Digital Cameras: Tool for the Environment

 

Time-lapse digital camera,  photo - D.L. Cade (2013)

Digital camera technology has given professional photographers the ability to both capture the beauty of nature and chronicle it's threats in a way that is more compelling than ever. The same technology has put cameras in the hands of everyone with a phone and made a scientific discovery possibly with minimal costs and seemingly infinite applications, compared to the film technology of just 20 years ago.

Digital Cameras Create Public Awareness

Digital camera technology is being used by environmentalists of all kinds. James Balog recently used photography to document glacier movement. He utilized time-lapse cameras over multiple years to show the glaciers diminishing from climate change ("Chasing Ice,"  2012).

watch time lapse digital photos documenting glacier movement

Digital Cameras Further Scientific Knowledge

Time-lapse photography is being used to research and track the canopy of forests and how climate change is affecting the landscape.  Sonnentag, Hufkens, Teshera-Sterne, Young, Friedl, Braswell, Milliman, O'Keefe and Richardson (2011) studied digital camera technology and it's ability to help in the field of phenology or the study of plant and animal life cycles and how they are influenced by climate.  Richardson (2007) in a study in US northeast forests used cameras to track canopy greenness from year to year, and study patterns which indicated the effects of climate change  (Fig.1).

James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
- See more at: http://www.chasingice.com/about-the-film/synopsis/#sthash.K1BSA70n.dpuf

James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
- See more at: http://www.chasingice.com/about-the-film/synopsis/#sthash.K1BSA70n.dpuf"Chasing Ice" (2012) retrieved from http://www.chasingice.com/about-the-film/synopsis/ 

Fig. 1 - Shows canopy greening over one month time. Photo : Richardson, Andrew. Arbutus Lake Webcam. (2009)

Time-lapse digital photography is also being used to research vegetation food sources for animals. Bater, Coops, Wulder, Hilker, Nielson, McDermid and Stenhouse (2011) studied the grizzly bear habitat on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. Baker et al., (2011) wrote that integrating a network of ground cameras with satellite technology will create a better understanding between food availability for animal populations.  

A network of cameras, or specifically, a PhenoCam network,  detecting carbon uptake was used when studied by Migliavacca, Galvagno, Cremonese, Rossini, Meroni, Sonnentag and Richardson (2011) in the Italian Alps.  Digital images over time, also taken by a PhenoCam network, were also used in southeastern Arizona to study carbon uptake and its relationship to deep soil moisture (Benton and Kurc 2009).

Aerial photography was used in a Madagascar study by Consiglio, Schatz, Mcpherson, Lowry, Rabenantoandro, Rogers...& Rabehevitra (2006) where they attached digital cameras to the under-side of aircraft flying at 3000m.  2000 images taken at low levels were melded with satellite imagery to document deforestation (Consiglio et. al. 2006).

 

Digital Cameras Create New Scientists

In addition to aiding current scientists and photographers, digital cameras have gotten the laity involved in conservation and documentation. Cohn (2008) describes a network of citizen scientists participating in a survey of animals living along the Appalachian Trail.  Volunteers set up cameras, periodically check on them, replacing batteries and memory cards, aiding the scientists running the study.  Perhaps the very act of getting citizens involved, using a relatively understood and inexpensive technology of a digital camera, is the greatest outcome.  When volunteers aid scientists, they hopefully will be motivated to preserve nature in a new way.

Benefits of Digital Camera Technology

The pros of digital cameras as a tool for conservation are numerous.  Cameras are fairly inexpensive and many time-elapse models can be used by even non-technical enthusiasts.  They can be used to count animals, document climate change, predict food source, study plant types, etc. 
The scientific community is still learning more ways to use digital camera technology as a way to study and preserve the environment.     

Interesting Applications for Teachers

For my school, I would love to purchase a Timelapse Outdoor PlantCam.  I can see so many projects that we could use this with kids.  I know the students would love to see how things grow over time.  It could also be used to document the seasons changing, or a shadow moving with the sun.  Some issues in leaving it outside for time elapse documentation would be keeping the camera free from harm or curious hands.  

 

References

Bater, C. W., Coops, N. C., Wulder, M. A., Hilker, T., Nielsen, S. E., McDermid, G., & Stenhouse, G. B. (2011). Using digital time-lapse cameras to monitor species-specific understorey and overstorey phenology in support of wildlife habitat assessment. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 180(1-4), 1-13. 

Cade, D.L. (2013). photograph. "Shooting a seasonal time-lapse from exposure to exposure". retrieved from http://petapixel.com/2013/02/18/how-to-shoot-a-seasonal-time-lapse-from-enclosure-to-exposure/

"Chasing Ice" (2012) retrieved from http://www.chasingice.com/about-the-film/synopsis/

Cohn, J. P. (2008). Citizen science: Can volunteers do real research?. BioScience, 58(3), 192-197. 

Kurc, S. A., & Benton, L. M. (2010). Digital image-derived greenness links deep soil moisture to carbon uptake in a creosotebush-dominated shrubland. Journal of Arid Environments, 74(5), 585-594.

Migliavacca, M., Galvagno, M., Cremonese, E., Rossini, M., Meroni, M., Sonnentag, O., ... & Richardson, A. D. (2011). Using digital repeat photography and eddy covariance data to model grassland phenology and photosynthetic CO< sub> 2 uptake. Agricultural and forest meteorology, 151(10), 1325-1337.

"Phenocam: an ecosystem Phenology web camera network" (n.d) retrieved from http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/webcam/

Richardson, A. (2007) "Monitoring seasonal leaf color change using digital webcams across the northern forest, webcams monitor changing climate effects on leaf phenology and forest productivity" retrieved from http://nsrcforest.org/sites/default/files/uploads/richardson07.pdf

Richard, Andrew. Arbutus lake webcam. (2009) photograph. "Webcams monitor climate effects on leaf phenology and forest productivity". http://nsrcforest.org/sites/default/files/uplads/richardson09.pdf

Richardson, A.D., B.H. Braswell, D.Y. Hollinger, J.P. Jenkins, and S.V. Ollinger. 2009. Near-surface remote sensing of spatial and temporal variation in canopy phenology. Ecological Applications 19:1417-1428.

Sonnentag, O., Hufkens, K., Teshera-Sterne, C., Young, A. M., Friedl, M., Braswell, B. H., ... & Richardson, A. D. (2012). Digital repeat photography for phenological research in forest ecosystems. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 152, 159-177.