Close Range Stereophotogrammetry and Video Imagery Analyses in Soil Ecohydrology Modelling

Abstract

Ecohydrology is an emerging discipline in the environmental sciences. Soil micro‐relief is of relevance to various ecohydrological processes such as rainwater redistribution, seed displacement through water runoff, water erosion and plant competition for water. Mechanical–optical methods to characterise the soil surface and its incidence in these processes are time consuming and can produce modifications of soil relief. This research explores a methodology combining non‐contact techniques (close range stereophotogrammetry and geostatistical modelling) for microtopographic description with video imagery analysis to formulate quantitative determination of surface water movement and infiltration in undisturbed field plots. The numerical quality of the results obtained was tested with ad hoc laboratory models representing various elementary landforms (basin, hill and ridge), as well as with infiltration runoff experiments in undisturbed field plots. The requirements to define a minimum set of properly oriented digital images to attain target precision thresholds in modelling soil microtopography for ecohydrological applications are shown as well as the conditions and experimental arrangement to obtain adequate video imagery of water movement on the soil surface. The use of geostatistical algorithms to analyse ecohydrological processes occurring at the soil surface is illustrated with results obtained from field plots. The methodology presented serves to characterise and quantify water‐related ecological processes occurring at the soil surface while preserving undisturbed soil conditions. Potential applications are in ecohydrology, soil erosion science and environmental material transport studies.

Assessing the performance of structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry and terrestrial LiDAR for reconstructing soil surface microtopography of naturally vegetated plots

“…As grass cover increases, soil surface signal‐to‐noise ratio significantly decreases in both TLS and SfM. A similar increase in the noise of photogrammetric surface elevation models was reported by Rossi and Ares (). At high grass cover, the soil surface is completely invisible and SfM or TLS reconstructions were of little value for soil erosion application.…”

Distribution and environmental determinants of darkling beetles assemblages (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in Península Valdés (Argentinean Patagonia)

“…Finally, the introduction of domestic livestock in the arid Patagonia produced changes in vegetation and soil that altered fundamental ecosystem processes, increasing desertification and biodiversity loss (Beeskow et al 1997, Bisigato et al 2005, Chartier et al 2011, Rossi & Ares 2012. Moreover, despite being a nature reserve, PV is not the exception (Cheli et al 2016b, Baldi et al 2017, Cheli & Martínez 2017.…”

Some applications of 2-D and 3-D photogrammetry during laboratory experiments for hydrogeological risk assessment

“…Achieved outcomes can be integrated and assimilated to numerical analyses for the study of unstable slope collapses (Feng et al 2012), debris transport processes (Pozzoli et al 2004), hydraulic models (Chandler et al 2003;Kabdasli et al 2004), rainfall-or earthquake-induced landslides (Fukuzono 1990), soil erosion (Rieke-Zapp & Nearing 2005;Gessese et al 2010;Heng et al 2010), and drainage basin evolution (Brasington & Smart 2003). Also application for experiments in the field of ecohydrology can be found (Rossi & Ares 2012). Some examples of simulation platforms are reported in figure 1.…”