Contingent effects of water balance variation on tree cover density in semiarid woodlands

Aim The local distribution of woody vegetation affects most functional aspects of semiarid landscapes, from soil erosion to nutrient cycling. With growing concern about anthropogenic climate change, it has become critical to understand the ecological determinants of woody plant distribution in semiarid landscapes. However, relatively little work has examined the determinants of local variation in woody cover. Here we examine water balance controls associated with patterns of tree cover density in a topographically complex semiarid woodland. Location Los Pinos Mountains, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge LTER, New Mexico, USA. Methods To explore the relationship between local water balance variation and tree cover density, we used a combination of high‐resolution (1 × 1 m), remotely sensed imagery and quantitative estimates of water balance variation in space and time. Regression tree analysis (RTA) was used to identify the environmental parameters that best predict variation in tree cover density. Results Using six predictor variables, the RTA explains 39% of the deviance in tree cover density over the landscape. The relationship between water balance conditions and tree cover density is highly contingent; that is, similar tree cover densities occur under very different combinations of water balance parameters. Thus, the effect of one environmental parameter on tree cover density depends on the values of other parameters. After tree cover density is adjusted for water balance conditions, residual variation is related to tree cover density in the neighbourhood of a particular location. Conclusion In semiarid landscapes, vegetation structure is largely controlled by water supply and demand. Results presented here indicate that localized feedbacks and site‐specific historical processes are critical for understanding the responses of semiarid vegetation to climate change.     

Rehabilitation of Semiarid Landscapes in Australia. II. Restoring Vegetation Patches

This paper describes a practical technique, tested experimentally, for rehabilitating degraded semiarid landscapes in Australia. This rehabilitation technique is based on the ecological principle that semiarid landscapes are spatially organized as patchy, source-sink systems; this patchy organization functions to conserve limited water and nutrients within the system. The aim was to rebuild vegetation patchiness, lost through decades of utilization of these landscapes as rangelands. Patches were reconstructed from large tree branches and shrubs obtained locally and placed in elongated piles along contours. These piles of branches were very effective in recreating productive soil patches within the landscape, as described in part I of this study. These new patchy habitats promoted the establishment and growth of perennial grasses. Although the foliage cover of these grasses declined into a drought, which started before the end of the experiment, plant survivorship remained high. This suggests that patches also function as refugia for organisms during droughts. The patches of branches remained robust and functional, even under grazing impacts, although plant growth and survival were significantly higher within an ungrazed paddock than in a grazed paddock.     

Monitoring ecological indicators of rangeland functional integrity and their relation to biodiversity at local to regional scales

Abstract Functional integrity is the intactness of soil and native vegetation patterns and the processes that maintain these patterns. In Australia's rangelands, the integrity of these patterns and processes have been modified by clearing, grazing and fire. Intuitively, biodiversity should be strongly related to functional integrity; that is, landscapes with high functional integrity should maintain biodiversity, and altered, less functional landscapes may lose some biodiversity, defined here as the variety and abundance of the plants, animals and microorganisms of concern. Simple indicators of biodiversity and functional integrity are needed that can be monitored at a range of scales, from fine to coarse. In the present paper, we use examples, primarily from published work on Australia's rangeland, to document that at finer patch and hillslope scales several indicators of landscape functional integrity have been identified. These indicators, based on the quantity and quality of vegetation patches and interpatch zones, are related to biodiversity. For example, a decrease in the cover and width (quantity) and condition (quality) of vegetation patches, and an increase in bare soil (quantity of interpatch) near cattle watering points in a paddock are significantly related to declines in plant and grasshopper diversity. These vegetation patch‐cover and bare‐soil indicators have been monitored traditionally by field‐based methods, but new high‐resolution, remote‐sensing imagery can be used in specific rangeland areas for this fine‐scale monitoring. At intermediate paddock and small watershed scales, indicators that can be derived from medium‐resolution remote‐sensing are also needed for efficient monitoring of rangeland condition (i.e. functional integrity) and biodiversity. For example, 30–100‐m‐pixel Landsat imagery has been used to assess the condition of rangelands along grazing gradients extending from watering‐points. The variety and abundance of key taxa have been related to these gradients (the Biograze project). At still larger region and catchment scales, indicators of rangeland functional integrity can also be monitored by coarse‐resolution remote‐sensing and related to biodiversity. For example, the extent and greenness (condition) of different regional landscapes have been monitored with 1‐km‐pixel satellite imagery. This regional information becomes more valuable when it indicates differences as a result of land management. Finally, we discuss potential future developments that could improve proposed indicators of landscape functional integrity and biodiversity, thereby improving our ability to monitor rangelands effectively.     

