scholarly journals Ecohydrological Optimality in Northeast China Transect

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhentao Cong ◽  
Qinshu Li ◽  
Kangle Mo ◽  
Lexin Zhang

Abstract. Northeast China Transect (NECT) is one of International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) terrestrial transects., where there is a significant precipitation gradient from east to west, as well as a vegetation transition of forest-grasslands-dessert. It is interesting to understand vegetation distribution and dynamics under water limitation in this transect. We take canopy cover (M), derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as an index to describe the properties of vegetation distribution and dynamics in NECT. In Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality theory, the optimal canopy cover (M*) is determined by the trade-off of water supply depending on water balance and water demand depending on canopy transpiration. We apply Eagleson’s ecohydrological optimality method in NECT based on data from 2000 to 2013 to get M*, then compare with M from NDVI, furthermore to discuss the sensitivity of M* to vegetation properties and climate factors. The result indicates that the average M* fits the actual M well (for forest, M* = 0.822 while M = 0.826 for grassland, M* = 0.353 while M = 0.352; the correlation coefficient between M and M* is 0.81). The result of water balance also matches the field-measured data in references. The sensitivity analyses show that M* decreases with the increase of LAI, stem fraction, temperature, while increases with the increase of leaf angle and precipitation amount. The Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method offers a quantitative way to understand the impacts of climate change to canopy cover quantitatively, and provides guidelines for eco-restoration projects.

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 2449-2462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhentao Cong ◽  
Qinshu Li ◽  
Kangle Mo ◽  
Lexin Zhang ◽  
Hong Shen

Abstract. The Northeast China Transect (NECT) is one of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) terrestrial transects, where there is a significant precipitation gradient from east to west, as well as a vegetation transition of forest–grassland–desert. It is remarkable to understand vegetation distribution and dynamics under climate change in this transect. We take canopy cover (M), derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as an index to describe the properties of vegetation distribution and dynamics in the NECT. In Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality theory, the optimal canopy cover (M*) is determined by the trade-off between water supply depending on water balance and water demand depending on canopy transpiration. We apply Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method in the NECT based on data from 2000 to 2013 to get M*, which is compared with M from NDVI to further discuss the sensitivity of M* to vegetation properties and climate factors. The result indicates that the average M* fits the actual M well (for forest, M*  =  0.822 while M  =  0.826; for grassland, M*  =  0.353 while M  =  0.352; the correlation coefficient between M and M* is 0.81). Results of water balance also match the field-measured data in the references. The sensitivity analyses show that M* decreases with the increase of leaf area index (LAI), stem fraction and temperature, while it increases with the increase of leaf angle and precipitation amount. Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method offers a quantitative way to understand the impacts of climate change on canopy cover and provides guidelines for ecorestoration projects.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinshu Li ◽  
Zhentao Cong ◽  
Kangle Mo ◽  
Lexin Zhang

Abstract. Northeast China Transect (NECT) is one of International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) terrestrial transects. In this transect area, there is a significant precipitation gradient from east to west, as well as a vegetation transition of forest-grasslands-dessert. In this paper, we use vegetation cover as an index to describe the properties of vegetation distribution and dynamics in NECT. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used to derive the actual vegetation cover M, while Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality theory is applied to calculate the optimal canopy cover M* along NECT. The result indicates that the theoretical M* fits the actual M well (for forest, M* = 0.822 while M = 0.826; for grassland, M* = 0.353 while M = 0.352; the correlation coefficient between M and M* is 0.81). Water balance are also calculated using Eagleson's theory. The result is compared to the field measured data and shows a relative good match, which further demonstrates the reliability of the ecohydrological optimality theory in this area. M* increases with the decrease of LAI, stem fraction, temperature, and the increase of leaf angle and precipitation amount. The ecohydrological optimality method offers a quantitative way to analyse the impacts of climate change to canopy cover quantitatively, thus providing advices for eco-restoration projects.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 262
Author(s):  
Hui Guo ◽  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Zecheng Guo ◽  
Siyong Chen

