Channel metamorphosis, floodplain disturbance, and vegetation development: Ain River, France

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain channel metamorphosis of the Ain River in east-central France and the effects of this metamorphosis on floodplain disturbance and vegetation development. The Ain River is a 195 km long stream originating in the Jura Mountains which flows into the Rhône River between Lyon, France, and Geneva, Switzerland. The lower 40 km of the Ain River, beyond the mountain front, are situated in a valley of outwash deposits where the floodplain is 0.2 to 1.2 km wide. A complex mosaic of floodplain landscape units has developed. Maps dating back to 1766 and six sets of aerial photographs dated between 1945 and 1991 were used to document changes in channel pattern. Aerial photos and field surveys were used to compile maps of landscape units based on dominant vegetation life-forms, species, and substrate. Six maps dated between 1945 and 1991 were digitized in ARC/INFO and an overlay was generated to determine the changes in landscape units as related to channel disturbance. Change from a braided to a single-thread meandering channel probably took place in the period 1930–1950. The process of river entrenchment has occurred throughout the Holocene but has accelerated in the present century due to shortening of the river course, construction of lateral embankments, and vegetation encroachment following reservoir construction and cessation of wood-cutting and grazing. The increase in horizontal channel stability coupled with channel entrenchment have decreased floodplain disturbance and lowered the water table by approximately one meter. Pioneer and disturbance-dependent landscape units have experienced a more terrestrial-like succession to an alluvial forest. Abandoned channels have also been replaced by alluvial forests. On poorly drained soils, shrub-swamp communities of willow and hydrophytic herbaceous plants have been replaced by mixed forests of ash, alder, black poplar, and oak. On well drained alluvial soils, ash and oak dominated hardwood forests have declined in favor of mesophytic stands of black poplar. All types of vegetation, but particularly dry grasslands-shrublands, have been cleared for mines, campgrounds, agriculture, and other types of development. Using several measures, landscape diversity decreased between 1945 and 1991.     

Monitoring the grazing resources of the Badia region, Jordan, using remote sensing

In this paper we discuss how low spatial resolution (1 km) ERS ATSR-2 and NOAA AVHRR satellite data were used to map and monitor changes in the grazing vegetation of the Badia region of Jordan. This area is typical of many arid zone grazing areas, comprising sparse vegetation and highly reflective soils. These two factors were found to severely limit the usefulness of satellite-derived vegetation indices that are frequently used to map and monitor vegetation in more temperate areas. Furthermore, the relationship between vegetation indices and percentage vegetation cover was found to be site-specific, thus reducing their application for large-scale vegetation monitoring. As an alternative, a hybrid geometric optical/empirically based model was developed for the area. This was based on the illumination geometry and reflectance values from the red and near-infrared scattergram of the satellite images. The output of the model was a series of maps indicating percentage vegetation cover for different dates and these were used to construct maps showing areas of vegetation change. Strong correlations (r²=0.837) were found between estimates of percentage vegetation cover derived from the model, and measurements made at a series of 16 field sites in the area. The use of geometric optical models based on satellite imagery improves the ability to map areas of grazing vegetation in arid areas such as the Badia and provides a good alternative to the use of vegetation indices.     

Accuracy assessment of the Mexican National Forest Inventory map: A study in four ecogeographical areas

The accuracy of the Mexican National Forest Inventory (NFI) map is derived in four distinct ecogeographical areas, using an assessment design tailored for the project. A main achievement of the design was to integrate the high diversity of classes encompassed at the most detailed subcommunity level of the classification scheme within a cost‐controlled statistically sound assessment. A hybrid double sampling strategy was applied to the 2.5 million‐ha study area. A total of 5955 reference sites were verified against their NFI map label. The availability of detailed quasi‐synchronous reference data for the 2000 Landsat‐derived NFI and the high diversity of mapped classes allowed a careful thematic analysis on the selected regions, relevant for national extrapolation. Global accuracy estimates of 64–78 per cent were registered among the four ecogeographical areas (two with mainly temperate climate and the other two with mainly tropical climate), with the lower accuracy levels found in areas more densely covered with forests. According to the estimates, the NFI map tends to underestimate the presence of temperate forest (especially oak) and overestimate the presence of tropical forest in the areas investigated. The analysis of confusions reveals difficulties in unambiguously interpreting or labelling forests with secondary vegetation, herbaceous and/or shrub‐like vegetation as well as distinguishing between aquatic vegetation types. The design proved useful from the perspective of accuracy assessments of regional maps in biodiverse regions.     