Using a sub-pixel mapping model to improve the accuracy of landscape pattern indices

The assessment of landscape spatial patterns is a key issue in landscape management. Landscape pattern indices (LPIs) are tools appropriate for analyzing landscape spatial patterns. LPIs are often derived from raster land cover maps that are extracted from remotely sensed data through hard classification. However, pixel-based hard classification methods suffer from the mixed pixel problem (in which pixels contain more than one land cover class), making for inaccurate classification maps and LPIs. In addition, LPIs generated by hard classification methods are characterized by grain sizes (the sampling unit sizes) that limit the derived landscape pattern to a certain scale. Sub-pixel mapping (SPM) models can enable fine-scale estimation of the spatial patterns of land cover classes without requiring additional data; hence, this is an appropriate downscaling method for land cover mapping. The fraction images generated by soft classification estimate the area proportion of each land cover class within each pixel, and using these images as input enables SPM models to alleviate the mixed pixel problem. At the same time, by transforming fraction images into a finer-scaled hard classification map, SPM models can minimize the influence of grain size on LPIs calculation. In this research, simulated landscape thematic patterns that can provide different landscape spatial patterns, eight commonly used LPIs and a SPM model that maximizes the spatial dependence between neighbouring sub-pixels were applied to assess the efficiency of deriving LPIs from sub-pixel model maps. Results showed that the SPM model can more precisely characterize landscape patterns than hard classification methods can. Landscape fragmentation, class abundance, the uncertainty in SPM, and the spatial resolution of the remotely sensed data influenced LPIs derived from sub-pixel maps. The largest patch index, landscape division, and patch cohesion derived from remotely sensed data with different spatial resolutions through the SPM model were suitable for inter-comparison, whereas the patch density, mean patch area, edge density, landscape shape index, and area-weighted mean shape index derived from the sub-pixel maps were sensitive to the spatial resolution of the remotely sensed data.     

中国北方草地与农牧交错带植被的NDVI-Ts空间的年内变化特征

利用多时相或时序植被指数(normalize difference vegetation index,NDVI)数据进行地表覆盖研究已取得了大量成果。随着陆地表面温度(1and surface temperature,TS)遥感反演精度的不断提高,将Ts与NDVI结合起来进行地表植被动态变化的监测已成为可能。本文主要包括以下三部分内容：1)介绍了基于卫星遥感数据的NDVI、Ts和Ts／NDVI计算方法。2)讨论NDVI、Ts和Ts／NDVI数据对植被覆盖信息表达的差异,并分析了中国北方草地与农牧交错带植被在NDVI-TS空间的年内变化特征。3)利用信息熵和平均梯度,定量分析了NDVI、Ts和Ts／NDVI数据在信息表达丰富度方面的差异,并对在不同地表植被覆盖下,Ts／NDVI数据对信息提高程度的敏感性进行了讨论。     

中国北方草地与农牧交错带植被的NDVI-Ts空间的年内变化特征

利用多时相或时序植被指数(normalize difference vegetation index,NDVI)数据进行地表覆盖研究已取得了大量成果.随着陆地表面温度(1and surface temperature,Ts)遥感反演精度的不断提高,将Ts与NDVI结合起来进行地表植被动态变化的监测已成为可能.本文主要包括以下三部分内容:1)介绍了基于卫星遥感数据的NDVI、Ts和Ts/NDVI计算方法.2)讨论NDVI、Ts和Ts/NDVI数据对植被覆盖信息表达的差异,并分析了中国北方草地与农牧交错带植被在NDVI-Ts空间的年内变化特征.3)利用信息熵和平均梯度,定量分析了NDVI、Ts和 Ts/NDVI数据在信息表达丰富度方面的差异,并对在不同地表植被覆盖下,Ts/NDVI数据对信息提高程度的敏感性进行了讨论.     

遥感主体图的准确度对景观生态学研究的影响

用各种案例系统地解释了遥感数据分类误差对景观指数误差的必然影响。一方面 ,遥感数据在各种时间和空间尺度上为景观生态学研究提供必需的土地类型数据 ;另一方面 ,遥感技术的灵活性和复杂性可以产生出各种质量的土地类型数据。但景观生态学方面的用户对土地类型数据基本上是没有选择地使用 ,甚至是不知好坏地使用 ,所以景观生态学的发现和结论具有不可避免的任意性。总结了在各种情况下景观指数的变动区间 ,指出了现实较低的遥感数据的分类准确度会引起更低的景观指数的准确度 ,当进行景观变化分析时 ,这种误差的放大效应将更加明显。当前 ,人们对除面积以外的景观指数的误差仍然束手无策 ,尽可能地提高遥感数据的分类准确度是唯一力所能及的办法。     

