Recent advances in the remote sensing of insects

Abstract

Remote sensing has revolutionised many aspects of ecological research, enabling spatiotemporal data to be collected in an efficient and highly automated manner. The last two decades have seen phenomenal growth in capabilities for high‐resolution remote sensing that increasingly offers opportunities to study small, but ecologically important organisms, such as insects. Here we review current applications for using remote sensing within entomological research, highlighting the emerging opportunities that now arise through advances in spatial, temporal and spectral resolution. Remote sensing can be used to map environmental variables, such as habitat, microclimate and light pollution, capturing data on topography, vegetation structure and composition, and luminosity at spatial scales appropriate to insects. Such data can also be used to detect insects indirectly from the influences that they have on the environment, such as feeding damage or nest structures, whilst opportunities for directly detecting insects are also increasingly available. Entomological radar and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), for example, are transforming our understanding of aerial insect abundance and movement ecology, whilst ultra‐high spatial resolution drone imagery presents tantalising new opportunities for direct observation. Remote sensing is rapidly developing into a powerful toolkit for entomologists, that we envisage will soon become an integral part of insect science.

Constructing ecological indices for urban environments using species distribution models

“…Such remotely sensed environmental data may be captured using cubesats (Kimm et al 2020;Grøtte et al 2021), small and low-cost satellites, as well as airborne drones (Räsänen et al 2020;Dierssen et al 2021). Of particular use to monitoring highly dynamic and heterogeneous urban environments, such data can be collected at resolutions under 3 m in scale (Salgado-Hernanz et al 2021) and daily in time (Rhodes et al 2022).…”

Emerging technologies revolutionise insect ecology and monitoring

“…In entomology, radar monitoring uses radio waves (including those from weather surveillance systems) to detect insects in the airspace (Figure 1C). It has long been known that radar can detect large swarms of insects, but modern radar can provide detailed information on flying insects, including size, shape, speed, trajectory, and (for larger species) wing beat frequency [46]. Specialised entomological radars can detect insects far above the ground, from 150 m above ground level, with the potential to detect larger insects (i.e., >15 mg) up to 1.2 km above ground level [47].…”

“…Hence, radar observations are especially useful to study biomass fluxes [48], migratory behaviour [47], and movement of some species [49] (Box 1). Radar can also be used to reveal insect presence indirectly by detecting signs of vegetation damage [50] or nest structures [46]. Data from weather surveillance radars have already been combined with local monitoring programmes to document population declines in mayflies [51] and the movement of locust swarms [52].…”

Herbivores in Arctic ecosystems: Effects of climate change and implications for carbon and nutrient cycling

“…For example, technological advances in remote sensing and unmanned aerial vehicles are increasingly being used in the Arctic to track animal movements to gain a better understanding of migration patterns, habitat use, and impacts 28,40,48,117,200 . New approaches are also being used to quantify insect abundances, interactions, and ecosystem impacts on finer spatial and temporal scales 201,202 . Further incorporation of the presence and movement of consumers across trophic levels with plant and soil measures made at various scales could elucidate some of the outstanding questions related to spatial and temporal variation in their impacts.…”