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Mapping and Classification of Ecologically Sensitive
Marine Habitats Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) Imagery and Object-Based Image Analysis
(OBIA)
Nowadays, emerging technologies, such as long-range transmitters, increasingly
miniaturized components for positioning, and enhanced imaging sensors, have led to an upsurge in
the availability of new ecological applications for remote sensing based on unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), sometimes referred to as “drones”. In fact, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry
coupled with imagery acquired by UAVs offers a rapid and inexpensive tool to produce
high-resolution orthomosaics, giving ecologists a new way for responsive, timely, and cost-effective
monitoring of ecological processes. Here, we adopted a lightweight quadcopter as an aerial survey
tool and object-based image analysis (OBIA) workflow to demonstrate the strength of such methods
in producing very high spatial resolution maps of sensitive marine habitats. Therefore, three different
coastal environments were mapped using the autonomous flight capability of a lightweight UAV
equipped with a fully stabilized consumer-grade RGB digital camera. In particular we investigated
a Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadow, a rocky coast with nurseries for juvenile fish, and two sandy
areas showing biogenic reefs of Sabelleria alveolata. We adopted, for the first time, UAV-based raster
thematic maps of these key coastal habitats, produced after OBIA classification, as a new method for
fine-scale, low-cost, and time saving characterization of sensitive marine environments which may
lead to a more effective and efficient monitoring and management of natural resources
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