Experience of detailed mapping of floodplain meadow vegetation

The article discusses the experience of creating detailed maps of floodplain meadow vegetation using aerial photography from an unmanned aerial vehicle technology and geographic information systems, combined with ground geobotanical studies. The approaches to the development of methodology of detailed vegetation mapping, as well as the results of floodplain meadows vegetation mapping are considered. Aerial photography in the visible spectrum is carried out with the help of a radio-controlled quadrocopter Phantom 3 Standard equipped with a gyro-stabilized high-resolution color camera at the height of 150 meters at the speed of vehicle motion of 5 m/s in the interval photographing mode with a period of 5 seconds. To assemble a mosaic of photographs the software AgiSoft PhotoScan package was used. Visual interpretation of georeferenced orthophoto obtained with PhotoScan programs has been implemented in the ArcGIS 10.0 environment, taking into account the data of the field geobotanical survey. The boundaries of the plant communities are mapped on the basis of the analysis of interpretive signs – the color and texture of images. In the development of the legend to the map units of eco-phytocoenotic classification were ranged in a hierarchical manner – phytocenoses selected during geobotanical descriptions of plant communities were grouped by type of vegetation (forests, shrubs, meadows), and then within the meadow vegetation type taxa of a lower order were highlighted. Totally three types of vegetation have been highlighted in the study area – forest, scrub and grassland. Two classes of formations stand out within the meadow type – true meadows and marshy meadows. Among these grassland formations the following groups are identified: large cereals, small cereals, large grass and small grass. Within these groups the large cereals and large grass communities are well identified and mapped. Marshy meadows consist of associations of meadow meso-hydrophytes and hydro-mesophytes with admixture mesophytes and hydrophytes. Among them we have identified a group of large cereals marshy meadows formations, small sedge marshy meadows, and wetland mixed grass meadows. Created detailed geobotanical map of scale 1:5000 can and should serve as the initial basic document for further research, to identify the dynamics of grassland vegetation, which occurs under the influence of both natural and man-made factors. The described methods and methodological approaches can be used in the preparation of detailed geobotanical maps not only of meadows but also of other open spaces