Remote Sensing for Cover Change Assessment in Southeast Arizona

Wallace, O C; Qi, Jinfeng; Heilma, Philip; Marsett, Robin

doi:10.2307/4003829

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Sagebrush physically covers 90,950 km 2 , or 4.3%, of our study area, but is present in 883,449 km 2 , or 41.5%, of the mapped portion of our study area.Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 412 2 of 26 distribution [3][4][5][6][7]. Rangelands are important sources of livestock forage, critical wildlife habitat, provide water resources, control erosion when managed properly, and modulate fire activity [8].…”

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confidence: 99%

Quantifying Western U.S. Rangelands as Fractional Components with Multi-Resolution Remote Sensing and In Situ Data

et al. 2020

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Quantifying western U.S. rangelands as a series of fractional components with remote sensing provides a new way to understand these changing ecosystems. Nine rangeland ecosystem components, including percent shrub, sagebrush (Artemisia), big sagebrush, herbaceous, annual herbaceous, litter, and bare ground cover, along with sagebrush and shrub heights, were quantified at 30 m resolution. Extensive ground measurements, two scales of remote sensing data from commercial high-resolution satellites and Landsat 8, and regression tree models were used to create component predictions. In the mapped area (2,993,655 km²), bare ground averaged 45.5%, shrub 15.2%, sagebrush 4.3%, big sagebrush 2.9%, herbaceous 23.0%, annual herbaceous 4.2%, and litter 15.8%. Component accuracies using independent validation across all components averaged R2 values of 0.46 and an root mean squared error (RMSE) of 10.37, and cross-validation averaged R2 values of 0.72 and an RMSE of 5.09. Component composition strongly varies by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) level III ecoregions (n = 32): 17 are bare ground dominant, 11 herbaceous dominant, and four shrub dominant. Sagebrush physically covers 90,950 km², or 4.3%, of our study area, but is present in 883,449 km², or 41.5%, of the mapped portion of our study area.

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confidence: 99%

Quantifying Western U.S. Rangelands as Fractional Components with Multi-Resolution Remote Sensing and In Situ Data

et al. 2020

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“…In another study from Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, Kepner et al (2000) built up a straightforward method that consolidated remote-sensing data such as triplicate Landsat MSS imagery from the mid-1970s, mid-1980s and 1990s to report changes. Wallace et al (2003) used multi-temporal Landsat data from different sensors (Landsat 1, 5 and 7) to measure LULC change and to relate spatial arrangement and composition to landscape structure and pattern.…”

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confidence: 99%

A review of potential methods for monitoring rangeland degradation in Libya

2018

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Natural and human factors exert a profound impact on the degradation of rangelands, human effects being the most significant factor in increasing the severity of deterioration. This occurs through agricultural expansion at the expense of rangelands, and with the number of domestic and wildlife animals exceeding the natural carrying capacity. This raises concerns about the ongoing sustainability of these land resources, as well as the sustainability of traditional pastoral land practices. Rangelands require effective management, which is dependent upon accurate and timely monitoring data to support the assessment of rangeland deterioration. Natural rangelands provide one of the significant pillars of support for the Libyan national economy. Despite the important role of rangeland in Libya from both economic and environmental perspectives, the vegetation cover of Libyan rangeland has changed adversely qualitatively and quantitatively over the past four decades. Ground-based observation methods are widely used to assess rangeland degradation in Libya. However, multi-temporal observations are often not integrated nor repeatable, making it difficult for rangeland managers to detect degradation consistently. Field study costs are also significantly high in comparison with their accuracy and reliability, both in terms of the time and resources required. Remote-sensing approaches offer the advantage of spanning large geographical areas with multiple spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. These data can play a significant role in rangeland monitoring, permitting observation, monitoring and prediction of vegetation changes, productivity assessment, fire extent, vegetation and soil moisture measurement and quantifying the proliferation of invasive plant species. This paper reviews the factors causing rangeland degradation in Libya, identifying appropriate remote-sensing methods that can be used to implement appropriate monitoring procedures.

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Shrub Encroachment Impacts the Potential for Multiple Use Conflicts on Public Land

Burkinshaw

Bork

2009

Environmental Management

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Public rangelands in North America are typically managed under a multiple use policy that includes livestock grazing and wildlife management. In this article we report on the landscape level extent of grassland loss to shrub encroachment in a portion of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve in southwestern Alberta, Canada, and review the associated implications for simultaneously supporting livestock and wildlife populations while maintaining range health on this diminishing vegetation type. Digitized aerial photographs of 12 km of valley bottom from 1958 and 1974 were co-registered to ortho-rectified digital imagery taken in 1998, and an un-supervised classification used to determine areas associated with grassland and shrubland in each year. Field data from 2002 were over-layed using GPS coordinates to refine the classification using a calibration-validation procedure. Over the 40-year study period, open grasslands declined from 1,111 ha in 1958 to 465 ha in 1998, representing a 58% decrease. Using mean production data for grass and shrub dominated areas we then quantified aggregate changes in grazing capacity of both primary (grassland) and secondary (shrubland) habitats for livestock and wildlife. Total declines in grazing capacity from 1958 to 1998 totaled 2,744 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) of forage (-39%), including a 58% decrease in primary (i.e., open grassland) range, which was only partly offset by the availability of 1,357 AUMs within less productive and less accessible shrubland habitats. Our results indicate shrub encroachment has been extensive and significantly reduced forage availability to domestic livestock and wildlife, and will increase the difficulty of conserving remaining grasslands. Although current grazing capacities remain marginally above those specified by regulated grazing policies, it is clear that continued habitat change and decreases in forage availability are likely to threaten the condition of remaining grasslands. Unless shrub encroachment is arrested or grassland restoration initiated, reductions in aggregate ungulate numbers may be necessary.

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Remote Sensing for Cover Change Assessment in Southeast Arizona

Cited by 12 publications

References 9 publications

Quantifying Western U.S. Rangelands as Fractional Components with Multi-Resolution Remote Sensing and In Situ Data

Quantifying Western U.S. Rangelands as Fractional Components with Multi-Resolution Remote Sensing and In Situ Data

A review of potential methods for monitoring rangeland degradation in Libya

Shrub Encroachment Impacts the Potential for Multiple Use Conflicts on Public Land

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