Mapping the physiography of Michigan with GIS

Abstract

We present a new physiographic map of Michigan, that is also available interactively, online. Only four, small-scale physiographic maps of Michigan had been previously published. Our mapping project made use of a wide variety of spatial data, in a GIS environment, to visualize and delineate the physical landscape in more detail than has been done previously. We also examined many of the unit boundaries in the field, using a GIS running on a GPS-enabled laptop. Unlike previous physiographic maps, the online version of the map enables users to query the criteria used to define each of the 224 boundaries of its 10 major and 91 minor physiographic units. The interactive nature of the online version of the map is a unique enhancement to physiographic maps and mapping. Our study also provides data on the number and types of criteria used to define each of the 224 unit boundaries within the map. Most of our unit boundaries are based on data derived from 10-m raster elevation data and NRCS soils data, e.g., relief, soil wetness, escarpments, landscape fabric, and parent material characteristics. Data gleaned from NRCS SSURGO county-scale soil maps were a strength of the project. [Key words: Michigan, physiography, landforms, soils, GIS, mapping]     

Colour infrared aerial photography as a tool for vegetation mapping and change detection in environmental studies of Nordic ecosystems: A review

The aim of the paper is to sum up knowledge of colour infrared (CIR) aerial photography as a tool for vegetation data for mapping and monitoring in environmental and biodiversity surveys and change detection surveillance. It compiles thirty years of research of the main ecosystems in Swedish vegetation, where the overall goal was to develop methods for mapping and monitoring vegetation by use of CIR aerial photographs, assess the accuracy compared to field-based mapping and to implement them as a tool in nature conservation and environmental planning. The methods include development of a classification system, identification and analysis of indicators, development of interpretation techniques, and evaluation compared to the data collected in the field. The CIR observable criteria are colour, texture, pattern, size, form, and density, based on spectral reflectance, physiognomy, life forms, ecological conditions, moisture and nutrition, vegetation period and phenology, topography, site conditions, and management methods. The methods have been used to produce vegetation maps of mountains, boreal forests, and mires in northern and central Sweden, in national inventories of wetlands, ancient meadows and pastures, key biotopes in forests and for monitoring agricultural landscapes.     

Soil fertility evolution and landscape dynamics in a Mediterranean area: a case study in the Sant Llorenç Natural Park (Barcelona, NE Spain)

The cartography of land covers was used to study fertility and soil evolution in a mountainous Mediterranean area during the anthropocene period ( Crutzen P J 2002 Geology of mankind Nature 415 23). The aim was to determine changes in fertility as agricultural lands were abandoned in the 14 000 hectare area that constitutes Sant Llorenç del Munt Natural Park in a pre-coastal Catalan mountain range (north-eastern Iberian Peninsula). The analysis of land covers using vegetation maps, orthorectified images and aerial photography has allowed us to differentiate six vegetation groups: holm-oak wood, pine grove, oak wood, scrub, active agricultural fields and abandoned agricultural fields. The anthropic covers over the past 100 years were subdivided into five categories: active fields and those abandoned over four time periods. Study variables include field shape (concave, convex, flat), orientation (north, south) and slope (ranging from 12º to 24º). The parameters used for the physical-chemical soil analysis included organic material, phosphorous and potassium; fertility was classified based on groups, types and classes. The results indicate that even when the visual appearance of certain landscapes is similar, the edaphic characteristics may be very different. Changes induced by human disturbance share this phenomenon. Therefore, land management should be considered globally, taking into account vegetation, soils and water as interdependent factors, since it is their interaction that produces landscape and most affects its evolution over time.     

