Unmanned aerial vehicles and land technique assessment of young forest stands

Abstract

The article presents the data on the composition and condition of mixed young forests, obtained using unmanned aerial vehicles and the classical land technique. The plotting of the forest area was carried out by quadcopters. The land technique was used to assess the composition and condition of young stands, undergrowth and live ground cover on10 m2 circular plots. At each object, 48 discount areas were laid. The objects of study are young stands of natural and artificial origin. It was established that young growths of natural origin were formed in the 7 hectares cutover plots in 2006. They include pine, spruce, birch, aspen and alder. Spruce plantations were created in 2012 on an area of 12 hectares. It is shown that the understories and small undergrowth are not visible from a quadcopter, while the classical method gives the detailed characteristics. Additional characteristics of young forests obtained with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles are given. It is shown that the results obtained by the two methods are consistent, the error in the main characteristics does not exceed 10%. The combination of the two methods gives more complete information on the forest area. However, each of the methods used has its own advantages and disadvantages.