If we saw light in the infrared range of the light spectrum, we would see trees as red. But not all trees are the same. In this image, captured on the island of Cardoso off the coast of São Paulo, the mangroves appear grayer while the more vivid colors show the restinga (a type of tropical forest that forms on sandbanks). This is partly a reflection of leaf density. A group led by oceanographer Luis Americo Conti uses high-resolution images captured by a drone, in which each pixel represents about 2 centimeters, to analyze vegetation structure at different locations along the Brazilian coastline. The objective is to monitor the characteristics and degradation of the ecosystems.
Image submitted by Luis Americo Conti, from the School of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities at the University of São Paulo
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