Field validation of spatially predictive reindeer carrion distribution models, RiS ID 11512

Carrion is a patchy resource in ecological systems, and assessing the distribution and biomass quantity in a system is a fundamentally unanswered question. Our project has gathered spectral data in previous field campaigns in an attempt to detect reindeer carcasses in open, treeless systems by their spectral properties. For this project we will visit and collect high precision location measurements of carcass sites of varied ages, using a high precision instrument such as a GNSS Trimble R1. Locations from reindeer carrion from 2024 will be used as an independent test dataset for spatial distribution models we have been working on predicting carrion distribution in the landscape. We will also conduct drone surveys at 30m altitude over 50x50m area around reindeer carcasses, to characterise spectra at a higher spatial scale, to scale up carcass detection algorithms we have been working on.