scholarly journals Does Ecological Water Replenishment Help Prevent a Large Wetland from Further Deterioration? Results from the Zhalong Nature Reserve, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3449
Author(s):  
Liwen Chen ◽  
Sixin Liu ◽  
Yanfeng Wu ◽  
Y. Jun Xu ◽  
Shengbo Chen ◽  
...  

Ecological water replenishment (EWR) has been increasingly applied to the restoration and maintenance of wetland hydrological conditions across China since the beginning of the 21st century. However, little is known about whether EWR projects help protect and/or restore wetland ecohydrology. As one of the earliest and longest-running EWR projects in China, water has been released from the Nenjiang River into the Zhalong wetland since 2001. It is important to examine the ecohydrological effects of this EWR project. In this study, long time series remote sensing data were used to extract the water area, inundation frequency, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to explore how eco-hydrological conditions changed during the pre- (1984–2000) and post-EWR (2001–2018) periods in the Zhalong wetland. Results show that the inundation area decreased due to the reduced surface water inflow during the pre-EWR period. Similarly, monthly vegetation NDVI in the growing season generally exhibited a decreasing and an increasing trend during the pre- and post-EWR periods, respectively. In the post-EWR period, NDVI increased by 19%, 73%, 45%, 28%, 13% for the months of May through September, respectively. Due to EWR, vegetation growth in areas with low inundation frequency was better than in areas with high inundation frequency. We found that the EWR project, runoff, and precipitation contributed 25%, 11%, and 64% to changes in the NDVI, respectively, and 46%, 37%, and 17% to changes in inundation area, respectively. These results indicate that the EWR project has improved hydrological conditions in the Zhalong wetland. For further maximum benefits of EWR in the Zhalong wetlands, we suggest that implementing similar eco-hydrological projects in the future should focus on flood pulse management to increase the inundation area, improve hydrological connectivity, and create new habitats.

Author(s):  
A. K. Vishwakarma ◽  
A. K. Agnihotri ◽  
R. Rai ◽  
B. K. Shrivastva ◽  
S. Mishra

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> This study aims to evaluate the effect of underground coal mining subsidence on the growth of native vegetation. For this study, an underground coal mine of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), India was selected. Changes in vegetation indices were analyzed using three remote sensing data of the previous five years. Three period’s Landsat 8 OLI resolution image data were used to calculate Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of the years 2014, 2016 and 2018 in QGIS environment. The study showed that the local grassland and forest were affected by the mining exploitation and subsidence but those effects were not significant to have an adverse impact on the same. The short-term mining was having an impact on the vegetation growth but the effects gradually disappeared with the gradual stabilization of the subsided land and in absence of human interference, vegetation recovered well. In long-term, subsidence was not having a major impact on the vegetation growth. Thus, coal resources exploitation and subsidence of the said mine of SECL did not bring out an adverse impact on a wide range of forest and grassland ecosystems, and these ecosystems could carry the partial destruction and ultimately stabilized ecosystems by self-repair.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 895 (1) ◽  
pp. 012013
Author(s):  
S Gantumur ◽  
G V Kharitonova ◽  
A S Stepanov ◽  
K N Dubrovin

Abstract Although field surveus represent an essential method for determining oil contamination of soils and soil cover, the use of remote sensing techniques has become one of the main trends over recent years due to their economic and temporary advantages. The fundamental basis of this approach is the assessment of changes in vegetation cover by vegetation indices as indicator. In this study, the problems of assessment of the soil cover contamination during oil production are considered. It is aimed to select and evaluate objective criteria for soil cover contamination with oil in the Tamsag–Bulag field (Eastern Gobi, Mongolia). For this purpose, during the period of maximum vegetation growth, various vegetation indices were investigated at test sites (4 km2) from 2015 to 2019. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) were used with Sentinel-2 and MODIS of the Terra satellite images at 30 and 250 m resolution, respectively. The monitoring of the land quality with satellite images via NDVI and SAVI allows us to assess the area of oil contamination of the soils and soil cover. The significant increase in the values of the NDVI and SAVI at a distance of more than 4 km from the center of the Tamsag-Bulag oil field is shown. The obtained results indicate the possibility of assessment and monitoring the state of the oil-ed territories of the Eastern Gobi by NDVI и SAVI using satellite images.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1131
Author(s):  
Tao Yu ◽  
Pengju Liu ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Yi Ren ◽  
Jingning Yao

Detecting forest degradation from satellite observation data is of great significance in revealing the process of decreasing forest quality and giving a better understanding of regional or global carbon emissions and their feedbacks with climate changes. In this paper, a quick and applicable approach was developed for monitoring forest degradation in the Three-North Forest Shelterbelt in China from multi-scale remote sensing data. Firstly, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) and Net Primary Production (NPP) from remote sensing data were selected as the indicators to describe forest degradation. Then multi-scale forest degradation maps were obtained by adopting a new classification method using time series MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images, and were validated with ground survey data. At last, the criteria and indicators for monitoring forest degradation from remote sensing data were discussed, and the uncertainly of the method was analyzed. Results of this paper indicated that multi-scale remote sensing data have great potential in detecting regional forest degradation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Xiao ◽  
Fenzhen Su ◽  
Dongjie Fu ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
Chong Huang

