Many endangered plants worldwide are specialists on unusual soils that support limited plant cover and species diversity. An example is the dwarf bear-poppy (Arctomecon humilis), which grows only on barren gypsum soils close to a rapidly expanding urban area, St. George, Utah. A clear understanding of its distribution and habitat requirements is key to managing for its survival in the face of urban development. Gypsum soils are so fragile that even foot traffic is damaging, so that dwarf bear-poppy populations have never been adequately censused. With the ‘magic carpet’ of drone technology, we can carry out a census in two days that would take two botanists a month to complete on the ground, with virtually no impact to fragile soils and biological crusts.
To learn more about this, see the Science Spotlight: Using drone imagery to census a rare desert plant
(Click on an image to see it in full view.)

Dwarf Bear Poppy at the White Dome Preserve (photo credit: Alyson DeNittis)

Kody Rominger flying the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drone, an economically-priced quadcopter with a 12-megapixel camera, that was used to acquire imagery for the dwarf bear-poppy census.

Dwarf bear-poppy habitat on the Shinob Kibe geologic formation, showing the white gypsum bluffs that correspond to bands in the Tonaquint Block census map that were shown to support high poppy densities.

This is the census map based on analysis of 50-m drone imagery from Tonaquint Block in the Red Bluffs dwarf bear-poppy population. Note that the censused plants occur in distinct bands across the landscape.

Dwarf bear-poppy in flower at the Beehive Dome population. All known dwarf bear-poppy occurrences lie within 20 km of a rapidly expanding metropolitan area, St. George UT, at the northeastern edge of the Mojave Desert.

This photo of dwarf-bear poppy in winter is a close-up from an image that was obtained at 5-m altitude. It shows the distinctive color and shape that make it possible to identify this species in drone imagery.