航空航天遥感在物种多样性研究与保护中的应用

人类活动导致全球范围内生物多样性丧失日趋严重。物种多样性是研究最为深入以及最贴近生物多样性管理的层次。物种多样性的研究往往受到多时空尺度生态过程的影响, 传统物种多样性调查方法受到人力物力影响, 局限性大, 物种多样性的研究与管理亟需整合不同来源的数据。遥感技术从传统的光学遥感阶段发展到不同平台、不同维度相结合的多源遥感阶段, 并逐渐进入以高空间分辨率和高光谱为特征、以激光雷达为前沿发展方向的综合遥感阶段。遥感技术因为其监测范围广、能监测人迹罕至地区以及长期可重复等特性, 为研究不同时空尺度的生态学科学问题提供了更新更优的研究手段。本文围绕种群动态、种间关系与群落多样性、功能属性及功能多样性以及生物多样性保护管理等生物多样性研究热点问题, 系统地论述了航空航天遥感技术在物种多样性研究与保护领域的应用, 总结了航空航天遥感技术在研究与物种多样性有关的主要生态学问题中的机遇与挑战。我们认为航空航天遥感技术利用多光谱甚至高光谱与激光技术从空中监测物种多样性, 从不同视角、基于不同光源提供了物种多样性不同侧面的信息, 能够减小地面调查强度, 在大范围和边远地区的物种多样性调查研究中有着至关重要的作用。依据光谱特性的物种判别以及依据激光雷达的三维结构量测将促进生物多样性的研究与管理, 加强遥感学家和生物多样性研究者的沟通交流将有助于促进不同时空尺度的生物多样性与遥感技术的结合。

Applications of satellite and air-borne remote sensing in biodiversity research and conservation

Human activities has increasingly threatened the biodiversity of the world. Biodiversity science is a discipline that depends on scale, and research questions are often affected by the ecological process of multi-temporal scales. The traditional survey methods of biodiversity are often limited by human and material resources. It is therefore urgent to integrate different data sources in the biodiversity sciences. The remote sensing technique has developed from optical remote sensing to the multi-source remote sensing including different platforms combined with various sensors, and further to integrate the hyperspectral and hyper spatial resolution and light detection and ranging (LiDAR). The large coverage, the accessibility to remote areas, and the long-term repeatability of the remote sensing technique provide new and better solutions for studying ecological and scientific issues at different temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, we review the opportunity and challenges in the application of remote sensing in biodiversity sciences and conservation practices. Specifically, we focus on the applications of remote sensing in the issues related to the population dynamics, species interaction and community diversity, functional traits and functional diversity and biodiversity management. We suggest that the satellite and airborne remotes that employed multi-band or hyperspectral, high spatial resolution and LiDAR provide biodiversity information from different scopes, and will play essential roles in the investigation of biodiversity in large-scale and remote areas. In the near future, species discrimination technique based on spectral characteristics and structure detection based on LiDAR will improve our understanding of the biodiversity sciences and management. We suggest to strengthen the communication between remote-sensing scientists and biodiversity researchers to promote the application of remote sensing technologies in biodiversity research and at different temporal and spatial scales.