Snow cover is an important water source and even an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Assessing snow phenology and its driving factors in Northeast China will help with comprehensively understanding the role of snow cover in regional water cycle and climate change. This study presents spatiotemporal variations in snow phenology and the relative importance of potential drivers, including climate, geography, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), based on the MODIS snow products across Northeast China from 2001 to 2018. The results indicated that the snow cover days (SCD), snow cover onset dates (SCOD) and snow cover end dates (SCED) all showed obvious latitudinal distribution characteristics. As the latitude gradually increases, SCD becomes longer, SCOD advances and SCED delays. Overall, there is a growing tendency in SCD and a delayed trend in SCED across time. The variations in snow phenology were driven by mean temperature, followed by latitude, while precipitation, aspect and slope all had little effect on the SCD, SCOD and SCED. With decreasing temperature, the SCD and SCED showed upward trends. The mean temperature has negatively correlation with SCD and SCED and positively correlation with SCOD. With increasing latitude, the change rate of the SCD, SCOD and SCED in the whole Northeast China were 10.20 d/degree, −3.82 d/degree and 5.41 d/degree, respectively, and the change rate of snow phenology in forested areas was lower than that in nonforested areas. At the same latitude, the snow phenology for different underlying surfaces varied greatly. The correlations between the snow phenology and NDVI were mainly positive, but weak correlations accounted for a large proportion.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-273
Author(s):  
Euseppe Ortiz ◽  
Enrique A. Torres

The use of remote sensing to determine water needs has been successfully applied by several authors to different crops, maintaining, as an important basis, the relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and biophysical variables, such as the fraction of coverage (fc) and the basal crop coefficient (Kcb). Therefore, this study quantified the water needs of two varieties of coriander (UNAPAL Laurena CL and UNAPAL Precoso CP) based on the response of fc and Kcb, using remote sensors and a water balance according to the FAO-56 methodology. A Campbell Scientific meteorological station, a commercial digital camera and a portable spectro radiometer were used to obtain information on the environmental conditions and the crop. By means of remote sensing associated with a water balance, it was found that the water demand was 156 mm for CL and 151 mm for CP until the foliage harvest (41 d after sowing); additionally, the initial Kcb was 0.14, the mean Kcb was 1.16 (approximately) and the final Kcb was 0.71 (approximately).


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 2757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akash Ashapure ◽  
Jinha Jung ◽  
Anjin Chang ◽  
Sungchan Oh ◽  
Murilo Maeda ◽  
...  

This study presents a comparative study of multispectral and RGB (red, green, and blue) sensor-based cotton canopy cover modelling using multi-temporal unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) imagery. Additionally, a canopy cover model using an RGB sensor is proposed that combines an RGB-based vegetation index with morphological closing. The field experiment was established in 2017 and 2018, where the whole study area was divided into approximately 1 x 1 m size grids. Grid-wise percentage canopy cover was computed using both RGB and multispectral sensors over multiple flights during the growing season of the cotton crop. Initially, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)-based canopy cover was estimated, and this was used as a reference for the comparison with RGB-based canopy cover estimations. To test the maximum achievable performance of RGB-based canopy cover estimation, a pixel-wise classification method was implemented. Later, four RGB-based canopy cover estimation methods were implemented using RGB images, namely Canopeo, the excessive greenness index, the modified red green vegetation index and the red green blue vegetation index. The performance of RGB-based canopy cover estimation was evaluated using NDVI-based canopy cover estimation. The multispectral sensor-based canopy cover model was considered to be a more stable and accurately estimating canopy cover model, whereas the RGB-based canopy cover model was very unstable and failed to identify canopy when cotton leaves changed color after canopy maturation. The application of a morphological closing operation after the thresholding significantly improved the RGB-based canopy cover modeling. The red green blue vegetation index turned out to be the most efficient vegetation index to extract canopy cover with very low average root mean square error (2.94% for the 2017 dataset and 2.82% for the 2018 dataset), with respect to multispectral sensor-based canopy cover estimation. The proposed canopy cover model provides an affordable alternate of the multispectral sensors which are more sensitive and expensive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinbing Wang ◽  
Yuxin Miao ◽  
Rui Dong ◽  
Zhichao Chen ◽  
Yanjie Guan ◽  
...  

