Objective  With the vigorous development of big data, artificial intelligence and other information technologies, information services in various fields have been transformed from data services to knowledge services. This paper captures the problems of complicated, multi-source heterogeneous and difficult access to forestry knowledge, and through the research on construction method and application scenario of knowledge graph of afforestation tree species based on ontology, in order to provide a more effective way to organize and express knowledge in the field of afforestation.

  Method  This article takes the knowledge related to afforestation tree species as the research object, takes the actual needs of afforestation work as the research hotspot, and constructs an afforestation tree species ontology covering seven types of concepts such as afforestation tree species, diseases and pests, experts, organizations, provinces, application products and afforestation technology, 12 attributes such as tree species alias, Latin name and forest species type, and seven relationships such as distribution, application and research by discussing and exchanging with experts in afforestation field using the seven-step method. A knowledge graph of afforestation tree species was constructed based on the entities, attributes, and relationships defined in the ontology model of afforestation tree species. Relevant knowledge applications based on the knowledge graph of afforestation tree species were designed and implemented.

  Result  The research applied the knowledge graph technology to the actual scenario of afforestation tree species and completed the construction of knowledge graph, realized the knowledge Q&A and knowledge visualization based on afforestation tree species knowledge graph, and provided knowledge services for researchers and workers in afforestation field. In addition, the study proposed a map service model combining knowledge Q&A of afforestation tree species, GIS map and tree species pictures, and built a GIS map service platform of afforestation tree species to realize the problem of suitability of afforestation tree species in spatial location by “GIS map + tree species pictures + text description”.

  Conclusion  The ontology model of afforestation tree species constructed in this thesis provides the possibility of subsequent knowledge reuse and sharing. The realized knowledge graph of afforestation tree species, knowledge Q&A of afforestation tree species and GIS map service platform effectively solve the problems of multi-source, heterogeneity, low data value and difficult access of forestry knowledge, and realize the transformation of domain information resources from data service to knowledge services. The knowledge scale of the knowledge graph of afforestation tree species needs to be further expanded and more application scenarios based on the knowledge graph need to be explored in subsequent studies, with the view to providing high-quality knowledge services for forestry development and research.