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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2018, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (10): 180-188.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20181021

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Relationship between the Distribution of Rhombomys opimus Holes and the Topography in Desert Forests Based on Low-Altitude Remote Sensing with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV): A Case Study at the Southern Margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, China

Ma Tao1,2, Zheng Jianghua1,2, Wen Amin1,2, Chen Meng3, Mu Chen4   

  1. 1. College of Resources and Environmental Science, Xinjiang University Urumqi 830046;
    2. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology of Ministry of Education, Xinjiang University Urumqi 830046;
    3. Forest Pest Control and Quarantine Bureau of Xinjiang Urumqi 830000;
    4. Xinjiang Grassland Central Station in Xinjiang Urumqi 830049
  • Received:2017-06-20 Revised:2018-07-05 Online:2018-10-25 Published:2018-11-03

Abstract: [Objective] Grassland rat damage is an important factor affecting grassland ecological balance. Grassland rat monitoring is an important part of rat damage control. UAV, as a type of low-altitude remote sensing, can meet the requirements of high spatial resolution and flexible operation of grassland rat damage monitoring. In the demonstration work of Xinjiang rat damage monitoring and controlling, we used UAV aerial imagery to explore the relationship between the distribution of rat damage and the topography in order to obtain the spatial distribution characteristics of rat holes in the study area and provided support for scientific controlling of the rat damage.[Method] The UAV aerial photography was taken on the desert forest Rhombomys opimus in a typical area to obtain images of 0.024 m ultra-high spatial resolution and DEM images with 1m spatial resolution in the southern margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang in October 2015. We used artificial visual interpretation method to obtain the distribution of R. opimus holes. Based on the UAV aerial DEM image, the terrain features such as slope aspect, slope gradient, elevation and RDLS were extracted. Then, superimposition was applied to analyze the spatial distribution of the R.opimus hole in different terrain features in the area.[Result] The sand dunes are mostly north-south trend in the southern margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang. Statistical analysis showed that the R.opimus holes in the area were mainly distributed in the east and north slopes of the sand dunes (50.7%), the shady slopes (61.2%), the flat slopes and the gentle slopes (89.7%), the elevation of 432.5-435 m and the altitude:2.5-5 m (53.8%) and a relief of 0.1-0.25 m (34.7%).[Conclusion] The spatial distribution of the R.opimus holes is closely related to the topography in the study area. In the control of the rat pest in the grass-roots level,the efficency of the rat pest control can be improved by considering topographical factors. This paper provided new ideas and method for the management of the rat damage and diseases in Xinjiang.

Key words: UAV, low altitude remote sensing, forest biological disaster, visual interpretation, topographic factors

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