Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Based Vegetation Restoration Monitoring in Coal Waste Dumps after Reclamation

Bibliographic Details
Title: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Based Vegetation Restoration Monitoring in Coal Waste Dumps after Reclamation
Authors: He Ren, Yanling Zhao, Wu Xiao, Lifan Zhang
Source: Remote Sensing, Vol 16, Iss 5, p 881 (2024)
Publisher Information: MDPI AG, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Science
Subject Terms: coal waste dump, vegetation restoration, management strategy, unmanned aerial vehicle, alfalfa aboveground biomass, Science
More Details: Frequent spontaneous combustion activities restrict ecological restoration of coal waste dumps after reclamation. Effective monitoring of vegetation restoration is important for ensuring land reclamation success and preserving the ecological environment in mining areas. Development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has enabled fine-scale vegetation monitoring. In this study, we focused on Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa), a representative herbaceous vegetation type, in a coal waste dump after reclamation in Shanxi province, China. The alfalfa aboveground biomass (AGB) was used as an indicator for assessing vegetation restoration. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of UAV-based fusion of RGB, multispectral, and thermal infrared information for estimating alfalfa AGB using various regression models, including random forest regression (RFR), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector regression (SVR), and stacking models. The main results are as follows: (i) UAV multi-source data fusion improved alfalfa AGB estimation accuracy, although the enhancement diminished with the increasing number of sensor types. (ii) The stacking model consistently outperformed RFR, GBDT, KNN, and SVR regression models across all feature fusion combinations. It achieved high accuracy with R2 of 0.86–0.88, RMSE of 80.06–86.87 g/m2, and MAE of 60.24–62.69 g/m2. Notably, the stacking model based on only RGB imagery features mitigated the accuracy loss from limited types of features, potentially reducing equipment costs. This study demonstrated the potential of UAV in improving vegetation restoration management of coal waste dumps after reclamation.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2072-4292
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/5/881; https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292
DOI: 10.3390/rs16050881
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/d1505ab8408d4ac3bba5e428a1313333
Accession Number: edsdoj.1505ab8408d4ac3bba5e428a1313333
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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More Details
ISSN:20724292
DOI:10.3390/rs16050881
Published in:Remote Sensing
Language:English