Article
Environmental Sciences
Jianbo Yang, Jianchu Xu, De-Li Zhai
Summary: This study evaluated the mapping accuracy of rubber plantations using three classifiers, with the random forest method showing the highest accuracy. Adding phenology and topography can improve the mapping accuracy for rubber plantations. The machine learning approach has great potential for accurate regional mapping by incorporating plant habitat and ecological information.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fathin Ayuni Azizan, Ike Sari Astuti, Mohammad Irvan Aditya, Tri Rapani Febbiyanti, Alwyn Williams, Anthony Young, Ammar Abdul Aziz
Summary: Land surface phenology derived from satellite data provides insights into vegetation responses to climate change. This study in South Sumatra, Indonesia, analysed the influence of climate on rubber growth and found temperature to be a significant factor modulating rubber phenology, while fluctuations in rainfall and temperature can cause changes in the growing season.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abdelaziz Htitiou, Abdelghani Boudhar, Abdelghani Chehbouni, Tarik Benabdelouahab
Summary: This study automated the extraction of cropland phenological metrics on GEE and used them with machine-learning models to produce high-resolution cropland and crop field-probabilities maps in Morocco. The classification product showed an overall accuracy of 97.86% for the nominal year 2019-2020, and the cropland probabilities maps accurately estimated sub-national SAU areas with an R-value of 0.9.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guokun Chen, Zicheng Liu, Qingke Wen, Rui Tan, Yiwen Wang, Jingjing Zhao, Junxin Feng
Summary: In this study, a classification method combining multi-source phenology characteristics and random forest algorithm was proposed to identify the spatial distribution of rubber plantations. The method extracted multiple features of rubber based on optimized input samples and features, including phenological spectrum, brightness, greenness, wetness, fractional vegetation cover, and topography. The results showed that the method achieved a high classification accuracy and stable evaluation indexes, providing reliable results for spatial monitoring of rubber plantations.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hadi Zare Khormizi, Hamid Reza Ghafarian Malamiri, Zahra Kalantari, Carla Sofia Santos Ferreira
Summary: Investigating vegetation changes, especially plant phenology, can provide valuable insights into global warming and climate change. This study used time series satellite observations and remote sensing methods to analyze the phenological components of Iran's vegetation. The results showed significant changes in phenology, indicating an acceleration and earlier initiation of various phenological processes in the area.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ramandeep Kaur M. Malhi, G. Sandhya Kiran, Mangala N. Shah, Nirav Mistry, Viral H. Bhavsar, Chandra Prakash Singh, Bimal Kumar Bhattarcharya, Philip A. Townsend, Shiv Mohan
Summary: The study focused on generating phenological metrics for teak using MODIS NDVI data, showcasing the shifts in the start, end, and duration of the growing season, and the potential impact on productivity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abdelaziz Htitiou, Abdelghani Boudhar, Youssef Lebrini, Rachid Hadria, Hayat Lionboui, Tarik Benabdelouahab
Summary: In this study, the potential of phenological indicators derived from Sentinel-2A time series was evaluated for identifying cropland and crop types. The combination of fitted vegetation indices and phenological features achieved the best performance in delineating and identifying different crop types.
GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Federico Filipponi, Daniela Smiraglia, Emiliano Agrillo
Summary: The study of vegetation phenology is important in various fields, such as crop production, forest management, ecosystem disturbances, and human health. This study presents an automated procedure that utilizes satellite observations to estimate phenological metrics and discriminate vegetation typologies. The results highlight the ability of the generated smoothed vegetation curve and temporal statistics to detect forest ecosystem responses and distinguish forest types based on seasonal gradients and leaf characteristics.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bei Cui, Wenjiang Huang, Huichun Ye, Quanxi Chen
Summary: Quickly and accurately understanding the spatial distribution of regional rubber resources is of great practical significance. This study explores the feasibility of using PlanetScope data to monitor rubber forests and finds that the object-oriented RF/SVM classification method achieves the best classification results, providing high-precision monitoring data for rubber plantations.
Article
Agronomy
Zhen Ling, Zhengtao Shi, Tiyuan Xia, Shixiang Gu, Jiaping Liang, Chong-Yu Xu
Summary: A short-term crop evapotranspiration (ETc) forecasting method was proposed for rubber plantations using the rubber crop coefficient K-c and public weather forecasts. The results showed that the method had good performance and acceptable accuracy, especially in the dry season, providing an important basis for improving water management in high water consumption rubber plantations at a regional scale.
Article
Agronomy
Rui Ni, Xiaohui Zhu, Yuping Lei, Xiaoxin Li, Wenxu Dong, Chuang Zhang, Tuo Chen, David M. Mburu, Chunsheng Hu
Summary: Accurate crop identification and spatial distribution mapping are crucial for agricultural countries in Africa, especially those lacking financial support. This study evaluates preprocessing methods to provide a low-cost solution for cultivated land monitoring in sub-Saharan Africa. The results suggest that the combination of raw vegetation index time series achieves the best performance.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Libing Pan, Fanzhen Xu, Huizhu Mo, Richard T. Corlett, Liqing Sha
Summary: This study showed that biochar application in rubber plantations can improve soil properties, enhance nutrient uptake by seedlings, reduce nutrient leaching, and potentially sequester more carbon. However, further research is needed to determine the optimal application rate under field conditions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
N. Shabanov, G. J. Marshall, W. G. Rees, S. A. Bartalev, O. Tutubalina, E. Golubeva
Summary: This study examines the response of Arctic vegetation to temperature changes, finding that seasonal trends cannot fully capture complex interannual variations. Green-up and senescence trends exhibit different characteristics over the growing season, with the intensity and timing of changes dependent on vegetation type. Further release of climatic constraints is likely to impact both the environment and vegetation, leading to shifts in LAI seasonal amplitudes.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guanyu Hou, Xiuliang Yuan, Shixin Wu, Xiaofei Ma, Zihui Zhang, Xingwen Cao, Conghui Xie, Qing Ling, Weiyi Long, Geping Luo
Summary: Lake ice phenology in Central Asia was studied using MODIS daily LST products from 2002 to 2020. The results showed regional differences in the trends of lake ice phenology, with lakes near Kunlun Mountains experiencing delayed freeze-up and lakes in southwestern Central Asia showing advancing freeze-up and breakup. Correlations with local and climatic factors indicated that heat was the main driver of the breakup process, while precipitation influenced freezing time and wind speed affected the time of complete ice freezing.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chiwei Xiao, Peng Li, Zhiming Feng, Yumei Lin, Zhen You, Yanzhao Yang
Summary: The study presented a phenology-based method for mapping rubber plantations and validated it in Xishuangbanna. With support from phenological algorithm and meteorological data, the resultant rubber plantation map achieved a high overall accuracy of 92.3%, enriching remote sensing-based approaches for mapping rubber plantations.