基于遥感和Penman-Monteith模型的内陆河流域不同生态系统蒸散发估算

遥感数据具有很好的时空连续性,它是区域蒸散发通量估算的有效方法。引入了一个简单的具有生物物理基础的Penman-Monteith(P-M)模型,分别利用黑河流域高寒草地阿柔站和干旱区农田盈科站2008—2009年的气象数据和MODIS(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)叶面积指数(LAI),实现了2008—2009年日蒸散发的估算,并同时实现了对植被蒸腾和土壤蒸发的分别估算。结果表明,利用P-M公式模拟的蒸散发与实测的蒸散发具有较好的一致性,日蒸散发模拟的决定系数(R2)超过0.8。估算的高寒草甸和干旱区农田玉米全年平均的蒸腾分别为0.78 mm/d和1.20 mm/d,分别占总蒸散发的60%和61%,土壤蒸发分别为0.53和0.77 mm/d,占总蒸发的40%和39%。可见两种生态系统的作物蒸腾均强于土壤蒸发,同时农田玉米蒸腾强于高寒草甸蒸腾。研究结果证明了基于遥感的P-M公式可以很好地实现对高寒草地和干旱区农田生态系统蒸散发的估算。通过考虑土壤水分变化对气孔导度的影响,可以提高模型对农田蒸散发的模拟精度。     

Bio-thermal effects of open dumps on surroundings detected by remote sensing—Influence of geographical conditions

This study has used remotely sensed data of Landsat-8 for monitoring open dumps of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) using vegetation health as a bio-indicator and thermal emissions from it. Open dump of Mahmood Booti has been found to affect the surrounding vegetation up to 800 m in dry summers and reducing to 400 m in winters, while averaging to a distance of about 650 m. Average thermal influence zone has been observed to have same radial extent of about 650 m varying between the minimum of 350 m in dry summer and maximum of 1000 m in winter. All the corresponding details of bio-indicators and temperature variations have also been discussed. In addition to this, the results and methodology of spatial analysis for Mahmood Booti dump of Lahore, Pakistan, surrounded by a heterogeneous land cover, have been compared with the main dumping facility of Faisalabad, Pakistan, which is surrounded by a homogeneous vegetation cover all around. This comparison yielded two main conclusions, first, the surrounding geography of an open MSW dump affects the severity of bio-thermal effects, in addition to waste age, characterization, pile etc. Second, GIS analysis for studying bio-thermal effects requires modification that varies for prevailing neighborhood land cover conditions of MSW open dumps. Use of remotely sensed data for monitoring dumped MSW is a good alternative but selection of proper GIS methodology, representing natural setting of phenomena is equally important as that of the accuracy of the remotely sensed data.     

基于数字相机、ASTER和MODIS影像综合测量植被盖度

选择我国北方温带典型草原作为研究对象,基于Bottom-up方法,采用地表实测和多尺度遥感综合测量的方法,建立基于地表实测与多尺度遥感数据综合测量的两阶段植被盖度经验模型。此外,还将该模型与常用的亚像元分解模型相比较,结果表明:1)两阶段经验模型可以较好地实现将地面数据扩展到中尺度空间范围,从而完成数据空间尺度的转换,提高大区域草地植被盖度的测量精度;2)MODIS遥感影像数据,结合地面数据和ASTER遥感影像数据可以较好地在区域范围内对北方典型草原的植被盖度进行估测;3)目前常用的亚像元分解模型,应用于中空间分辨率的MODIS影像,估测北方温度典型草原植被盖度的精度不够理想。     

Seeking parsimony in landscape metrics

Numerous metrics describing landscape patterns have been used to explain landscape-scale habitat selection by birds. The myriad metrics, their complexity, and inconsistent responses to them by birds have led to a lack of clear recommendations for managing land for desired species. The amount of a target land cover type in the landscape (percentage cover) often has been a useful indicator of the likelihood of species occurrence or of habitat selection; is it also a more adequate and parsimonious measure for explaining species distributions than patch size or more complex measures of landscape configuration? We examined responses of 6 woodland-interior bird species to the percentage tree cover within prescribed areas and to patch size, edge density, and other metrics. We examined responses in 2 landscapes: a mixed woodland-savanna and an eastern deciduous forest. For these 6 species, percentage tree cover explained bird occurrence as well as or better than other measures in both study areas. We then repeated the analysis on a larger group of woodland species, including those associated with woodland edges. The bird species we studied had varied responses to landscape metrics, but percentage tree cover was the strongest explanatory variable overall. Although percentage cover estimated from remotely sensed data is an inexact representation of habitat in the landscape, it does appear to be reliable and easy to conceptualize, relative to other measures. We suggest that, at least for woodland habitat, percentage cover is a broadly useful measure that can be helpful in pragmatic questions of explaining responses to landscapes or in anticipating responses to landscape change. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