Changing Ideas About The Use Of Vegetation As An Indicator Of Soil Quality: Example Of New York And Michigan

Abstract

In Colonial America soil was commonly evaluated by the vegetation it produced: heavy timber and lush undergrowth indicated fertile soil—a thin covering of trees, barrenness. Settlers in the “Genesee Country” of New York developed new understandings about the relationship between soil quality and vegetation. Here was encountered a thinly-timbered landscape which they called “oak openings.” Although at first suspicious of the fertility of this thinly-timbered land, it was found to produce fine wheat crops. Thus, a new concept of landscape appraisal entered the culture of these people — thinly-timbered land may be fertile. By the time the agricultural frontier reached Inner Michigan, the old concepts about soil fertility and vegetation had been largely overturned. There, it was the open land (oak openings and prairie) that attracted the immigrants, not the heavy timber. The typical settlement sequence in Inner Michigan was to take up the prairies first, the oak openings next, and the heavy timber last.     

Characterizing the potential distribution of the invasive Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) in Worcester County,Massachusetts

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) (Anoplophora glabripennis) is an invasive insect pest that has established populations in Worcester County, Massachusetts as of 2008. ALB predominantly targets red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), which are prominent in New England hardwood forests, and Norway maple (Acer platanoides), which was planted in built environments as street trees in response to severe weather and invasive insect and pathogen disturbances. Mahalanobis Typicality models related presence locations of ALB presence-only locations in Worcester County towns from 2008 to 2012 to biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic variables to predict the potential distribution of ALB and to determine locations most characteristic of infestation. k-fold cross-validation and a continuous Boyce Index were employed to validate model performance and to identify threshold values at which continuous models of typicality could be reclassified into categorical maps. Distance-to-roads (r² = 0.19) and probability of maple presence (r² = 0.13) were the most important predictor variables in the ALB model. Locations that were most consistently susceptible to ALB infestation had significant high maple presence (p < 0.001) and significant low distance-to-roads (p < 0.001) compared to the whole study area, suggesting that ALB in Worcester County, MA, prefers maple-dominant edge habitats at the current stage of invasion. The localized ALB potential distribution model was consistently accurate (Boyce Continuous Index = 0.84) despite the lack of absence locations and incomplete knowledge of ALB niche breadth in both native and invaded ranges. The results from this study could be used as a baseline for effective adaptive management policies that could help prioritize the need for early detection/eradication measures and address the potential ecological and social ramifications of the current ALB outbreak in Worcester County. It is hoped that the model employed could be further tested for future outbreaks as they are discovered in the USA.     

云南省元谋干热河谷的第四纪植被演化

元谋干热河谷植被呈多顶极分布格局．稀树灌草丛是一具次生性的河谷气候顶极群落，但在发生上也有一定的古老性．扭黄茅＋车桑子群落是在现代自然－人为因素强烈影响下形成的一个亚顶极群落．     

GIS goes nano: Vegetation studies in Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract: Vegetation in Antarctica consists mainly of algae, moss and lichen and is interesting to research because of the isolation and extreme growing conditions. An understanding of this vegetation is important for both the management of tourism in Antarctica, and because it provides a potential barometer of global climate and environmental change. This paper demonstrates two applications of GIS to mapping vegetation in Victoria Land, Antarctica. The first application computes the changes that have occurred to the vegetation within a 120 m by 28 m plot between 1962 and 2004. The second application maps and analyses the growth of a lichen specimen (Buellia frigida) during the same period. These applications demonstrate that GIS is a multiscale technology that can be used to detect detailed change in vegetation growth.     

