scholarly journals Spatio-temporal Index Based on Time Series of Leaf Area Index for Identifying Heavy Metal Stress in Rice under Complex Stressors

Author(s):  
Yibo Tang ◽  
Meiling Liu ◽  
Xiangnan Liu ◽  
Ling Wu ◽  
Bingyu Zhao ◽  
...  

Crops under various types of stresses, such as stress caused by heavy metals, drought and pest/disease exhibit similar changes in physiological-biochemical parameters (e.g., leaf area index [LAI] and chlorophyll). Thus, differentiating between heavy metal stress and nonheavy metal stress presents a great challenge. However, different stressors in crops do cause variations in spatiotemporal characteristics. This study aims to develop a spatiotemporal index based on LAI time series to identify heavy metal stress under complex stressors on a regional scale. The experimental area is located in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province. The situ measured data and Sentinel-2A images from 2017 and 2018 were collected. First, a series of LAI in rice growth stages was simulated based on the WOrld FOod STudies (WOFOST) model incorporated with Sentinel 2 images. Second, the local Moran’s I and dynamic time warping (DTW) of LAI were calculated. Third, a stress index based on spatial and temporal features (SIST) was established to assess heavy metal stress levels according to the spatial autocorrelation and temporal dissimilarity of LAI. Results revealed the following: (1) The DTW of LAI is a good indicator for distinguishing stress levels. Specifically, rice subjected to high stress levels exhibits high DTW values. (2) Rice under heavy metal stress is well correlated with high-high SIST clusters. (3) Rice plants subjected to high pollution are observed in the northwest of the study regions and rice under low heavy metal stress is found in the south. The results suggest that SIST based on a sensitive indicator of rice biochemical impairment can be used to accurately detect regional heavy metal stress in rice. Combining spatial-temporal features and spectral information appears to be a highly promising method for discriminating heavy metal stress from complex stressors.

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianjiao Liu ◽  
Xiangnan Liu ◽  
Meiling Liu ◽  
Ling Wu

Heavy metal pollution in crops leads to phenological changes, which can be monitored by remote sensing technology. The present study aims to develop a method for accurately evaluating heavy metal stress in rice based on remote sensing phenology. First, the enhanced spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (ESTARFM) was applied to blend Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat to generate a time series of fusion images at 30 m resolution, and then the vegetation indices (VIs) related to greenness and moisture content of the rice canopy were calculated to create the time-series of VIs. Second, phenological metrics were extracted from the time-series data of VIs, and a feature selection scheme was designed to acquire an optimal phenological metric subset. Finally, an ensemble model with optimal phenological metrics as classification features was built using random forest (RF) and gradient boosting (GB) classifiers, and the classification of stress levels was implemented. The results demonstrated that the overall accuracy of discrimination for different stress levels is greater than 98%. This study suggests that fusion images can be utilized to detect heavy metal stress in rice, and the proposed method may be applicable to classify stress levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3069
Author(s):  
Yadong Liu ◽  
Junhwan Kim ◽  
David H. Fleisher ◽  
Kwang Soo Kim

Seasonal forecasts of crop yield are important components for agricultural policy decisions and farmer planning. A wide range of input data are often needed to forecast crop yield in a region where sophisticated approaches such as machine learning and process-based models are used. This requires considerable effort for data preparation in addition to identifying data sources. Here, we propose a simpler approach called the Analogy Based Crop-yield (ABC) forecast scheme to make timely and accurate prediction of regional crop yield using a minimum set of inputs. In the ABC method, a growing season from a prior long-term period, e.g., 10 years, is first identified as analogous to the current season by the use of a similarity index based on the time series leaf area index (LAI) patterns. Crop yield in the given growing season is then forecasted using the weighted yield average reported in the analogous seasons for the area of interest. The ABC approach was used to predict corn and soybean yields in the Midwestern U.S. at the county level for the period of 2017–2019. The MOD15A2H, which is a satellite data product for LAI, was used to compile inputs. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of crop yield forecasts was <10% for corn and soybean in each growing season when the time series of LAI from the day of year 89 to 209 was used as inputs to the ABC approach. The prediction error for the ABC approach was comparable to results from a deep neural network model that relied on soil and weather data as well as satellite data in a previous study. These results indicate that the ABC approach allowed for crop yield forecast with a lead-time of at least two months before harvest. In particular, the ABC scheme would be useful for regions where crop yield forecasts are limited by availability of reliable environmental data.


2014 ◽  
Vol 955-959 ◽  
pp. 4034-4038
Author(s):  
Luo Jian Mo ◽  
Wen Bin Li ◽  
Yong Chang Ye ◽  
Yong Wen Zhou ◽  
Song Song Liu ◽  
...  

Transect sampling method was used to measure structural attributes of landscape trees in urban green space of three city parks and one residential greenbelt in Dongguan. Leaf area index (LAI) of the landscape trees in each urban green space was determined using hemispherical photography. Average DBH (diameter at the breast height) and CW(crown width) in Wenhua Square were the largest due to the presence of heritage large trees, while the landscape trees were species diverse in Renmin Park. A comparison of LAI in the green space gave a result in descending order: Renmin Park > Wenhua Square > Jinhuwan greenbelt > Yuanmei Park. The case of Renmin Park indicated that when a green space consisted of various structural attributes, landscape trees in different growth stages tended to have large LAI. Findings of our study suggested that a diversity of trees with potentially different LAI should be selected when planning urban green space.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Revill ◽  
Anna Florence ◽  
Alasdair MacArthur ◽  
Stephen Hoad ◽  
Robert Rees ◽  
...  

Leaf area index (LAI) estimates can inform decision-making in crop management. The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite, with observations in the red-edge spectral region, can monitor crops globally at sub-field spatial resolutions (10–20 m). However, satellite LAI estimates require calibration with ground measurements. Calibration is challenged by spatial heterogeneity and scale mismatches between field and satellite measurements. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), generating high-resolution (cm-scale) LAI estimates, provide intermediary observations that we use here to characterise uncertainty and reduce spatial scaling discrepancies between Sentinel-2 observations and field surveys. We use a novel UAV multispectral sensor that matches Sentinel-2 spectral bands, flown in conjunction with LAI ground measurements. UAV and field surveys were conducted on multiple dates—coinciding with different wheat growth stages—that corresponded to Sentinel-2 overpasses. We compared chlorophyll red-edge index (CIred-edge) maps, derived from the Sentinel-2 and UAV platforms. We used Gaussian processes regression machine learning to calibrate a UAV model for LAI, based on ground data. Using the UAV LAI, we evaluated a two-stage calibration approach for generating robust LAI estimates from Sentinel-2. The agreement between Sentinel-2 and UAV CIred-edge values increased with growth stage—R2 ranged from 0.32 (stem elongation) to 0.75 (milk development). The CIred-edge variance between the two platforms was more comparable later in the growing season due to a more homogeneous and closed wheat canopy. The single-stage Sentinel-2 LAI calibration (i.e., direct calibration from ground measurements) performed poorly (mean R2 = 0.29, mean NRMSE = 17%) when compared to the two-stage calibration using the UAV data (mean R2 = 0.88, mean NRMSE = 8%). The two-stage approach reduced both errors and biases by >50%. By upscaling ground measurements and providing more representative model training samples, UAV observations provide an effective and viable means of enhancing Sentinel-2 wheat LAI retrievals. We anticipate that our UAV calibration approach to resolving spatial heterogeneity would enhance the retrieval accuracy of LAI and additional biophysical variables for other arable crop types and a broader range of vegetation cover types.


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