Rookery Bay and Partners Team Up Then Take to the Sky to Monitor Seagrass

A bird’s-eye view is helping monitor seagrass habitats in Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve through a collaboration involving Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, Florida Gulf Coast University and DEP’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Coordinator.  

Rookery Bay Research Reserve drone pilots Jill Schmid and Greg Curry recently joined the project partners to capture aerial images of two Seagrass Protection Areas in Estero Bay. The images will help document propeller scarring that occurs when boat propellers damage shallow seagrass beds as well as monitor seagrass recovery over time. The team used two types of drone cameras: traditional red, green and blue (RGB) cameras to capture standard color photographs and multispectral cameras using additional wavelengths of light to reveal details about vegetation not visible to the human eye. They also compared two mapping software programs, Pix4D and Drone2Map, that turn drone photographs into detailed aerial maps.  

This collaborative shows how DEP programs and partners come together to share expertise, technology and resources to advance monitoring and protect important coastal habitats.  

To learn more, check out the Estero Bay Seagrass Protection Areas StoryMap⁠.