无人机遥感技术在景观生态学中的应用

野外数据的获取是生态学研究的挑战之一,而通过遥感技术能够实现对地球表面的多面立体观测,获取丰富多样的空间信息数据,开展从微观到宏观不同尺度上的景观单元(包括物种、种群、群落、生态系统等)的空间关系研究。传统卫星遥感影像受空间和时间分辨率的限制,难以满足局域尺度或者时间序列上的景观空间生态学研究需求。无人机遥感技术为生态学研究的野外数据获取提供了一种新方法,以其灵活、高效、简便等特点弥补了传统卫星遥感的空间分辨率低、重访周期长、云雾影响等方面的不足,在景观空间生态学研究中受到越来越多的关注。简要介绍无人机类型及其搭载常见的传感器类型,分别从不同尺度的景观单元,即物种、种群、群落以及生态系统水平上探讨其应用进展,并指出当前无人机技术在景观生态学研究中存在的挑战与困难,同时展望了未来可能的研究热点,以期对今后无人机遥感技术在景观生态学领域的应用研究有所启发。

Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles remote sensing technology in landscape ecology

Acquiring accurate, spatially explicit data is crucial for ecologists, particularly for long-term landscape and spatial ecological research. Remote sensing techniques have been widely used for collecting data on spatial and temporal ecological phenomena over the last decades. However, owing to the limitations of spatial and temporal resolution of satellite image data, they are sometimes hard to incorporate into regional or local temporal ecological studies. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing technology provides a new method for ecological field data acquisition. With its flexibility, efficiency, and convenience, UAV remote sensing technology overcomes the limitations of traditional satellite-based remote sensing in terms of resolution, revisit period, and cloud cover, which has been increasingly focused in studies on landscape ecology. The present study introduced UAV classification and sensor types, in addition to its applications in species, population, community, and ecosystem research. In addition, it pointed out the challenges involved in these applications. We look forward to the promising research area of UAV-based landscape ecology.