9 Stunning Drone Shots of Plant Conservation
Photography by Ben Nyberg
NTBG’s drone program has changed paradigms in tropical plant conservation. Using drone technology, NTBG has been able to locate previously unknown populations of endangered plants, rediscover species once thought extinct, and even retrieve material for propagation. These photos by GIS and drone program coordinator Ben Nyberg highlight some of the incredible projects undertaken these last few years. For more about our drone program, click here.
The dramatic cliffs of Moloka‘i are home to endemic loulu palms and the stunning, almost entirely white kokiʻo keʻokeʻo (Hibiscus arnottianus ssp. immaculatus).
Silver ribbons of water fall from Mt. Wai‘ale‘ale to feed the headwaters of Kaua‘i’s Wailua River. Wai‘ale‘ale’s cliffs are one of the wettest places on earth and home to several endemic species.
NTBG works closely with Hawai‘i’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the Plant Extinction Prevention Program to conserve Hawai‘i’s rare plants. Botanists Adam Williams (DOFAW) and Scott Heintzman (PEPP) can be seen here rappelling into Kaua‘i’s Waimea Canyon to collect seeds from Lysimachia scopulensis, an endangered member of the primrose family endemic to Kaua‘i. Using drones helped the botanists more efficiently collect seeds.
Wet cliff habitat below the summit of Kawaikini, Kaua‘i’s highest peak, includes Gunnera kauaiensis (large, roundish leaves) interspersed with Sadleria ferns.
Native Hawaiian lobelia and ʻōhiʻa (Metrosideros sp.) populate cliff habitat along Kahili ridge on the windward side of Kaua‘i.
After NTBG conducted a drone survey on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo in the Madeira archipelago, the known population of the Endangered Cheirolophus massonianus increased by five times.
A 2023 NTBG drone survey revealed two new subpopulations of the Critically Endangered Geranium maderense on the cliffs of Madeira, a small northeast Atlantic island off the west coast of Morocco.
NTBG drone operator Ben Nyberg flying a quadcopter to conduct a survey on the cliffs of Madeira island. Photo by Miguel Menezes de Sequeira.
A view of Palau’s Peleliu island where NTBG made over 160 botanical collections of flowering plants, sea grasses, bryophytes, lichens, and ferns during a 2022 NTBG-led botanical survey for the Flora of Micronesia project.