南北过渡带1∶5万植被类型图遥感制图案例研究

编制南北过渡带地区1∶25万和典型山地1∶5万植被类型图是南北过渡带综合科学考察的主要任务之一。以往植被类型图的编制都是采用大量的地面调查来完成的,地面调查方法虽然精确,但费时费力,并且由于自然条件的限制,地面调查往往只能覆盖较小的范围。遥感数据因为其全覆盖的优势,可以很好地弥补样方调查的局限性,但目前大范围的植被类型遥感信息提取尤其是自动提取方面仍然存在一定的困难和瓶颈。本文以1∶5万太白山植被类型图的编制为例,利用多源多时相的高分辨率遥感数据,结合地面调查数据、以往的各种比例尺的植被类型图数据和森林资源调查数据等,探讨并研究基于山地垂直带谱的中大比例尺植被类型图的遥感提取方法和制图方法。研究结果表明：① 山地植被垂直带谱可以有效地支持1∶5万山区植被类型图的遥感制图。利用太白山植被垂直带谱和1∶1万数字表面模型数据（DSM）可以生成具有垂直带谱信息的地形约束因子;将地形约束因子与多源多时相高分辨率遥感数据、地面调查数据、以往的小比例尺植被类型图数据等相结合,可以有效提取各级植被类型,从而实现中大比例尺植被类型图的编制。② 典型山地1∶5万植被类型图的遥感制图基本流程为植被型组解译→植被群系组、群系、亚群系解译→植被型、植被亚型分类,采取自上而下和自下而上相结合的分类方法来分类。本文的研究成果可以为中大比例尺植被类型图的编制提供示范和科学依据。     

山东南部景观生态特征研究

以地貌和基质为基本线索,以植被为标志,建立了山东南部的景观生态分类系统。该系统为二级分类系统,包括７个景观型、１７个景观亚型。以景观亚型或景观亚型的组合为基本制图单位,以１：１００万土壤图为基础底图,参考多种比例尺的卫星照片、植被图、土地利用图、地貌图等,编制了山东南部１：１００万景观生态类型图;在景观生态类型图上量算了各景观亚型的面积,并且分析了山东南部主要景观型的生态问题,据此提出了相应的生态对策。     

INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE ANALYSES OF CHANGE OF MIOMBO WOODLAND IN TANZANIA AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN LIVELIHOOD

Landscapes bear witness to past and present natural and societal processes influencing the environment and human livelihoods. By analysing landscape change at different spatial scales over time the effects on the environment and human livelihoods of various external and internal driving forces of change can be studied. This paper presents such an analysis of miombo woodland surrounding the Mkata plains in central Tanzania. The rich natural landscape diversity of the study area in combination with its historical and political development makes it an ideal observation ground for this kind of study. The paper focuses on long‐term physical and biological changes, mainly based on satellite information but also on field studies and a review of documents and literature. The miombo woodlands are highly dynamic semi‐arid ecosystems found on a number of nutrient‐poor soil groups. Most of the woodlands are related to an old, low‐relief geomorphology of erosion surfaces with relatively deep and leached soils, or to a lesser extent also on escarpments and steep Inselberg slopes with poor soils. Each period in the past has cast its footprints on the landscape development and its potential for a sustainable future use. On a regional level there has been a continual decrease in forest area over time. Expansion of agriculture around planned villages, implemented during the 1970s, in some cases equals the loss of forest area (Mikumi‐Ulaya), whilst in other areas (Kitulangalo), the pre‐independence loss of woodland was small; the agricultural area was almost the same during the period 1975–1999, despite the fact that forests have been lost at an almost constant rate over the same period. Illegal logging and charcoal production are likely causes because of the proximity to the main highway running through the area. Contrasting to the general regional pattern are the conditions in a traditional village (Ihombwe), with low immigration of people and a maintained knowledge of the resource potential of the forest with regards to edible plants and animals. In this area the local community has control of the forest resources in a Forest Reserve, within which the woody vegetation has increased in spite of an expansion of agriculture on other types of village land. The mapping procedure has shown that factors such as access to transport and lack of local control have caused greater deforestation of certain areas than during the colonial period. Planned villages have furthermore continued to expand over forest areas well after their implementation, rapidly increasing the landscape fragmentation. One possible way to maintain landscape and biodiversity values is by the sustainable use of traditional resources, based on local knowledge of their management as illustrated by the little change observed in the traditionally used area.     

