Drones, Robotic Rovers and Citizen Scientists Join Forces to Sample a Lake’s Biodiversity
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drones-robotic-rovers-and-citizen-scientists-join-forces-to-sample-a-lakee28099s-biodiversity/
This article speaks about a BioBlitz at
Lake Merrit in Oakland, California. A BioBlitz is basically observing a certain place to understand as much as you can about that ecosystem and if conservation efforts are working or need to be improved. However, this particular BioBlitz was different because this one incorporated the use of robots and drones to help mesure particular things autonomously. Scientists used drones that were able to land on the water and measure the overall quality of the water. One advantage to measuring water quality with drones instead of by hand is because all the drones are pre-programmed they will always measure from the exact same spots on the lake every time they are sent out. Scientists also used r
emotely operated submersibles to survey the lake bottom, documenting on the lagoon’s aquatic diversity. "Integrating autonomous and robotic vehicles into bioblitzes is an important step in expanding the contribution of nonscientists to our understanding of the natural world." (Andrew David Thaler
)
NOS Themes:
1. Science is Collaborative- there were lots of teams of people that worked to make this BioBlitz possible and record the data that was found.
2. Role of Change- this entire project was created to find out if the changes in the conservation efforts at Lake Merrit were successful or not and they found out that because of these efforts they had created a more diverse ecosystem.
3. Science is Based on Evidence- These scientists are finding new ways to collect data for their research on particular ecosystems.
-Tyler Welder
Tyler, I found this article to be interesting, and not very surprising. Technology has become such a strong influence on the social realm and now it is making it's impact in the scientific realm. It is really cool that these drones are being used to research the ecosystem of the lagoon for conservation efforts. Drones, that I imagine are quite similar to these, are also being used at Melbourne Water. Melbourne Water supplies drinking and recycled water and manages Melbourne's water supply catchments, sewage treatment and rivers, creeks and major drainage systems. In the following hyperlink, they explain having used drones to inspect one of the reservoirs they work with: http://www.melbournewater.com.au/aboutus/news/Documents/Innovative_Case_Study_-_Drone_Inspections.pdf. I encourage you to check it out. It could be a great supplement to your knowledge of drones being used for scientific purposes.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Ty, we should build one of these. Just for the heck of it. Second of all I think this is a great example of how things should work in science. Instead of tripping over each other to try and get to the next discovery first or fighting about who's doing more important work, they're working together, collaboratively. They are seamlessly doing research for the greater good. I'm tempted to say that this should include NOS of Conflicts within the scientific community due t the LACK of conflict. It highlights scientists not being conflicted between fields. I find this extremely cool.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this was a very interesting, and very amazing. I think it is amazing how far technology has come that now we don't even have to take measurements or do tests by ourselves because we have robots and droids to do it for us. I think that it is great that the robots can be used to examine the ecosystem and see if conservation efforts are working or need to be improved.I think that the drones are a great scientific creation because they are a big help in examining waterbodies and they also preform accurate testing.
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