Precision nitrogen (N) management (PNM) strategies are urgently needed for the sustainability of rain-fed maize (Zea mays L.) production in Northeast China. The objective of this study was to develop an active canopy sensor (ACS)-based PNM strategy for rain-fed maize through improving in-season prediction of yield potential (YP0), response index to side-dress N based on harvested yield (RIHarvest), and side-dress N agronomic efficiency (AENS). Field experiments involving six N rate treatments and three planting densities were conducted in three growing seasons (2015–2017) in two different soil types. A hand-held GreenSeeker sensor was used at V8-9 growth stage to collect normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and ratio vegetation index (RVI). The results indicated that NDVI or RVI combined with relative plant height (NDVI*RH or RVI*RH) were more strongly related to YP0 (R2 = 0.44–0.78) than only using NDVI or RVI (R2 = 0.26–0.68). The improved N fertilizer optimization algorithm (INFOA) using in-season predicted AENS optimized N rates better than the N fertilizer optimization algorithm (NFOA) using average constant AENS. The INFOA-based PNM strategies could increase marginal returns by 212 $ ha−1 and 70 $ ha−1, reduce N surplus by 65% and 62%, and improve N use efficiency (NUE) by 4%–40% and 11%–65% compared with farmer’s typical N management in the black and aeolian sandy soils, respectively. It is concluded that the ACS-based PNM strategies have the potential to significantly improve profitability and sustainability of maize production in Northeast China. More studies are needed to further improve N management strategies using more advanced sensing technologies and incorporating weather and soil information.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 940
Author(s):  
Rocío Ballesteros ◽  
Miguel A. Moreno ◽  
Fellype Barroso ◽  
Laura González-Gómez ◽  
José F. Ortega

The availability of a great amount of remote sensing data for precision agriculture purposes has set the question of which resolution and indices, derived from satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), offer the most accurate results to characterize vegetation. This study focused on assessing, comparing, and discussing the performances and limitations of satellite and UAV-based imagery in terms of canopy development, i.e., the leaf area index (LAI), and yield, i.e., the dry aboveground biomass (DAGB), for maize. Three commercial maize fields were studied over four seasons to obtain the LAI and DAGB. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and visible atmospherically resistant index (VARI) from satellite platforms (Landsat 5TM, 7 ETM+, 8OLI, and Sentinel 2A MSI) and the VARI and green canopy cover (GCC) from UAV imagery were compared. The remote sensing predictors in addition to the growing degree days (GDD) were assessed to estimate the LAI and DAGB using multilinear regression models (MRMs). For LAI estimation, better adjustments were obtained when predictors from the UAV platform were considered. The DAGB estimation revealed similar adjustments for both platforms, although the Landsat imagery offered slightly better adjustments. The results obtained in this study demonstrate the advantage of remote sensing platforms as a useful tool to estimate essential agronomic features.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imma Oliveras ◽  
Marc Gracia ◽  
Gerard Moré ◽  
Javier Retana

