Plant species diversity is one of the critical factors for maintaining multi-function and stability of terrestrial ecosystem. We reviewed the traditional methods for measuring plant species diversity of grassland (PSDG), and then introduced the new ideas and methods used for PSDG monitoring. Traditionally, PSDG monitoring depended heavily on ground-based investigation, which usually required large amounts of time, labor, and cost, and therefore was only suitable for small scale investigation. Grassland plant species were typically small in size and highly mixed. It was difficult to identify and measure by remote sensing due to the limitation of resolution. Consequently, most studies on PSDG were based on remote-sensing retrieval or habitat simulation. Characterized with high spatial-temporal resolution, flexible and low cost, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology was regarded as the bridge between ground-based investigation and satellite remote sensing. It could be the breakthrough for monitoring PSDG accurately at large scales. In the future, we should establish PSDG monitoring network by combining the fixed monitoring sites and dynamic monitoring sites of UAV and satellite remote sensing, and integrating UAV and automatic target recognition organically.
植物物种多样性是维持陆地生态系统多功能性和稳定性的关键要素之一。本文梳理了传统草地植物物种多样性的测度方法,结合无人机技术介绍了目前应用于草地植物物种多样性测度的新理念和新方法。传统的草地植物物种多样性测度方法依赖地面观测,需要投入大量的人力、物力且耗时,仅适合小范围的观测;卫星遥感方法受制于分辨率,难以直接对群落结构复杂、植株矮小的草地植物进行物种识别和测度,更多的是通过反演和生境模拟进行推导。无人机技术因时空分辨率高、机动灵活、成本低廉而被视为搭建传统地面调查和遥感方法的桥梁,可能成为高精度、大尺度开展草地植物物种多样性监测的突破口。未来需要将传统方法与无人机、目标自动识别等新型技术相结合,以固定站点和无人机动态监测点为基础,结合遥感信息构建“空-天-地”一体化的观测网络。.
Keywords: grassland; observation network; spatial-temporal scale; species diversity.