Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #304327

Title: Remote sensing of rangeland biodiversity

Author
item Hunt Jr, Earle
item WANG, C. - University Of South Carolina
item COX, S.E. - Bureau Of Land Management
item Booth, D
item KUMAR, L. - University Of New South Wales
item REEVES, M. - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2015
Publication Date: 11/4/2015
Citation: Hunt Jr, E.R., Wang, C., Cox, S., Booth, D.T., Kumar, L., Reeves, M. 2015. Remote sensing of rangeland biodiversity. Book Chapter. Vol. II, p. 277-307.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Rangelands are managed based on state and transition models for an ecological site. Transitions to alternative ecological states are indicative of degrading rangelands. Three key variables may be remotely sensed to detect transitions between alternative states: amount of bare soil, presence of invasive weeds, and plant species diversity. We compare three broad categories of remote sensing with optical sensors: high spectral resolution (hyperspectral), high temporal resolution (MODIS), and high spatial resolution (aerial photographs). While all three categories are capable of remote sensing transitions among states, we find that high spatial resolution is generally the best. However, to make use of these data, new techniques of image processing based on advances in computer vision are necessary.