Fantastic Palm Fruits and where to find them: Integrating UAV imagery to map ecologically and economically important palms in the tropics

Palms support millions worldwide through vital ecological, cultural, and economic benefits, yet Amazonian species face growing threats from overexploitation, habitat loss, and climate change. Keeping the forest standing requires giving economic value to it, but we first need to know where the palms are and how many exist. Gathering this data is hard because ground surveys in flooded forests are difficult and standard satellite photos lack detail.
To bridge this gap, field data was combined with drone and satellite imagery, artificial intelligence (AI), and local knowledge. AI in drone images automatically mapped key species (Mauritia flexuosa, Euterpe precatoria, and Oenocarpus bataua). This reduced M. flexuosa inventory costs by 99% (from $411 to $5/ha) and secured a Peruvian region's first community harvesting permits. Combining drone findings with satellite AI produced the first continent-wide density map for M. flexuosa. Finally, a user-friendly tool allowed forestry agencies to inspect over 6,250 palms daily instead of 115, contributing to tropical forest conservation and bioeconomy.