Land use,rangeland degradation and ecological changes in the southern Kalahari,Botswana

Dual‐scale analyses assessing farm‐scale patterns of ecological change and landscape‐scale patterns of change in vegetation cover and animal distribution are presented from ecological transect studies away from waterpoints, regional remotely sensed analysis of vegetation cover and animal numbers across the southern Kalahari, Botswana. Bush encroachment is prevalent in semi‐arid sites where Acacia mellifera Benth. is widespread in communal areas and private ranches, showing that land tenure changes over the last 40 years have not avoided rangeland degradation. Herbaceous cover is dominated in intensively grazed areas by the annual grass Schmidtia kalahariensis Stent and in moderately grazed areas by the perennial grass Eragrostis lehmanniana Nees. Nutritious perennial grass species including Eragrostis pallens Hack. Ex Schinz remain prevalent in Wildlife Management Areas. Other ecological changes include the invasion of the exotic Prosopis glandulosa Torr. and dense stands of Rhigozum trichotomum Kuntze. in the arid southwest. Regional patterns of wildlife species show that the expansion of cattleposts and fenced ranches has led to large areas of low wildlife conservation value even in areas where cattle production is not practiced. Findings show the need for integrated landscape‐scale planning of land use if the ecological value and biodiversity of the southern Kalahari is to be retained.     

Patterns of bird diversity and habitat use in mixed vineyard-matorral landscapes of Central Chile

The Mediterranean climate region of central Chile is rich in biodiversity and contains highly productive agricultural lands, which creates challenges for the preservation of natural habitats and native biodiversity. Ecological data and studies for the region are also limited, making informed conservation in agricultural landscapes difficult. The increasing availability of remotely sensed data provide opportunities to relate species occurrences to measures of landscape heterogeneity even when field measures of habitat structure are lacking. When working with such remotely sensed data, it’s important to select appropriate measures of heterogeneity, including common metrics of landscape composition as well as frequently overlooked shape metrics. In this contribution we combine bird surveys with multispectral satellite imagery to develop boosted regression tree models of avian species richness, and of habitat use for 15 species across a mixed vineyard-matorral landscape in central Chile. We found a range of associations between individual species and land cover types, with the majority of species occurring most frequently in remnant habitats and ecotones rather than the interiors of large vineyard blocks. Models identified both metrics of landscape composition and patch shape as being important predictors of species occurrence, suggesting that shape metrics can complement more commonly used metrics of landscape composition. Vineyards that include corridors or islands of remnant habitat among vine blocks may increase the amount of area available to many species, although some species may still require large tracts of intact natural habitat to persist.     

Measuring phenological variability from satellite imagery

Abstract. Vegetation phenological phenomena are closely related to seasonal dynamics of the lower atmosphere and are therefore important elements in global models and vegetation monitoring. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite sensor offer a means of efficiently and objectively evaluating phenological characteristics over large areas. Twelve metrics linked to key phenological events were computed based on time-series NDVI data collected from 1989 to 1992 over the conterminous United States. These measures include the onset of greenness, time of peak NDVI, maximum NDVI, rate of greenup, rate of senescence, and integrated NDVI. Measures of central tendency and variability of the measures were computed and analyzed for various land cover types. Results from the analysis showed strong coincidence between the satellite-derived metrics and predicted phenological characteristics. In particular, the metrics identified interannual variability of spring wheat in North Dakota, characterized the phenology of four types of grasslands, and established the phenological consistency of deciduous and coniferous forests. These results have implications for large-area land cover mapping and monitoring. The utility of remotely sensed data as input to vegetation mapping is demonstrated by showing the distinct phenology of several land cover types. More stable information contained in ancillary data should be incorporated into the mapping process, particularly in areas with high phenological variability. In a regional or global monitoring system, an increase in variability in a region may serve as a signal to perform more detailed land cover analysis with higher resolution imagery.     