In Mediterranean ecosystems, large fires frequently burn under extreme meteorological conditions, but they are usually characterized by a spatial heterogeneity of burn severities. The way in which such mixed-severity fires are a result of fuels, topography and weather remains poorly understood. We computed fire severity of a large wildfire that occurred in Catalonia, Spain, as the difference between the post- and pre-fire Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values obtained through Landsat images. Fuel and topographic variables were derived from remote sensing, and fire behavior variables were obtained from an exhaustive reconstruction of the fire. Results showed that fire severity had a negative relationship with percentage of canopy cover, i.e. green surviving plots were mainly those with more forested conditions. Of the topographic variables, only aspect had a significant effect on fire severity, with higher values in southern than in northern slopes. Fire severity was higher in head than in flank and back fires. The interaction of these two variables was significant, with differences between southern and northern aspects being small for head fires, but increasing in flank and back fires. The role of these variables in determining the pattern of fire severities is of primary importance for interpreting the current landscapes and for establishing effective fire prevention and extinction policies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Zou ◽  
Iina Haikarainen ◽  
Iikka Haikarainen ◽  
Pirjo Mäkelä ◽  
Matti Mõttus ◽  
...  

Leaf area index (LAI) is an important biophysical variable for understanding the radiation use efficiency of field crops and their potential yield. On a large scale, LAI can be estimated with the help of imaging spectroscopy. However, recent studies have revealed that the leaf angle greatly affects the spectral reflectance of the canopy and hence imaging spectroscopy data. To investigate the effects of the leaf angle on LAI-sensitive narrowband vegetation indices, we used both empirical measurements from field crops and model-simulated data generated by the PROSAIL canopy reflectance model. We found the relationship between vegetation indices and LAI to be notably affected, especially when the leaf mean tilt angle (MTA) exceeded 70 degrees. Of the indices used in the study, the modified soil-adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI) was most strongly affected by leaf angles, while the blue normalized difference vegetation index (BNDVI), the green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), the modified simple ratio using the wavelength of 705 nm (MSR705), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) were only affected for sparse canopies (LAI < 3) and MTA exceeding 60°. Generally, the effect of MTA on the vegetation indices increased as a function of decreasing LAI. The leaf chlorophyll content did not affect the relationship between BNDVI, MSAVI, NDVI, and LAI, while the green atmospherically resistant index (GARI), GNDVI, and MSR705 were the most strongly affected indices. While the relationship between SR and LAI was somewhat affected by both MTA and the leaf chlorophyll content, the simple ratio (SR) displayed only slight saturation with LAI, regardless of MTA and the chlorophyll content. The best index found in the study for LAI estimation was BNDVI, although it performed robustly only for LAI > 3 and showed considerable nonlinearity. Thus, none of the studied indices were well suited for across-species LAI estimation: information on the leaf angle would be required for remote LAI measurement, especially at low LAI values. Nevertheless, narrowband indices can be used to monitor the LAI of crops with a constant leaf angle distribution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Han ◽  
Guijun Yang ◽  
Haikuan Feng ◽  
Chengquan Zhou ◽  
Hao Yang ◽  
...  

Maize (zee mays L.) is one of the most important grain crops in China. Lodging is a natural disaster that can cause significant yield losses and threaten food security. Lodging identification and analysis contributes to evaluate disaster losses and cultivates lodging-resistant maize varieties. In this study, we collected visible and multispectral images with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and introduce a comprehensive methodology and workflow to extract lodging features from UAV imagery. We use statistical methods to screen several potential feature factors (e.g., texture, canopy structure, spectral characteristics, and terrain), and construct two nomograms (i.e., Model-1 and Model-2) with better validation performance based on selected feature factors. Model-2 was superior to Model-1 in term of its discrimination ability, but had an over-fitting phenomenon when the predicted probability of lodging went from 0.2 to 0.4. The results show that the nomogram could not only predict the occurrence probability of lodging, but also explore the underlying association between maize lodging and the selected feature factors. Compared with spectral features, terrain features, texture features, canopy cover, and genetic background, canopy structural features were more conclusive in discriminating whether maize lodging occurs at the plot scale. Using nomogram analysis, we identified protective factors (i.e., normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI and canopy elevation relief ratio, CRR) and risk factors (i.e., Hcv1) related to maize lodging, and also found a problem of terrain spatial variability that is easily overlooked in lodging-resistant breeding trials.


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