Use of Drones in Field Biology

Marine Biology & Drones

Drones are being used with increasing frequency in the study of marine life, including for population counts, and behavioral studies. The news media has offered up dramatic images of studies underway, for example of orca populations off the coast of British Columbia, but there are many studies around the world that are using drones. The advantage of drones is that they can fly above marine environments, providing an overhead view of those environments. This can be valuable in terms of counting animal populations for example, because with drones animals typically do not change their behaviors (Schiffman, 2014). Drones have become a popular tool for field biologists in part because drone technology is improving and the cost of these devices is falling (Schiffman, 2014).

In some fields, such as the observation of marine life in Antarctic sea ice, it has been noted that the normal observation is risky, and the use of drones can help scientists to avoid high risk areas, staying in safe areas and allowing the drone to provide the overhead observations (Kelly et al., 2012). Drones have been found valuable in increasing data access in a number of remote areas (Gremillet et al., 2012). One example of advanced data gathering with drones has been with plankton, where advanced sensor technologies have allowed for tracking of plankton schools, providing critical data about ocean currents and aiding in the development of more sophisticated marine ecological models (Gremillet, et al., 2012).