主要内容：

　　  Up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities. Assessing and predicting ecosystem responses to global environmental change and its impacts on human well-being are high priority targets for the scientific community. Remote-sensing systems typically produce imagery that are far too coarse to detect most organisms. Consequently, it is generally believed that the remote sensing of biodiversity would appear to be an impossible mission. However, advances in the spatial and spectral resolutions of sensors now available to ecologists are making the direct remote sensing of certain aspects of biodiversity increasingly feasible. Here I will introduce some of my own experiences using remote sensing data, provide a brief discussion of some notable successes by other ecologists and remote sensing scientists, and indicate some of the new directions to the use of remote sensing for biodiversity monitoring and conservation.