Intersex Frogs Concentrated in Suburban and Urban Landscapes

The occurrence of intersex characteristics in amphibians has been linked to pesticide exposure in the laboratory and proximity to agricultural activity within natural populations. But, overall, the ecology of amphibian intersex is poorly known and, specifically, its occurrence in many landscape types and regions is unstudied. We offer the first analysis of the frequency of amphibian intersex across a range of land covers representing the major landscape types within a region. We used remotely sensed information to characterize land cover surrounding 4774 potential sampling locations within the Connecticut River Valley. From among these, we selected 24 ponds to collect postmetamorphic green frogs (Rana clamitans) from four land cover types: undeveloped, agricultural, suburban, and urban. Collected males were preserved and, then, prepared gonadal tissue samples were screened for the presence of testicular oocytes. A total of 233 animals was examined. Thirteen percent of all male green frogs had gonads containing testicular oocytes. Sexual abnormalities were not randomly distributed among sites or landscape types. Suburban landscapes had the highest frequency of abnormalities (21%), and both suburban and urban land covers were positively associated with the presence of abnormalities within a population. There was no evidence of a positive association with agricultural land cover. Examination of amphibian intersex across a range of contexts reveals that developed landscapes may be hotspots for abnormal sexual development. This new finding suggests that other mechanisms, not previously considered, could contribute to intersex in natural amphibian populations.     

The imprint of humans on landscape patterns and vegetation functioning in the dry subtropics

Dry subtropical regions (DST), originally hosting woodlands and savannas, are subject to contrasting human pressures and land uses and different degrees of water limitation. We quantified how this variable context influences landscape pattern and vegetation functioning, by exploring the associations between three groups of variables describing (i) human pressures (population density, poverty, and market isolation) and climate (water availability), (ii) landscape pattern (woody cover, infrastructure, paddock size, etc.), and (iii) vegetation functioning (magnitude and stability of primary productivity), in regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. We collected data from global socioeconomic databases and remote sensing products for 4525 samples (representing uncultivated and cultivated conditions), located along 35 transects spanning semiarid to subhumid conditions. A Reciprocal Averaging ordination of uncultivated samples revealed a dominant gradient of declining woody cover accompanied by lower and less stable productivity. This gradient, likely capturing increasing vegetation degradation, had a negative relationship with poverty (characterized by infant mortality) and with market isolation (measured by travel time to large cities). With partial overlaps, regions displayed an increasing degradation ranking from Africa to South America, to Australia, to North America, and to Asia. A similar analysis of cultivated samples, showed a dominant gradient of increasing paddock size accompanied by decreasing primary productivity stability, which included all regions except Asia. This gradient was negatively associated with poverty and population density. A unique combination of small paddocks and high infrastructure differentiated Asian cultivated samples. While water availability gradients were related to productivity trends, they were unrelated to landscape pattern. Our comparative approach suggests that, in DST, human pressures have an overwhelming role driving landscape patterns and one shared with water availability shaping vegetation functioning.     

Remotely sensed landscape heterogeneity as a rapid tool for assessing local biodiversity value in a highly modified New Zealand landscape

The widespread conversion of natural habitats to agricultural land has created a need to integrate intensively managed landscapes into conservation management priorities. However, there are no clearly defined methods for assessing the conservation value of managed landscapes at the local scale. We used remotely sensed landscape heterogeneity as a rapid practical tool for the assessment of local biodiversity value within a predominantly agricultural landscape in Canterbury, New Zealand. Bird diversity was highly significantly correlated with landscape heterogeneity, distance from rivers and the Christchurch central business district, altitude and average annual household income, indicating that remotely sensed landscape heterogeneity is a good predictor of local biodiversity patterns. We discuss the advantages and limitations of using geographic information systems to determine local areas of high conservation value.     

Remote sensing data predict indicators of soil functioning in semi-arid steppes,central Spain

A substantial part of current research efforts on desertification are devoted to establish monitoring systems to evaluate the status of natural resources and the onset of desertification processes. Methodologies based on ground-collected soil and plant indicators are being increasingly used for this aim because they are affordable yet do not compromise accuracy. Despite their inherent value, these methods have limitations regarding the extent of the area that can be monitored using them. Such limitations can be overcome combining field-based approaches with remote sensing data, which allow the establishment of monitoring programs over large areas. In this article we tested the relationship between a field methodology based on indicators of ecosystem functioning, the landscape function analysis (LFA), and a vegetation index (NDVI) obtained from satellite images of the ASTER sensor using data gathered in Stipa tenacissima steppes from central Spain. LFA uses soil surface indicators to assess the condition of a given ecosystem by producing three numerical indices (stability, infiltration and nutrient cycling) reflecting the status of basic soil functions. We found a significant positive linear relationship between the NDVI, the three LFA indices and some key structural attributes of vegetation related to the cover of perennial plants. Our results indicate that NDVI can be used as a surrogate of ecosystem functioning in semi-arid Mediterranean steppes, and thus can be a helpful index to monitor the functional status of large areas in these ecosystems, and the possible onset of desertification processes.