xprize rainforest
imaging the rainforest with drones
In 2024, I joined Team Welcome to the Jungle as part of the XPRIZE Rainforest Competition and The Morton Arboretum’s REU program! I traveled to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon to collect LiDAR and multispectral drone data of the Amazonian canopy. Using trees identified and geotagged on the ground, we developed a method to quantify canopy diversity using image segmentation techniques and drone imagery. This technique was used by our team in the finals of the XPRIZE Rainforest Competition in Manaus, Brazil.
Traveling to the Amazon Rainforest for research was a dream experience for an ecologist, and I spent nearly all of my free time birdwatching! I also wrote a blog post about the experience for my REU program’s website.
Later, we used the Tiputini dataset to develop a new metric of relative tree emergence to quantify how "prominent" certain trees are in the canopy. Emergent trees (like the one to the right) have critical ecological importance, as they are easy to access for fruit-eating birds and monkeys, and can attract lightning strikes from the many storms in the tropics. Past studies have quantified emergence by using a height threshold, which is not comparable between sites with different canopy heights. Our metric also showed some differences in spatial patterns between tall trees and relatively emergent trees. Preprint coming soon!
