Explainable few-shot learning workflow for detecting invasive and exotic tree species

TL;DR

This paper introduces an explainable few-shot learning workflow using UAV imagery and Siamese networks to detect invasive tree species in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, providing accurate, interpretable results with minimal data.

Contribution

It presents a novel workflow combining explainable AI with few-shot learning for invasive species detection using UAV images, enhancing interpretability and performance in data-scarce scenarios.

Findings

Achieved an F1-score of 0.86 in 3-shot learning.

Outperformed shallow CNN models in accuracy.

Provided visual explanations with metrics like correctness and contrastivity.

Abstract

Deep Learning methods are notorious for relying on extensive labeled datasets to train and assess their performance. This can cause difficulties in practical situations where models should be trained for new applications for which very little data is available. While few-shot learning algorithms can address the first problem, they still lack sufficient explanations for the results. This research presents a workflow that tackles both challenges by proposing an explainable few-shot learning workflow for detecting invasive and exotic tree species in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images. By integrating a Siamese network with explainable AI (XAI), the workflow enables the classification of tree species with minimal labeled data while providing visual, case-based explanations for the predictions. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed workflow in identifying new tree species, even in data-scarce conditions. With a lightweight backbone, e.g., MobileNet, it achieves a F1-score of 0.86 in 3-shot learning, outperforming a shallow CNN. A set of explanation metrics, i.e., correctness, continuity, and contrastivity, accompanied by visual cases, provide further insights about the prediction results. This approach opens new avenues for using AI and UAVs in forest management and biodiversity conservation, particularly concerning rare or under-studied species.