The Brazilian Cerrado biome comprises a vertically structured mosaic of grassland, shrubland, and woodland physiognomies with distinct phenology patterns. In this study, we investigated the utility of spectral vegetation indices in differentiating these physiognomies and in monitoring their seasonal dynamics. We obtained high spectral resolution reflectances, during the 2000 wet and dry seasons...

Assessing oil pollution using traditional field-based methods over large areas is difficult and expensive. Remote sensing technologies with good spatial and temporal coverage might provide an alternative for monitoring oil pollution by recording the spectral signals of plants growing in polluted soils. Total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations of soils and the hyperspectral canopy reflectance ...

plant life and food production for human closely depend on fertile and healthy soil. knowledge about qualitative properties of soil and its potential production can contribute us in the plantation, fertilization, utilization and land management. in addition, rangelands cover a very large portion of the earth's surface and play an important role in food security and other ecosystem services. the...

Changes in vegetation phenology are recognized as being possibly the most important early indicator of the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Time series of image data are accepted as being the best way to map these changes, if we can derive suitable indices from the huge volumes of time series data that make the interpretation of these time series difficult. The problem is thus to derive ...

Long-term MODIS vegetation index records were used to extract regularly-repeating seasonal and interannual greenness cycles in Hawaiian ecosystems using harmonic analysis. With two vegetation indices, NDVI and EVI, the MODIS system provided an opportunity to combine the two measures and create a hybrid approach to the leaf phenology study in a diversity of Hawaiian ecosystems. Despite data nois...

Vegetation pattern and landscape structure intersect to exert strong control over ecohydrological dynamics at the watershed scale. The hydrologic implications of vegetation disturbance (e.g. fire, disease) depend on the spatial pattern and form of environmental change. Here, we investigate this intersection at Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest (TCEF), Montana, with a focus on the mountain pi...

Coastal marshes depend on belowground biomass of roots and rhizomes to contribute to peat and soil organic carbon, accrete soil and alleviate flooding as sea level rises. For nutrient-limited plants, eutrophication has either reduced or stimulated belowground biomass depending on plant biomass allocation response to fertilization. Within a freshwater wetland impoundment receiving minimal sedime...

Introduction The City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department strives to protect the water quality in Austin area watersheds. Austin creeks have been monitored for years through the Environmental The Austin Lake Index (ALI) was designed to provide a yearly assessment of the environmental integrity of Lake Austin, Lady Bird Lake, and Lake Long. Sub-indices used to compute the ALI include rep...

Algorithms that use remotely-sensed vegetation indices to estimate gross primary production (GPP), a key component of the global carbon cycle, have gained a lot of popularity in the past decade. Yet despite the amount of research on the topic, the most appropriate approach is still under debate. As an attempt to address this question, we compared the performance of different vegetation indices ...