Measuring Mangroves | Explorers in the Field

(Gentle music) - I remember the first time that I snorkeled. We jumped in the water and we saw many colorful fish. And it was unbelievable. So since then, I wanted to repeat that experience again. It wasn't until I turned 24 when I had the opportunity to travel all around the Baja California Peninsula. And that was the moment that I realized that I wanted to be an explorer.

My name is Octavio Aburto. I am a conservation biologist and a National Geographic Explorer. (Gentle music) I am studying mangroves. Mangroves are trees that live where the ocean meets the coast. And they are special because they grow in saltwater. Here in Mexico, I think we have the most beautiful mangroves in all the planet. They are not only beautiful; they provide a lot of economic benefits for coastal communities. The mangrove roots come into the water, and they form a refuge for many, many baby fish. Then they can live inside these roots like a nursery. It's like a playground for them.

(Upbeat music) I just saw a big school of snappers and a lot of parrotfish. These juveniles only live here inside the mangroves, and eventually, when they grow up, they will supply the fish markets here in La Paz city. (Water gurgling) Mangroves protect coastal areas against hurricanes and erosion. They also filter water for many coastal towns, and provide essential habitat for many species.

(Gentle music) Unfortunately, in the last 50 years, we have lost half of the mangroves worldwide. And this is because of agriculture, shrimp farming, coastal development, and pollution. The first step to help mangroves is to know how much mangrove we have in order to tackle this problem.

My research involves two techniques. One is counting everything that we have inside the mangrove roots, and the other branch of our research is to estimate the cover of the mangroves. To estimate the mangrove cover, we are using drones.

(Upbeat music) (Drone beeping) With drone technology, we are surveying areas faster, and it's giving us a new perspective. (Drone whirring) We fly at different heights, at 100 meters and 10 meters, and we take a lot of images. Later, we use all of these images to create a composite image that is called orthomosaic. So you can use, or we can use, these images not only to estimate the area but also the volume of the forest.

Using all this data, now we know where all these mangrove areas are, how many animals live there, and we can set conservation priorities to protect this beautiful life. The involvement of local communities is essential to stop mangrove deforestation. If they understand that these roots protect their towns, create habitat for the fish that they sell in the fish markets, we will have not only more mangroves in the future; we will have more economic benefits for them and for the rest of the country.

Mangroves represent a very, very tiny area on this planet, (Gentle music) but they provide a huge amount of services for humans. So we need to protect them for the future generations. (Water gurgling)