You are here:
AIRBORNE HYPERSPECTRAL IDENTIFICATION OF INVASIVE AND OPPORTUNISTIC WETLANDS PLANT SPECIES
Citation:
LOPEZ, R. D. AND JOHN TSAU-YUNG LIN. AIRBORNE HYPERSPECTRAL IDENTIFICATION OF INVASIVE AND OPPORTUNISTIC WETLANDS PLANT SPECIES. Presented at Society of Wetland Scientist Workshop on Monitoring Great Lakes coastal Wetlands Using Remote Sensing Techniques, Ann Arbor, MI, September 13 - 14, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
Healthy Communities and Ecosystems - by providing ecosystem research and methods development at multiple scales, utilizing landscape ecology and associated techniques
Description:
Coastal wetlands are among the most fragmented and disturbed ecosystems and the Great Lakes are no exception. One possible result is the observed increase in the presence and dominance of invasive and other opportunistic plant species, such as the common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud). Hyperspectral and multispectral airborne remote sensing data were used to quantify the distribution of P. australis in several coastal wetlands of western Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Huron. The initial accuracy of species and structural-characteristic assessments for Phragmites is in excess of 90%. The precision and detail of field-based calibration data was important for the successful semi-automated mapping of P. australis. Additional, contemporaneous, efforts to assess landscape conditions in the coastal zone of the Great Lakes, using satellite multispectral remote sensing data, are ongoing. Results from both coastal wetland assessment efforts are being used to measure landscape characteristics at multiple scales, focusing on ecosystem connectivity and anthropogenic impact. Results from P. australis and coastal zone assessments are actively being used to develop broad-scale indicators of coastal wetland condition in the Great Lakes.