Monitoring butterflies with an unmanned aerial vehicle: current possibilities and future potentials

Abstract

The world of technology is pleasantly evolving to a stage where small robotic aid may be used to ease the work of researchers, and to one day bring more accurate results than the current human abilities allow. In the research field of species monitoring in biology, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have begun to play an important role in how research is approached, analyzed, and then applied for further investigation, particularly by focusing on a single species. This paper uses data that has been collected from June to October 2015, to demonstrate how the innovative idea of using UAVs to monitor a particular species will bring a positive development in conservation research, and what it was able to achieve in this research field so far. More precisely, we examine the potential of UAVs to take center stage in future research, as well as their current accuracy. This paper describes the use of the commercially available Phantom 2 Vision+ for the detection, assessment, and monitoring of the butterfly species Libythea celtis, demonstrating how it can help the monitoring of butterflies and how it could be developed for even more adventurous and detailed research in the future.