After working with Francesco for many years, Leyre Pedrós has just started her thesis. However, she is already facing long journeys of fieldwork around Spain and even abroad. During these trips she has been able to collect data on biodiversity and functional trait of the most abundant species in each habitat. Innovatively, she has also been taking aerial images of the study areas with a drone and a spectral camera. The analysis of these image data and comparison with biodiversity and functional trait data using artificial intelligence will allow her to predict biodiversity parameters and functional traits values in other areas. This will facilitate the study of ecosystem stability without the need for intensive fieldwork.
She has already been sampling in České (Czech Republic), Pamplona (Navarra, Spain), and La Cerdanya (Catalonia, Spain). Moreover, she spent a week in Bolzano (Italy) with her co-supervisor Michele Torresani, learning new methodologies.