Long time-series monitoring of mangroves to marine erosion in the Bay of Bangkok, using Landsat data from 1987 to 2017, shows responses including landward retreat and seaward extension. Quantitative assessment of these responses with respect to spatial distribution and vegetation growth shows differing relationships depending on mangrove growth stage. Using transects perpendicular to the shoreline, we calculated the cross-shore mangrove extent (width) to represent spatial distribution, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to represent vegetation growth. Correlations were then compared between mangrove seaside changes and the two parameters—mangrove width and NDVI—at yearly and 10-year scales. Both spatial distribution and vegetation growth display positive impacts on mangrove ecosystem stability: At early growth stages, mangrove stability is positively related to spatial distribution, whereas at mature growth the impact of vegetation growth is greater. Thus, we conclude that at early growth stages, planting width and area are more critical for stability, whereas for mature mangroves, management activities should focus on sustaining vegetation health and density. This study provides new rapid insights into monitoring and managing mangroves, based on analyses of parameters from historical satellite-derived information, which succinctly capture the net effect of complex environmental and human disturbances.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Y. Aldhebiani ◽  
Mohamed Elhag ◽  
Ahmad K. Hegazy ◽  
Hanaa K. Galal ◽  
Norah S. Mufareh

Abstract. Wadi Yalamlam is known as one of the significant wadis in the west of Saudi Arabia. It is a very important water source for the western region of the country. Thus, it supplies the holy places in Mecca and the surrounding areas with drinking water. The floristic composition of Wadi Yalamlam has not been comprehensively studied. For that reason, this work aimed to assess the wadi vegetation cover, life-form presence, chorotype, diversity, and community structure using temporal remote sensing data. Temporal datasets spanning 4 years were acquired from the Landsat 8 sensor in 2013 as an early acquisition and in 2017 as a late acquisition to estimate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) changes. The wadi was divided into seven stands. Stands 7, 1, and 3 were the richest with the highest Shannon index values of 2.98, 2.69, and 2.64, respectively. On the other hand, stand 6 has the least plant biodiversity with a Shannon index of 1.8. The study also revealed the presence of 48 different plant species belonging to 24 families. Fabaceae (17 %) and Poaceae (13 %) were the main families that form most of the vegetation in the study area, while many families were represented by only 2 % of the vegetation of the wadi. NDVI analysis showed that the wadi suffers from various types of degradation of the vegetation cover along with the wadi main stream.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Abdullah Salman Alsalman Abdullah Salman Alsalman

Noting that Khartoum represents the most rapidly expanding city in the Sudan and taking into account that change detection operations are seldom , the present study has been initiated to attempt to produce work that synthesizes land use/land cover (LULC) to investigate change detection using GIS, remote sensing data and digital image processing techniques; estimate, evaluate and map changes that took place in the city from 1975 to 2003. The experiment used the techniques of visual inspection, write-function-memoryinsertion, image differencing, image transformation i.e. normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), tasseled cap, principal component analysis (PCA), post-classification comparison and GIS. The results of all these various techniques were used by the authors to study change detection of the geographic locale of the test area. Image processing and GIS techniques were performed using Intergraph Image analyst 8.4 and GeoMedia professional version 6, ERDAS Imagine 8.7, and ArcGIS 9.2. Results obtained were discussed and analyzed in a comparative manner and a conclusion regarding the best method for change detection of the test area was derived.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Li ◽  
Yuying Lin

The rapid growth of the network of high-voltage power transmission lines (HVPTLs) is inevitably covering more forest domains. However, no direct quantitative measurements have been reported of the effects of HVPTLs on vegetation growth. Thus, the impacts of HVPTLs on vegetation growth are uncertain. Taking one of the areas with the highest forest coverage in China as an example, the upper reaches of the Minjiang River in Fujian Province, we quantitatively analyzed the effect of HVPTLs on forest landscape fragmentation and vegetation growth using Landsat imageries and forest inventory datasets. The results revealed that 0.9% of the forests became edge habitats assuming a 150 m depth-of-edge-influence by HVPTLs, and the forest plantations were the most exposed to HVPTLs among all the forest landscape types. Habitat fragmentation was the main consequence of HVPTL installation, which can be reduced by an increase in the patch density and a decrease in the mean patch area (MA), largest patch index (LPI), and effective mesh size (MESH). In all the landscape types, the forest plantation and the non-forest land were most affected by HVPTLs, with the LPI values decreasing by 44.1 and 20.8%, respectively. The values of MESH decreased by 44.2 and 32.2%, respectively. We found an obvious increasing trend in the values of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in 2016 and NDVI growth during the period of 2007 to 2016 with an increase in the distance from HVPTL. The turning points of stability were 60 to 90 meters for HVPTL corridors and 90 to 150 meters for HVPTL pylons, which indicates that the pylons have a much greater impact on NDVI and its growth than the lines. Our research provides valuable suggestions for vegetation protection, restoration, and wildfire management after the construction of HVPTLs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Potter ◽  
Olivia Alexander

