Understanding how different populations and subspecies of sagebrush tolerate climate and drought stress can help researchers and managers select plants for restoration that will be able to adapt to climate change. Leaf temperature is a good indicator of a plant’s response to thermal stress, but more accurate methods for measuring leaf temperature are needed for landscape-scale application. Researchers attached a thermal-sensing camera to a drone and measured leaf temperature variation in an experimental plot containing genetically distinct populations of sagebrush. They found that subspecies and the structural characteristics of the plants had an impact on temperature. These results show that advances in drone and remote-sensing camera technology make it possible to identify subtle differences in leaf temperature. Sagebrush populations that can maintain cooler temperatures under climate change could show the most promise for restoring and conserving the sagebrush ecosystems of the western U.S.   

Olsoy, P.J., Zaiats, A., Delparte, D.M., Germino, M.J., Richardson, B.A., Roop, S., Roser, A.V., Forbey, J.S., Cattau, M.E., Buerki, S., Reinhardt, K., and Caughlin, T.T., 2023, High-resolution thermal imagery reveals how interactions between crown structure and genetics shape plant temperature and physiological response: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.359