Recent technological advances make satellites increasingly suited to grassland monitoring, even across the relatively small and fragmented natural and semi-natural grasslands in Europe. Additionally, instruments can be mounted on aircraft to provide multispectral (typically up to a dozen discrete spectral bands) or hyperspectral (100s or of under a meter. Furthermore, developments in Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology now allows similar data to be captured at spatial resolutions down to millimetres.
The tools and monitoring techniques across multiple spatial and spectral scales have developed rapidly in recent years, requiring timely reviews of the current state of research. This will ensure that land managers and researchers are kept appraised of the tools and techniques available to preserve current (semi-)natural grasslands, protect biodiversity and ensure the continuation of important ecosystem services. To this end, we aim to provide an overview of the recent progress in the remote sensing of grassland plant biodiversity, and six functional traits – three commonly measured (Leaf Area Index (LAI), Nitrogen (N) and Crude Protein (CP)) and three seldom measured (Leaf Dry Matter (LDM), Potassium (K) and Phosphorous (P)).