Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Inventorying management status and plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands using high spatial resolution imagery

Hall, Karin LU ; Jönsson, Lotten LU ; Sykes, Martin LU ; Reitalu, Triin LU ; Larsson, Karin LU and Prentice, Honor C LU orcid (2010) In Applied Vegetation Science 13(2). p.221-233
Abstract
Question Can we reliably estimate grazing intensity, indicators of grazing intensity (i.e. field-layer height and shrub-cover), and vascular plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands from high spatial resolution satellite data? Location The Baltic Island of Oland (Sweden). Methods Fieldwork included the on-site description of grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover within 107 semi-natural grassland sites. Field-layer height and vascular plant species richness (total within-site and mean small-scale species richness) were recorded within the sites. Digital classification of QuickBird data was performed to identify grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover. Vegetation indices were generated to analyze the performance of satellite... (More)
Question Can we reliably estimate grazing intensity, indicators of grazing intensity (i.e. field-layer height and shrub-cover), and vascular plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands from high spatial resolution satellite data? Location The Baltic Island of Oland (Sweden). Methods Fieldwork included the on-site description of grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover within 107 semi-natural grassland sites. Field-layer height and vascular plant species richness (total within-site and mean small-scale species richness) were recorded within the sites. Digital classification of QuickBird data was performed to identify grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover. Vegetation indices were generated to analyze the performance of satellite data for estimating field-layer height, and the spectral heterogeneity was used to characterize the within-site environmental heterogeneity. Results The proportion of digitally classified grazed area explained 45% of the variation in field-layer height and 43% of the variation in shrub-cover. Field-layer height was significantly related to vegetation indices. A linear model with three explanatory variables (spectral richness(red), spectral richness(NIR), and shrub-cover) explained 47% of the variation in total within-site species richness. Conclusions High spatial resolution imagery may assist in the monitoring of the processes that follow the cessation of grazing, on the scale of individual grassland sites. Measures of spectral heterogeneity acquired by high spatial resolution imagery can be used in the assessment of total within-site vascular plant species richness in semi-natural grassland vegetation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Field-layer height, Grazing, Scrub-encroachment
in
Applied Vegetation Science
volume
13
issue
2
pages
221 - 233
publisher
Opulus Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000274819200008
  • scopus:77949438220
ISSN
1402-2001
DOI
10.1111/j.1654-109X.2009.01063.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
62eaa239-98cc-4109-85f1-4bdc0c1b58be (old id 1568408)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:53:23
date last changed
2022-03-19 07:19:37
@article{62eaa239-98cc-4109-85f1-4bdc0c1b58be,
  abstract     = {{Question Can we reliably estimate grazing intensity, indicators of grazing intensity (i.e. field-layer height and shrub-cover), and vascular plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands from high spatial resolution satellite data? Location The Baltic Island of Oland (Sweden). Methods Fieldwork included the on-site description of grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover within 107 semi-natural grassland sites. Field-layer height and vascular plant species richness (total within-site and mean small-scale species richness) were recorded within the sites. Digital classification of QuickBird data was performed to identify grazed and ungrazed areas and shrub-cover. Vegetation indices were generated to analyze the performance of satellite data for estimating field-layer height, and the spectral heterogeneity was used to characterize the within-site environmental heterogeneity. Results The proportion of digitally classified grazed area explained 45% of the variation in field-layer height and 43% of the variation in shrub-cover. Field-layer height was significantly related to vegetation indices. A linear model with three explanatory variables (spectral richness(red), spectral richness(NIR), and shrub-cover) explained 47% of the variation in total within-site species richness. Conclusions High spatial resolution imagery may assist in the monitoring of the processes that follow the cessation of grazing, on the scale of individual grassland sites. Measures of spectral heterogeneity acquired by high spatial resolution imagery can be used in the assessment of total within-site vascular plant species richness in semi-natural grassland vegetation.}},
  author       = {{Hall, Karin and Jönsson, Lotten and Sykes, Martin and Reitalu, Triin and Larsson, Karin and Prentice, Honor C}},
  issn         = {{1402-2001}},
  keywords     = {{Field-layer height; Grazing; Scrub-encroachment}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{221--233}},
  publisher    = {{Opulus Press}},
  series       = {{Applied Vegetation Science}},
  title        = {{Inventorying management status and plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands using high spatial resolution imagery}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-109X.2009.01063.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1654-109X.2009.01063.x}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}