A procedure for obtaining green plant cover: Relation to NDVI in a case study for barley

Declines in riparian ecosystem greenness and water use have been observed in the delta of the Lower Colorado River (LCR) since 2000. The purpose of our case study was to measure these metrics on the U.S. side of the border between Hoover and Morelos Dams to see if declining greenness was unique to the portion of the river in Mexico. In this case study, five riparian reaches of the LCR from Hoover to Morelos Dam since 2000 were studied to evaluate trends in riparian ecosystem health. We measure these riparian woodlands using remotely sensed measurements of the two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2; a proxy for greenness); daily evapotranspiration (ET; mmd−1) using EVI2 (ET(EVI2)); and an annualized ET based on EVI2, the Phenology Assessment Metric (PAM ET), an annualized ET using Landsat time-series. A key finding is that riparian health and its water use has been in decline since 2000 on the U.S. portion of the LCR, depicting a loss of green vegetation over the last two decades. EVI2 results show a decline of −13.83%, while average daily ET(EVI2) between the first and last decade had a decrease of over 1 mmd−1 (−27.30%) and the respective average PAM ET losses were 170.91 mmyr−1 (−17.95%). The difference between the first and last five-year periods, 2000–2005 and 2016–2020, showed the largest decrease in daily ET(EVI) of 1.24 mmd−1 (−32.61%). These declines come from a loss in healthy, green, riparian plant-cover, not a change in plant water use efficiency nor efficient use of managed water resources. Our results suggest further deterioration of biodiversity, wildlife habitat and other key ecosystem services on the U.S. portion of the LCR.

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UAV to Inform Restoration: A Case Study From a California Tidal Marsh

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.642906 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

John Haskins ◽

Charlie Endris ◽

Alexandra S. Thomsen ◽

Fuller Gerbl ◽

Monique C. Fountain ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tidal Marsh ◽

Low Cost ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Flight Altitude ◽

Vegetation Development ◽

Ground Control Points ◽

Digital Elevation ◽

Innovative Tool ◽

Cost Efficient

Monitoring of environmental restoration is essential to communicate progress and improve outcomes of current and future projects, but is typically done in a very limited capacity due to budget and personnel constraints. Unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used in a variety of natural and human-influenced environments and have been found to be time- and cost-efficient, but have not yet been widely applied to restoration contexts. In this study, we evaluated the utility of UAVs as an innovative tool for monitoring tidal marsh restoration. We first optimized methods for creating high-resolution orthomosaics and Structure from Motion digital elevation models from UAV imagery by conducting experiments to determine an optimal density of ground control points (GCPs) and flight altitude for UAV monitoring of topography and new vegetation. We used elevation models and raw and classified orthomosaics before, during, and after construction of the restoration site to communicate with various audiences and inform adaptive management. We found that we could achieve 1.1 cm vertical accuracy in our elevation models using 2.1 GCPs per hectare at a flight altitude of 50 m. A lower flight altitude of 30 m was more ideal for capturing patchy early plant cover while still being efficient enough to cover the entire 25-hectare site. UAV products were valuable for several monitoring applications, including calculating the volume of soil moved during construction, tracking whether elevation targets were achieved, quantifying and examining the patterns of vegetation development, and monitoring topographic change including subsidence, erosion, and creek development. We found UAV monitoring advantageous for the ability to survey areas difficult to access on foot, capture spatial variation, tailor timing of data collection to research needs, and collect a large amount of accurate data rapidly at relatively low cost, though with some compromise in detail compared with field monitoring. In summary, we found that UAV data informed the planning, implementation and monitoring phases of a major landscape restoration project and could be valuable for restoration in many habitats.

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Effects of rodents on plant cover, soil hardness, and soil nutrient content: a case study on tuco-tucos (Ctenomys minutus)

ACTA THERIOLOGICA ◽

10.1007/s13364-014-0193-x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 583-587 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Daniel Galiano ◽

Bruno B. Kubiak ◽

Gerhard E. Overbeck ◽

Thales R. O. de Freitas

Keyword(s):

Plant Cover ◽

Soil Nutrient ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Cover Soil ◽

Soil Hardness ◽

Soil Nutrient Content

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Adopción de especies nativas en la gestión de espacios verdes públicos sostenibles: El caso de Hermosillo

Frontera norte ◽

10.33679/rfn.v1i1.2049 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

María Magdalena Bernal Grijalva ◽

Luis Alan Navarro Navarro ◽

José Luis Moreno Vázquez

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Management ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Floristic Composition ◽

Regulatory Framework ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Global Trend ◽

The Impact ◽

The City ◽

Semi Arid

The relevance of the sustainable management of public green spaces (PGSs) has increased as a result of the global trend of urban growth, especially in arid and semi-arid cities where planners are faced with the challenge of maintaining or increasing plant cover (PC) without increasing water consumption. This study analyzed legal and administrative documents concerning the regulatory framework for PGS in the city of Hermosillo. In addition, the floristic composition and PC of a sample of PGSs (n = 112) was estimated and the impact of this framework was determined using a case study. Our results indicate that the afforestation pattern derived from the current regulatory framework is unsustainable, and it results in insufficient PC in green spaces. On average, exotic species accounted for 62% of the afforestation pattern and PC averaged 27%.