Understanding trends in vegetation phenology and growing season productivity at a regional scale is important for global change studies, particularly as linkages can be made between climate shifts and the vegetation’s potential to sequester or release carbon into the atmosphere. Trends and geographic patterns of change in vegetation growth and phenology from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data sets were analyzed for the state of Alaska over the period 2000 to 2018. Phenology metrics derived from the MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series at 250 m resolution tracked changes in the total integrated greenness cover (TIN), maximum annual NDVI (MAXN), and start of the season timing (SOST) date over the past two decades. SOST trends showed significantly earlier seasonal vegetation greening (at more than one day per year) across the northeastern Brooks Range Mountains, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coastal plain, and in the southern coastal areas of Alaska. TIN and MAXN have increased significantly across the western Arctic Coastal Plain and within the perimeters of most large wildfires of the Interior boreal region that burned since the year 2000, whereas TIN and MAXN have decreased notably in watersheds of Bristol Bay and in the Cook Inlet lowlands of southwestern Alaska, in the same regions where earlier-trending SOST was also detected. Mapping results from this MODIS time-series analysis have identified a new database of localized study locations across Alaska where vegetation phenology has recently shifted notably, and where land cover types and ecosystem processes could be changing rapidly.


Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baabak Mamaghani ◽  
M. Grady Saunders ◽  
Carl Salvaggio

With the inception of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), remotely sensed images have been captured much closer to the ground, which has meant better resolution and smaller ground sample distances (GSDs). This has provided the precision agriculture community with the ability to analyze individual plants, and in certain cases, individual leaves on those plants. This has also allowed for a dramatic increase in data acquisition for agricultural analysis. Because satellite and manned aircraft remote sensing data collections had larger GSDs, self-shadowing was not seen as an issue for agricultural remote sensing. However, sUAS are able to image these shadows which can cause issues in data analysis. This paper investigates the inherent reflectance variability of vegetation by analyzing six Coneflower plants, as a surrogate for other cash crops, across different variables. These plants were measured under different forecasts (cloudy and sunny), at different times (08:00 a.m., 09:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.), and at different GSDs (2, 4 and 8 cm) using a field portable spectroradiometer (ASD Field Spec). In addition, a leafclip spectrometer was utilized to measure individual leaves on each plant in a controlled lab environment. These spectra were analyzed to determine if there was any significant difference in the health of the various plants measured. Finally, a MicaSense RedEdge-3 multispectral camera was utilized to capture images of the plants every hour to analyze the variability produced by a sensor designed for agricultural remote sensing. The RedEdge-3 was held stationary at 1.5 m above the plants while collecting all images, which produced a GSD of 0.1 cm/pixel. To produce 2, 4, and 8 cm GSD, the MicaSense RedEdge-3 would need to be at an altitude of 30.5 m, 61 m and 122 m respectively. This study did not take background effects into consideration for either the ASD or MicaSense. Results showed that GSD produced a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, a commonly used metric to determine vegetation health), R 2 values demonstrated a low correlation between time of day and NDVI, and a one-way ANOVA test showed no statistically significant difference in the NDVI computed from the leafclip probe (p-value of 0.018). Ultimately, it was determined that the best condition for measuring vegetation reflectance was on cloudy days near noon. Sunny days produced self-shadowing on the plants which increased the variability of the measured reflectance values (higher standard deviations in all five RedEdge-3 channels), and the shadowing of the plants decreased as time approached noon. This high reflectance variability in the coneflower plants made it difficult to accurately measure the NDVI.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1455-1473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Nourani ◽  
Ahmad Fakheri Fard ◽  
Hoshin V. Gupta ◽  
David C. Goodrich ◽  
Faegheh Niazi

Abstract Classic rainfall–runoff models usually use historical data to estimate model parameters and mean values of parameters are considered for predictions. However, due to climate changes and human effects, model parameters change temporally. To overcome this problem, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from remotely sensed data was used in this study to investigate the effect of land cover variations on hydrological response of watersheds using a conceptual rainfall–runoff model. The study area consists of two sub-watersheds (Hervi and Lighvan) with varied land cover conditions. Obtained results show that the one-parameter model generates runoff forecasts with acceptable level of the considered criteria. Remote sensing data were employed to relate land cover properties of the watershed to the model parameter. While a power form of the regression equation could be best fitted to the parameter values using available images of Hervi sub-watershed, for the Lighvan sub-watershed the fitted equation shows somewhat lower correlation due to higher fluctuations of the model parameter. The average values of the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency criterion of the model were obtained as 0.87 and 0.55, respectively, for Hervi and Lighvan sub-watersheds. Applying this methodology, the model's parameters might be determined using temporal NDVI values.


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