Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have recently emerged as a new remote sensing aerial platform, and they are seemingly advancing real-time data generation. Nonetheless, considerable uncertainties remain in the extent to which wildlife managers can integrate UAVs into ecological monitoring systems for wildlife and their habitats. In this review, we discuss the recent progress and gaps in UAV use in wildlife conservation and management. The review notes that there is scanty information on UAV use in ecological monitoring of medium-to-large mammals found in groups in heterogeneous habitats. We also explore the need and extent to which the technology can be integrated into ecological monitoring systems for mammals in heterogeneous habitats and in topographically-challenging community wildlife-management areas, as a complementary platform to the traditional techniques. Based on its ability to provide high-resolution images in real-time, further experiments on its wider use in the ecological monitoring of wildlife on a spatiotemporal scale are important. The experimentation outputs will make the UAV a very reliable remote sensing platform that addresses the challenges facing conventional techniques.

Habitat condition is a vital ecological attribute in wildlife conservation and management in protected areas, including the Burunge wildlife management areas in Tanzania. Traditional techniques, including satellite remote sensing and ground-based techniques used to assess habitat condition, have limitations in terms of costs and low resolution of satellite platforms. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green NDVI (GNDVI) have potential for assessing habitat condition, e.g., forage quantity and quality, vegetation cover and degradation, soil erosion and salinization, fire, and pollution of vegetation cover. We, therefore, examined how the recently emerged Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform and the traditional Sentinel-2 differs in indications of habitat condition using NDVI and GNDVI. We assigned 13 survey plots to random locations in the major land cover types: three survey plots in grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands, and two in riverine and mosaics cover types. We used a UAV-mounted, multi-spectral sensor and obtained Sentinel-2 imagery between February and March 2020. We categorized NDVI and GNDVI values into habitat condition classes (very good, good, poor, and very poor). We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and linear regression model in R-software. The results revealed higher sensitivity and ability of UAV to provide the necessary preliminary diagnostic indications of habitat condition. The UAV-based NDVI and GNDVI maps showed more details of all classes of habitat conditions than the Sentinel-2 maps. The linear regressions results showed strong positive correlations between the two platforms (p < 0.001). The differences were attributed primarily to spatial resolution and minor atmospheric effects. We recommend further studies to test other vegetation indices.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is widely recognised as pivotal in soil function, exerting important controls on soil structure, moisture retention, nutrient cycling and biodiversity, which in turn underpins a range of provisioning, supporting and regulatory ecosystem services. SOC stocks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are threatened by changes in land practice and climatic factors, which destabilises the soil system and resilience to continued climate change. Here, we provide a review of the role of SOC in overall soil health and the challenges and opportunities associated with maintaining and building SOC stocks in SSA. As an exemplar national case, we focus on Tanzania where we provide context under research for the “Jali Ardhi” (Care for the Land) Project. The review details (i) the role of SOC in soil systems; (ii) sustainable land management (SLM) techniques for maintaining and building SOC; (iii) barriers (environmental, economic and social) to SLM implementation; and (iv) opportunities for overcoming barriers to SLM adoption. We provide evidence for the importance of site-specific characterisation of the biophysicochemical and socio-economic context for effective climate adaptation. In particular, we highlight the importance of SOC pools for soil function and the need for practitioners to consider the type of biomass returns to the soil to achieve healthy, balanced systems. In line with the need for local-scale site characterisation we discuss the use of established survey protocols alongside opportunities to complement these with recent technologies, such as rapid in situ scanning tools and aerial surveys. We discuss how these tools can be used to improve soil health assessments and develop critical understanding of landscape connectivity and the management of shared resources under co-design strategies.