Benefits and Impacts of Drone Use in Science - Science Assignment Help

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Benefits and impacts of drone use in science

With the rapid advancement of new technologies, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or more commonly referred to as drones, have become ubiquitous and are widely commercially available. They have been regularly and increasingly used recreationally by the general public, governments and for scientific purposes by researchers and Environmental scientists. This essay argues that the benefits of drone use in science outweigh the impacts that their use may cause. Firstly, drones have excellent benefits in the science of conservation for collecting data. Secondly, drones are an excellent tool to use as they are low-cost while being accurate. Thirdly, drone use causes minimal disturbance on the systems they are working within. The final benefit presented is that despite some controversy, public opinion of their use in science has reasonable acceptance. As far as impacts presented within this essay, firstly is that their application has negative social implications to the general public. Secondly is that certain drones and their method of use may have a behavioural impact on wildlife. The last impact is the serious issue of drone crashes and collisions and surrounding safety regulations.

The first significant benefit of drone use in science is their use in collecting data for conservation. Using drones, researchers have shown that they can collect precise measurements of animal populations from photogrammetry, that are both labour reducing and that eliminates risks of invasive harm (Hodgson, Holman, Terauds, Koh, & Goldsworthy, 2020). Traditional ground-based methods of measuring animal body mass and size were inefficient, and it has been found that this new remote technique is not only accurate but is considerably quicker (Hodgson et al., 2020; Koh & Wich, 2012). Usually, also time-consuming, underwater seabed and shallow water mapping techniques have benefited from drone advancement in terms of ease of, and timeliness of the production of high-quality mapping data (Ventura, Bruno, Lasinio, Belluscio & Ardizzone, 2016). Furthermore, it is known that drone collected data can be beneficial for predicting biodiversity from photogrammetry in a variety of vegetation types on land (Ivoševi?, Han, Cho & Kwon, 2015; Koh & Wich, 2012). The research, as mentioned above, indicates that the use of drones in science has many benefits regarding conservation.

The second crucial benefit of drone use in science is that they can be used as an excellent ecological and conservation tool at a minimal cost. The expense of mapping data that is extrapolated from satellite imagery has been a boundary for scientists, and low-cost drones can capture high-resolution photographs that are suitably accurate (Koh & Wich, 2012). It has also been found that in the ocean fish nursery areas can be easily mapped with very high accuracy from these photographs in a similarly low-cost manner (Ventura et al., 2016). Developing nations can benefit from drone derived forest mapping, and their inexpensiveness has been shown to have a massive potential in these countries (Mlambo, Woodhouse, Gerard & Anderson, 2017). Drones are an excellent inexpensive technology for conservation scientists and ecologists to use for mapping.

A third significant benefit of scientific drone use is that there are minimal impacts and disturbances to ecosystems that are being studied. The research by Ivoševi? et al. 2015, indicated that drones have the potential to be used in ecology and wildlife research with minimal disturbance over vegetated National Parks. Furthermore, it was shown by Christiansen, Rojano-Doñate, Madsen, & Bejder, 2016, that noise impact of drone surveying in marine environments very likely to be minimal, even to wildlife that are in shallow depth environments. In these ocean systems, noise generated by drone use has been proved to be very close to the background, ambient noise and below the hearing threshold of Baleen whales and Pinniped species which include seals, sea lions and walruses (Christiansen et al., 2016). Beneficially, when drones are used in scientific studies disturbance and impact on both marine and non-marine ecosystems is both low and minimal.

The fourth significant benefit of drone use in science is that public support of their use is substantial. As part of a study published in 2017, researchers found that public concern for drone use for domestic purposes such as for real estate and hobbyists was a factor in a considerable percentage of people either opposing or strongly opposing their use (Markowitz, Nisbet, Danylchuk, & Engelbourg, 2017). This finding is significantly important because the same study found that among those surveyed, there was a considerable percentage of people who supported, and as many as approximately thirty percent of people strongly supported, drone use in Conservation Science (Markowitz et al., 2017). This acceptance and support of drones specifically for their use for scientific purposes is a significant benefit to consider.

The first impact of drone use in science is that there may be a series of negative social implications that need to be considered. The research by Sandbrook 2015, introduces ideas that indicate the general public may be having their privacy invaded by high-resolution photographs being taken, and that the data generated from this imagery is possibly not handled securely and ethically. The general public may be irritated and aggravated by drone use in their areas which can lead to assumptions, suspicions and even conspiracy theories (Sandbrook, 2015). Sandbrook 2015, suggests that into the future, scientific drone operators need to build frameworks considering these impacts with good ethical intent and the intention to not erode conservation efforts. These social consequences are a valid impact worth considering for drone use for scientific purposes.

The second impact of drone use within science pertains to the manner of the use of certain types of drones and their likeliness to cause negative behavioural impact to wildlife. Some styles of drones are larger have engines requiring fuel which tends to make them louder which have been found to cause significant behavioural changes in wildlife (Mulero-Pázmány, JenniEiermann, Strebel, Sattler, Negro, & Tablado, 2017). This literature review by MuleroPázmány et al. 2017, found that one crucial factor influencing the level of disturbance was the flight pattern used by the operator of the drone and that flights that directly targeted and navigated towards wildlife caused significant predator-like stress. Furthermore, it was shown that certain life cycle stage of the wildlife, such as birds that were nesting, was at a point where drone presence made it more likely for them to exhibit behavioural distress (MuleroPázmány et al., 2017). Certain drones and the way in which they are used may cause an impact on the behaviour of wildlife.

Crashes and collisions and their implications for safety legal frameworks is the third impact of drone use in science. A newsletter article by Ayranci 2017, details the near high-speed impact of a drone and a sporting competitor that led to severe restrictions for drone use in the United States of America. However, this resource is not a peer-reviewed article, so it may not be a reliable source of information. Drone flights also increase the chance of fatalities and injuries caused by both mid-air collisions with aircraft and ground or structure impact of out of control drones (Zhang, Liu, Zhang, Guan, Delahaye, & Tang, 2018). The modelling conducted by Zhang et al. 2018, found that the likelihood of these serious incidents occurring was significantly increased over large metropolitan areas and near major airports. Part of the intent of this research is to offer a guide that could be used by organisations such as the Federal Aviation Administration to minimise risks when developing their regulations for the operation of drones (Zhang et al., 2018). Drone use in science is impacted by the chance of crashes and collisions and their implications for regulatory frameworks.

The benefits of drones in science are higher than any impact that may implicate their use. Drones are significantly useful in collecting data concerning conservation. They are an accurate tool that can be used at a low cost, and their use causes minimal disturbance on the ecosystems they operate within. Although there is some concern generated, public opinion of their application for scientific purposes is quite supportive. Firstly, concerning the impacts of drone use in science, there is likely negative social implications. Secondly, the method of use of some types of drones may cause some disturbance with wildlife. Finally, crashes and collisions involving drones, and the regulations surrounding their use is of importance. It is vital to consider both the positive and negative aspects of drone use into the future within the field of science for continued overall benefit.

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