The Quantitative Estimation of Grazing Intensity on the Zoige Plateau Based on the Space-Air-Ground Integrated Monitoring Technology

Abstract

Grazing intensity (GI) is an important indicator for grazing situations in pastoral areas. However, it has been difficult to be observed directly in the field, due to the randomness and dynamics of the grazing behavior of livestock. Consequently, the lack of actual GI information has become a common issue in studies on quantitatively estimating GI. In this paper, a novel quantitative estimation method is proposed based on the Space-Air-Ground integrated monitoring technology. It systematically integrates GPS tracking technology, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) observation technology, and satellite remote sensing technology. Taking Xiangdong Village on the Zoige Plateau as a study area, the trajectory data and UAV images were acquired by the GPS tracking experiments and UAV observation experiments, respectively. The GI at paddock scale (PGI) was then generated with the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) algorithm and the above data. Taking the generated PGI as training data, an estimation model of GI at region scale (RGI) was constructed by using the time-series satellite remote sensing images and random forest regression algorithm. Finally, the time-series RGI data with a spatial resolution of 10 m in Xiangdong Village were produced by the above model. The accuracy assessment demonstrated that the generated time-series RGI data could reflect the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of actual GI, with a mean absolute error of 0.9301 and r2 of 0. 8573. The proposed method provides a new idea for generating the actual GI on the ground and the time-series RGI data. This study also highlights the feasibility and potential of using the Space-Air-Ground integrated monitoring technology to generate time-series RGI data with high spatial resolution. The generated time-series RGI data would provide data support for the formulation of policies and plans related to the sustainable development of animal husbandry.