Variations in fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and comparisons with MODIS data in burned black spruce forests of interior Alaska

Absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) by vegetation was observed in two burned black spruce forests, one and seven years after wildfire, in interior Alaska along with several vegetation properties. This study considered PAR absorption by mosses by examining the relationship between PAR transmittance and fractional coverage of green vegetation. Our results suggest that mosses absorbed a considerable fraction of incoming PAR in the burned forests, which cannot be neglected in evaluating the fraction of absorbed PAR (FPAR). The relationships between FPAR and vegetation indices revealed that enhanced vegetation index (EVI) may be suitable for expressing the spatial and temporal variation of FPAR, regardless of stand age after wildfire. The comparison between the observed in situ FPAR and FPAR derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS FPAR) clearly showed that MODIS FPAR was highly overestimated. The most likely reason for the overestimation was identified as misclassification of land cover type. The current regional estimation of photosynthesis in boreal region based on the light-use efficiency approach and MODIS FPAR is probably overestimated, and an accurate distribution of FPAR is desired for clarifying the regional carbon exchange in boreal forests.     

Land Cover Classification Using High‐Resolution Aerial Photography in Adventdalen,Svalbard

A methodology was tested for high‐resolution mapping of vegetation and detailed geoecological patterns in the Arctic Tundra, based on aerial imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle (visible wavelength – RGB, 6 cm pixel resolution) and from an aircraft (visible and near infrared, 20 cm pixel resolution). The scenes were fused at 10 and 20 cm to evaluate their applicability for vegetation mapping in an alluvial fan in Adventdalen, Svalbard. Ground‐truthing was used to create training and accuracy evaluation sets. Supervised classification tests were conducted with different band sets, including the original and derived ones, such as NDVI and principal component analysis bands. The fusion of all original bands at 10 cm resolution provided the best accuracies. The best classifier was systematically the maximum neighbourhood algorithm, with overall accuracies up to 84%. Mapped vegetation patterns reflect geoecological conditioning factors. The main limitation in the classification was differentiating between the classes graminea, moss and Salix, and moss, graminea and Salix, which showed spectral signature mixing. Silty‐clay surfaces are probably overestimated in the south part of the study area due to microscale shadowing effects. The results distinguished vegetation zones according to a general gradient of ecological limiting factors and show that VIS+NIR high‐resolution imagery are excellent tools for identifying the main vegetation groups within the lowland fan study site of Adventdalen, but do not allow for detailed discrimination between species.     

Small-scale maps of geochemical barriers

We examined the various aspects of the study into radial geochemical barriers in soils, their classification, and some mapping problems as well as the experience in compiling small-scale maps of geochemical barriers. We describe the technique for compiling maps of geochemical barriers (topsoils — biogeochemical and subsoil — physicochemical barriers) for the territory of Russia, based on M. A. Glazovskaya’s new typological grouping of barriers. The maps thus compiled are the result of applying the new typization and target-oriented interpretation of soil profiles (sets of genetic horizons) for the purposes of mapping large territories.     

Use of an expert system to map forest soils from a geographical information system

Abstract

Mapping forest soils using conventional methods is time consuming and expensive. An expert system is described and applied to the mapping of five forest soil-landscape units formed on a single granitoid parent material. Three thematic maps were considered important in influencing the distribution of soils. The first showed the distribution of nine classes of native eucalypt forests, and the second and third were derived from a digital elevation model and represented slope gradient and a soil wetness index combined with topographical position. These layers were input to a raster based geographical information system (GIS) and then geometrically co-registered to a regular 30 m grid. From a knowledge of soil distributions, the relationships between the soil-landscape units and the three data layers were quantified by an experienced soil scientist and used as rules in a rule based expert system. The thematic layers accessed from the GIS provided data for the expert system to infer the forest soil-landscape unit most likely to occur at any given pixel. The soil-landscape map output by the expert system compared favourably with a conventional soil-landscape map generated using interpretation of aerial photographs.     