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Biodiversity as a multidimensional construct: a review, framework and case study of herbivory's impact on plant biodiversity

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2015.3005 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 283 (1844) ◽

pp. 20153005 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

S. Naeem ◽

Case Prager ◽

Brian Weeks ◽

Alex Varga ◽

Dan F. B. Flynn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Fundamental Principle ◽

Ecosystem Functions ◽

Environmental Consequences ◽

Genetic Landscape ◽

Understory Plant ◽

Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity

Biodiversity is inherently multidimensional, encompassing taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, genetic, landscape and many other elements of variability of life on the Earth. However, this fundamental principle of multidimensionality is rarely applied in research aimed at understanding biodiversity's value to ecosystem functions and the services they provide. This oversight means that our current understanding of the ecological and environmental consequences of biodiversity loss is limited primarily to what unidimensional studies have revealed. To address this issue, we review the literature, develop a conceptual framework for multidimensional biodiversity research based on this review and provide a case study to explore the framework. Our case study specifically examines how herbivory by whitetail deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) alters the multidimensional influence of biodiversity on understory plant cover at Black Rock Forest, New York. Using three biodiversity dimensions (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity) to explore our framework, we found that herbivory alters biodiversity's multidimensional influence on plant cover; an effect not observable through a unidimensional approach. Although our review, framework and case study illustrate the advantages of multidimensional over unidimensional approaches, they also illustrate the statistical and empirical challenges such work entails. Meeting these challenges, however, where data and resources permit, will be important if we are to better understand and manage the consequences we face as biodiversity continues to decline in the foreseeable future.

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Regional modeling of rainfall-induced landslides using TRIGRS model by incorporating plant cover effects: case study in Hulu Kelang, Malaysia

Environmental Earth Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12665-016-5326-x ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 75 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nader Saadatkhah ◽

Shattri Mansor ◽

Azman Kassim ◽

Lee Min Lee ◽

Reza Saadatkhah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Cover ◽

Regional Modeling

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Regional modelling of rainfall-induced runoff using hydrological model by incorporating plant cover effects: case study in Kelantan, Malaysia

Natural Hazards ◽

10.1007/s11069-018-3322-z ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 93 (2) ◽

pp. 739-764 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shattri Mansor ◽

Nader Saadatkhah ◽

Zailani Khuzaimah ◽

Arnis Asmat ◽

Nor Aizam Adnan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hydrological Model ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Regional Modelling

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The Genesis and Internal Dynamics of El Salvador's People's Revolutionary Army, 1970–1976

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x13009850 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (01) ◽

pp. 102-129

Author(s):

ALBERTO MARTÍN ÁLVAREZ ◽

EUDALD CORTINA ORERO

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

El Salvador ◽

Early Years ◽

Left Wing ◽

Internal Dynamics ◽

Internal Coherence ◽

The 1960S

AbstractUsing interviews with former militants and previously unpublished documents, this article traces the genesis and internal dynamics of the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People's Revolutionary Army, ERP) in El Salvador during the early years of its existence (1970–6). This period was marked by the inability of the ERP to maintain internal coherence or any consensus on revolutionary strategy, which led to a series of splits and internal fights over control of the organisation. The evidence marshalled in this case study sheds new light on the origins of the armed Salvadorean Left and thus contributes to a wider understanding of the processes of formation and internal dynamics of armed left-wing groups that emerged from the 1960s onwards in Latin America.

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Culture and the plasticity of perception

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002887 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Lifshitz ◽

T. M. Luhrmann

Keyword(s):

Cultural Context ◽

Sensory Experience ◽

Cultural Learning ◽

The World

Abstract Culture shapes our basic sensory experience of the world. This is particularly striking in the study of religion and psychosis, where we and others have shown that cultural context determines both the structure and content of hallucination-like events. The cultural shaping of hallucinations may provide a rich case-study for linking cultural learning with emerging prediction-based models of perception.

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