Abstract: Quickly and regularly monitoring and assessing regional biodiversity is of great significance for biodiversity research and conservation. In recent years, remote sensing technology is extensively applied in biodiversity research, and can provide regional, continental, and global biodiversity information. This approach is low cost and high data consistency, and updated regularly. This paper introduced the principles and advantages of remote sensing in biodiversity research, and summarized the main application aspects of biodiversity remote sensing in practice, including landscape indices, NDVI, spectral variation hypothesis (SVH), and hyperspectral remote sensing, with the focus on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these application aspects and the recent research advances in SVH research and optimal band selection. The deficiencies in the remote sensing biodiversity research were pointed out, and the development trend in this research field, such as models, remote sensors, and scale effect, were prospected.

Key words: long-term fertilization, nitrogen application rate, maize root, dry mass, nutrient accumulation.