Categories
Management Research Technology Wildlife

A Game of Drones: Using Drones in Conservation

When someone turns a fun hobby into a game changing tool for good, it’s inspirational!

That’s exactly what Lian Pin Koh has achieved in bringing affordable drone technology to aid conservation scientists.

A tropical ecologist by training, Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh received his PhD from Princeton University, where he studied the environmental and policy implications of oil-palm development in Southeast Asia.

He then spent several years researching key scientific and policy issues concerning tropical deforestation and its impacts on carbon emissions and biodiversity while based in Zurich.

Lian Pin currently leads the Applied Ecology & Conservation group at The University of Adelaide in South Australia, where they ultimately seek to do good for society.

In this episode, we speak with Lian Pin and learn about his exciting work using drones in conservation.

Podcast

Videos

Lian Pin Koh – A drone’s eye view of conservation
Using drones in conservation

Images

Publications

Lian Pin Koh - Using drones in conservation
Assoc. Prof. Lian Pin Koh

Koh, L. P., & Wich, S. A. (2012). Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation. Tropical Conservation Science, 5(2), 121-132. [PDF]

Koh, L. P. (2013, June). Brave new world of drone technology for biodiversity research and conservation. In New Frontiers in Tropical Biology: The Next 50 Years (A Joint Meeting of ATBC and OTS). Atbc. [PDF]

Paneque-Gálvez, J., McCall, M. K., Napoletano, B. M., Wich, S. A., & Koh, L. P. (2014). Small drones for community-based forest monitoring: an assessment of their feasibility and potential in tropical areas. Forests, 5(6), 1481-1507.

See more:

Lian Pin Koh on Google Scholar

Lian Pin Koh on Research Gate

Links

ConservationDrones.org official website

Conservation Drones on Flickr (images)

Conservation Drones on Facebook


All images used with Permission: Lian Pin Koh

Categories
Behaviour Research

The importance of bees: more than honey

Ever wondered why you should care about bees?

Here’s a fact: bees are responsible for the successful production of around a third of the food you eat.

As one of our oldest domesticated animals, bees and people share an amazing history.

But the future is uncertain, with devastating global declines in both feral and managed populations.

Boris Baer and Barbara Baer-Imhoof, in conjunction with their colleagues at the Centre for Integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia, are researching many aspects of honey bees, in the field and in the lab.

In our first episode featuring an invertebrate species, we learn more about our relationship with bees, what would happen if they vanish and ways we can help them thrive.

Podcast

Video – More Than Honey Trailer

Bees! More than Honey trailer

Publications

Boris Baer & Barbara Baer-Imhoof – The importance of bees. Photo: Andrew Ritchie

Stuerup, M., Baer-Imhoof, B., Nash, D. R., Boomsma, J. J. & Baer, B. When every sperm counts: factors affecting male fertility in the honeybee Apis mellifera, . Behav. Ecol. 24(5): 1192-1198. View online at Behavioral Ecology.

Baer, B. (2009) CIBER: A new research initiative for the study of honeybees in Western Australia. The Australian Beekeeper. 111:16-17. 

Imhoof B., Schmid-Hempel, P. 1999. Colony success of the bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, in relation to infections by two protozoan parasites, Crithidia bombi and Nosema bombi. Insectes Sociaux 46: 233-238.

Links

Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER)

CIBER on Facebook


Header image: Flickr/StephenBegin