Biodiverse Environmental was engaged by Seymour Whyte Constructions to undertake a thermal drone survey to detect the presence of koalas within bushland at Pimpama, Queensland, prior to vegetation clearing works commencing. The thermal drone survey was undertaken before sunrise to maximise temperature differences between the thermal signatures of fauna (i.e. koalas) and the surrounding canopy.
Drones are a rapidly emerging tool to support the detection of species (such as koalas) that can be difficult to detect when completing surveys on foot. When paired with thermal sensors, drones can detect the differences in brightness between a koala’s thermal signature and the surrounding environment.
During thermal drone surveys, koala thermal signatures may be confused with other habitat features, such as arboreal termitaries, occupied hollows and/or other arboreal species, such as flying-foxes, possums and birds. To counter this issue, any detected heat signatures were verified by a visual ground-truth survey by a suitably qualified Biodiverse team member.
During this thermal drone survey, no koalas were identified within the area.
