing can be quantified using drones and subsequently translated to potential impacts on wildlife habitat. Technological developments like terrestrial LiDAR systems and higher resolution imagery allows for the improvement on the understanding of very-fine scale eco logical processes in these dynamic systems. These terrestrial sensors can add valuable information to the current airborne data collection systems. However, there is still a need to evaluate the relationship between different drone-based sensors and how the information collected and analysed can be integrated into traditional rangeland metrics. More importantly, we seek to better understand how to translate these analyses and metrics into practical management information that is critical for these socio-ecological systems. Here we demonstrate (1) the use of multispectral imagery to quantify the configuration of brush cover in semiarid landscapes, (2) the use of 3D drone data to assess the fine-scale impact of grazing on upland game birds (Galliformes), and (3) the integration of LiDAR, multispectral, and natural color cameras to generate data to inform livestock and wildlife habitat management. Finally, we provide insights on how drone technology could be potentially used in the future to assist in rangeland management to forecast forage growth and multi-species use for wildlife objectives.