Plant Functional Ecology Lab

We’re releasing SelvaBox, the largest tropical tree detection dataset from drone imagery. Our models trained on SelvaBox achieve competitive zero-shot detection performance on unseen tropical tree crown datasets, matching or exceeding competing methods. arxiv.org/abs/2507.00170

So happy to announce that our team @LimelightRF won the #XPRIZERainforest competition! We delivered a canopy tree mapping solution using drones and AI that can transform tropical forest biodiversity monitoring. Thanks @IVADO_Qc for the support.

Last week at the @ESA_org @CSEE_SCEEmtgs meeting I talked about how robots can transform plant ecology. Thanks to @NewPhyt for the invitation. Here is the talk: youtu.be/wiCPFW4GYfA

First keynote talk at a big conference tomorrow. There are very many chairs. Excited but also a bit scared. I’ll be talking about robots 🤖 in plant 🌱 ecology. esa.org/montreal2022/plenari…

New paper shows a shift from phenol to silica‐based leaf defences during long‐term soil and ecosystem development. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…

Is the Si cycle governed by geochemical or biotic processes? @felixdetombeur shows that this depends on soil age. Plants accumulate Si on old soils and release it via litterfall in soluble forms. The Jurien Bay sequence amazes us once again. bit.ly/2QSdkXZ

Boucherville Safari: vegetation plots in prevision of UAV flights next week @CABO_science