o:4278 Health surveillance of Picea omorika (Panč.) Purkyne in the National Park Tara using small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV) en Picea omorika (Serbian spruce), an extremely important species in terms of biodiversity conservation, is a Balkan endemic and Tertiary relict that is nowadays naturally distributed onlyalong the middle course of the Drina River (an area of approx. 10,000 km² in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and western Serbia). Natural sites of Serbian spruce are characterized by predominately unfavorable and impoverished conditions, where this species rarely builds pure stands and often occurs in association with tree species such as beech, silver fir, Norway spruce, Scots pine, and Austrian pine. As a result of climate change, increased activity of the most economically significant fungus Armillaria ostoyae (Romagnesi) Herink has been recently observed throughout western Serbia. For instance, dying of individual trees of Serbian spruce has been recorded in the National Park Tara. Keeping this in mind, the present study aimed to identify dead trees and those threatened by pests and diseases in the park area where this species occurred. Out of 21 natural sites (approx. 10,000 trees in total), the study was performed in hard-to-reach areas of Bilješka Stena. Due to the extremely difficult terrain, small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) were selected for terrain mapping and data gathering. The aerial system consisted of DJI 4 Pro aircraft equipped with RGB camera, MicaSense RedEDge M 5-band multispectral sensor, and remote controller. The sampled area was 8 ha. Approximately 50 trees were directly identified as dead, while the application of vegetation indices (NDRE and NDVI) showed that a larger number of trees has lower index values in the area. The results of the study proved that the multispectral sensor and sUAV are useful tools for the early detection of tree stress, prediction of the dying process and planning the phytosanitary measures in the health monitoring of Serbian spruce stands in hard-to-reach areas. " early detection of tree stress, multispectral sensor, Serbian spruce, small unmanned aerial systems, western Serbia" 1552100 978-954-332-183-4 1552102 https://conf2020.forestry-ideas.info/files/Forestry_Bridge_to_the_Future_2021_1.pdf 2024-04-09T11:08:42.265Z 44 yes 46 Marija Milosavljević 0000-0002-0208-5402 46 Filip Jovanović 0000-0002-4143-2497 46 Mara Tabaković-Tošić 0000-0003-4436-3236 46 Nenad Šurjanac 0000-0002-1141-4001 application/pdf 3407106 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:4278 no yes 1 70 92000004 "Book of Abstracts. FORESTRY Bridge to the Future International Conference, 5–8 May, 2021, Sofia, Bulgaria" 43 University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria 2021