Biodiv Sci ›› 2021, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (9): 1181-1185.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2021299

• Data Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

An unmanned aerial vehicle visible light remote sensing image dataset of four forest dynamic plots in subtropical China

Zhaochen Zhang1, Jianbo Hu2, Qingsong Yang1, Juyu Lian3, Buhang Li4, Xihua Wang1, Wanhui Ye3, Jian Zhang1,*()   

  1. 1 Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241
    2 Tianjin Research Institute of Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport, Tianjin 300456
    3 Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650
    4 State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275
  • Received:2021-07-27 Accepted:2021-09-05 Online:2021-09-20 Published:2021-09-08
  • Contact: Jian Zhang

Abstract:

The evergreen broad-leaved forest is a zonal vegetation type in the subtropical regions of China. However, due to complex vertical structure and relatively dense canopy of subtropical forests, we are lack of reliable data in current canopy studies of this forest. Here we present a large dataset of visible light remote sensing images of four large-scale (> 20 ha) forest dynamic plots in Tiantongshan and Baishanzu of Zhejiang, and Dinghushan and Chebaling of Guangdong. These data were collected by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with visible light camera in August of 2014 or September of 2016. By combining the UAV data with ground survey data, we generated four data files for each plot: orthoimages and surface digital models with spatial resolution of ~5 cm, forest canopy height data with spatial resolution of 1 m, and data quality reports of the orthoimages. This dataset of evergreen broad-leaved forest provides significant supports for the studies in forest canopy ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Key words: UAV-based remote sensing, near-surface remote sensing, evergreen broad-leaved forest, forest dynamics plot, forest canopy ecology