Drones for conservation

Conservation management benefits from having accurate and timely data on land-cover change, animal distribution and density, as well as the ability to detect poachers before they reach their target species. In addition to other methods, drones have become a data collection tool for all three of these aspects and are becoming rapidly more widespread in conservation management and research. This chapter discusses these three issues and provides a case study in which a drone was used for habitat mapping. The chapter will also go over some of the sensors and drone systems currently used in conservation. To conclude, it will discuss the current challenges with the usage of drones in conservation settings.