Relationships between vegetation patterns and hydroperiod on the Roanoke River floodplain,North Carolina

This study quantified relationships between forest composition and flooding gradients on the Roanoke River floodplain, North Carolina. Because flooding is highly variable in time and space, the research was designed to determine the specific hydrological parameters that control woody species abundance on the landscape scale. I specifically tested the importance of spring vs. yearly flood duration, as well as flood duration during hydrologically wet vs. dry years. Field vegetation samples of woody species composition were integrated with spatial data from a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) classification and a flood simulation model derived in part from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Flood simulations were output and summarized for the periods 1912–1950 (before dams were constructed on the river) and 1965–1996 (after all of the dams were completed). Tenth percentile (dry), median, and 90th percentile (wet) hydroperiod (flood duration) regimes were generated for the spring and year, both pre- and post-dam. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to ordinate the plot data, and correlation/regression between ordination axis scores and the flood variables were used to explore the relationships between flooding and species composition. Nineteenth percentile hydroperiod (i.e., wet conditions) correlated most strongly with DCA axis 1 (r>0.9), indicating that inundation during extremely wet years strongly controls species composition on the floodplain. The results were used to quantitatively determine the niche width for both species and mapped vegetation classes in terms of number of days flooded annually and during the spring growth period. The results suggest that spring hydroperiod is an important mechanism that may drive competitive sorting along the flooding gradient, especially during the early years of succession (i.e., pre-dam, which represents the period during which most of the forests sampled were established), and that annual hydroperiod affects the relative dominance of species as the forests mature.     

基于多源遥感数据的面向对象林分类型识别

林分类型的识别是森林资源监测的核心问题之一.为研究多源遥感数据协同的面向对象林分类型分类识别,采用Radarsat-2数据和QuickBird遥感影像协同进行面向对象分类.在面向对象分类过程中,采用3种分割方案:单独使用QuickBird遥感影像分割;单独使用Radarsat-2数据分割;Radarsat-2&QuickBird协同分割.3种分割方案均采用10种分割尺度(25～250,步长25),应用修正的欧式距离3指标评价不同分割方案的分割结果,确定最优分割方案及最优分割尺度.在最优分割结果的基础上,基于地形、高度、光谱及共同特征的不同特征组合,应用带有径向基(RBF)核函数的支持向量机(SVM)分类器进行杉木林、马尾松林、阔叶林3种林分类型识别.结果表明:与单独使用一种数据相比,Radarsat-2数据和QuickBird遥感影像协同方案在面向对象林分类型分类方面具有优势.Radarsat-2&QuickBird协同分割方案,以最优尺度参数100进行分割时,分割结果最好.在最优分割结果的基础上,应用两种数据源提取的全部特征进行面向对象林分类型识别的精度最高(总精度为86%,Kappa值为0.86).本研究结果不仅可为多源遥感数据结合进行林分类型识别提供参考和借鉴,而且对于森林资源调查和监测有现实意义.