Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Monitor the Nutritional and Phytosanitary Status of Forest Crops

Abstract

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor forest plantations allows obtaining precise information on different tree attributes. This paper presents a critical review of the potential use of UAVs for monitoring the nutritional and phytosanitary status of forest plantations. A bibliographic search was carried out on the Google Scholar, Scopus, and Science Direct platforms, using keywords such as stress, nutrition, and forestry. Studies were found mainly on the genus Pinus and the Asian continent which use fixed and rotary wing drones to monitor pests and diseases. Experiences in monitoring nutritional deficiencies are few. The future use of UAVs for stress monitoring in forest crops seems to be aimed at automating data collection and combining these with artificial intelligence algorithms.