Mapping soil salinity using a combined spectral response index for bare soil and vegetation: A case study in the former lake Texcoco, Mexico

Mapping soil salinity is difficult due to its large spatial and temporal variability. Remote sensing is widely used to lower survey costs, but existing studies usually analyze bare soils and make little reference to the halophytic plants and their role as salinity indicators.This paper aims to correlate soil characteristics (electric conductivity in saturation extract (EC_e) and sodium absorption ratio (SAR) with the spectral response of plant species and bare soils, integrating an algorithm to allow multi-scale mapping using remote sensors.Ground radiance was measured on different plant species and bare soils. A Combined Spectral Response Index (COSRI) was calculated for bare soils and vegetation by adjusting the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). EC_e and SAR were determined in surface soil samples. Correlation coefficients between COSRI and soil salinity were obtained and a model was adjusted to predict soil salinity. Landsat-ETM and airborne digital images were used to calculate raster maps of COSRI, and EC_e and SAR were estimated using adjusted models. Correlation between COSRI and EC_e and SAR was of −0.885 and −0.857, respectively. Variance accounted for by exponential models for EC_e and SAR was of 82.6% and 75.1%, respectively. It may be concluded that the method is an easy, low-cost procedure to map salt-affected areas.     

Slope aspect, slope length and slope inclination controls of shallow soils vegetated by sclerophyllous heath—links to long-term landscape evolution

On upland Triassic sandstone slopes of the western Blue Mountains, nonswamp, sclerophyllous heath (shrub-dominated vegetation) on shallow soils is commonly found downslope and adjacent to sclerophyllous forest on deeper soils. Some consider heath—and thus shallow soils—as favouring west-facing slopes, which are expected to experience drier microclimates due to insolation, strong and desiccating winds, and severe summer fires. However, our analysis of extensive areas with heath on shallow soils, based on vegetation and topographic maps, and fieldwork of uplands with various degrees of dissection, suggests that aspect is a poor predictor of shallow soils. Rather, shallow soils and heath are found on short slopes and the lower segments of longer slopes with the latter significantly steeper than forested segments.The shallow–deep soil boundary, marked by contrasting modern vegetation structures, does not signify a catchment area threshold, and correspondingly, the vegetation patterns are not in balance with distributary catchment processes, as short slopes are mantled exclusively by shallow soils. Instead, the soil depth boundary represents the propagation of base-level lowering signals, which takes place not only by the headward retreat of knickpoints but also via increased lowering of slope segments adjacent to drainage lines. This leads to steep slopes immediately adjacent to canyons, narrow gorges, and small steep valleys, that are mantled by shallow, discontinuous soils undergoing rapid erosion. These steep slopes persist in the landscape for ≥ 10 My after upland stream rejuvenation until incision of more weatherable Permian sediments, underlying the Triassic cliff-forming sandstones, triggers rapid lateral expansion of gorges. Once shallowly mantled and steeper slopes adjacent to streams are consumed by gorge widening, slopes adjacent to wide gorge clifflines reflect former upland drainage patterns rather than the redirected flow to rapidly widening gorges. Hence, modern vegetation patterns reflect a significant phase of landform development, perhaps combined with enhanced erosion during the Last Glacial Period that is compounded by a humped soil production function on bedrock.     

遥感技术在荒漠化滥测中的应用──以陕西榆林市芹河乡为例

阐述了利用航片及精处理过的TM影像编制1:10万陕西省榆林市芹河乡土地荒漠化分布图的方法及过程。1960年及1987年分布图的定量分析比较表明,该乡荒漠化现象在东部经过治理得到了抑制,而原先多为植被覆盖的西部则出现了耕地、牧地退化成沙地。27年间全乡林地增加了13.13 km²,沙地、耕地及牧地分别减少了7.18 km²、1.03 km²和5.98 km²,结果表明建造防护林是治沙的有效途径。