Evaluation Of Selected Spectral Vegetation Indices In Senescent Rangeland Canopy Using Landsat Imagery

<p>Grassland birds are diminishing more steadily and rapidly than other North American birds in general. The nesting success of some grassland bird species depends on the amount of nonproductive vegetation (NPV). To estimate NPV land managers are currently using the Robel pole visual obstruction reading methods. Researchers with the USDA Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, ND, recently established statistical relationships between photosynthetic vegetation (PV), NPV and spectral vegetation indices (SVIs) derived from more sensitive and more detailed, but less accessible and more costly hyperspectral aerial imagery. This study is an extension of this previous work using spectral vegetation indices collected using the Landsat TM sensor, including simple ratios SWIR-SR (&rho;2215/&rho;1650) and SR71 (&rho;2215 /&rho;485) to estimate the amount of NPV and bare ground cover, respectively.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geography & Geographic Information Science

Year

2014

Author dc:creator

• Collins, Marla

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bradley C. Rundquist

• grassland, non photosynethetic vegetation, remote sensing, Short-Wave InfraRed (SWIR), Vegetation Indices (VIs), vegetation mapping

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.und.edu/theses/1523

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.und.edu:theses-2524