GEOCARTO INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maksym Matsala, Cornelius Senf, Andrii Bilous, Petro Diachuk, Roman Zadorozhniuk, Maksym Burianchuk, Rupert Seidl
Summary: This study investigates the effects of ionizing radiation on tree regeneration and forest development after the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The results suggest that high levels of radiation may reduce tree regeneration and negatively impact the individual health of Scots pine trees. However, overall forest structural development was found to be largely unaffected by radiation. These findings have implications for assessing long-term risks at nuclear accident sites and highlight the need for further research and monitoring.
APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Franz Schug, David Frantz, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Helmut Haberl, Doris Virag, Sebastian van der Linden, Patrick Hostert
Summary: This study assessed the dynamics of material stock and its relation to population in Germany using Landsat imagery and a spatial resolution of 30 m. The results showed that material stock and population in Germany grew by 13% and 4% respectively, with highly variable spatial patterns. The reunification of East and West Germany in 1990 led to a rapid growth of material stock per capita in East Germany, despite a decline in population. Possible over- or underestimations of stock growth due to methodological assumptions require further research.
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marc Gruenig, Rupert Seidl, Cornelius Senf
Summary: Area burned in Europe has decreased but may reverse due to climate change, especially in temperate and boreal forests. A study using remote sensing data of 64,448 fire events between 1986 and 2020 shows a power-law relationship between maximum fire size and area burned, and a positive correlation between vapor pressure deficit and fire severity. Climate change could double the probability of extreme fires by the end of the century, posing challenges to fire management and forest ecosystem services.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ana Stritih, Rupert Seidl, Cornelius Senf
Summary: In this study, the horizontal and vertical structure of mountain forests in the European Alps was characterized using spaceborne lidar. Two alternative states of forest structure were identified: short, open-canopy forests and tall, closed-canopy forests. Disturbances played a significant role in transitioning between these states.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Katarzyna Ewa Lewinska, Anthony R. Ives, Clay J. Morrow, Natalia Rogova, He Yin, Paul R. Elsen, Kirsten de Beurs, Patrick Hostert, Volker C. Radeloff
Summary: Grassland ecosystems cover a large portion of global land area, and monitoring their long-term changes is crucial for various purposes. Existing remote sensing-based monitoring methods often fail to consider temporal and spatial autocorrelation, leading to inaccurate identification of trends. In this study, we analyzed trends in Eurasian grasslands using a new statistical approach that accounts for autocorrelation. The results showed significant changes in Eurasian grasslands over the past two decades, with an increase in non-photosynthetic vegetation and local changes in green vegetation and soil cover. Environmental variables significantly affected these trends, but their effects varied across regions.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Benjamin Jakimow, Matthias Baumann, Caroline Salomao, Hugo Bendini, Patrick Hostert
Summary: The increasing deforestation and fires since 2019 in the Brazilian Amazon have raised concerns about irreversible destruction. This study aimed to understand these changes in south-west Para under different presidencies and land-tenure systems. The results showed a significant increase in deforestation and fires during Bolsonaro's presidency, particularly in undesignated areas and conservation units on medium-sized farms.
JOURNAL OF LAND USE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Lisa Mandl, Ana Stritih, Rupert Seidl, Christian Ginzler, Cornelius Senf
Summary: The launch of NASA's GEDI mission in 2018 provides new opportunities for describing forest ecosystems across large scales. The study quantified GEDI's potential to estimate forest structure in mountain landscapes and found a high agreement between GEDI and ALS at the landscape level. The research highlights the importance of GEDI for ecosystem dynamics and management.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Franz Schug, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Helmut Haberl, David Frantz, Doris Virag, Sebastian van der Linden, Patrick Hostert
Summary: This study provides high-resolution maps of material stocks in buildings and infrastructures in Austria, showing a 33-year time series. These data are important for studies on societal resource use, transport studies, and land system science.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rudolf Reiner, Rupert Seidl, Sebastian Seibold, Cornelius Senf
Summary: As climate change intensifies, forest disturbances caused by increased demand for timber are on the rise. These disturbances create transient edges within forests, which can have significant effects on the habitat quality of forest-dwelling species.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Franz Schug, Avi Bar-Massada, Amanda R. Carlson, Heather Cox, Todd J. Hawbaker, David Helmers, Patrick Hostert, Dominik Kaim, Neda K. Kasraee, Sebastian Martinuzzi, Miranda H. Mockrin, Kira A. Pfoch, Volker C. Radeloff
Summary: This study presents a global map of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in 2020, showing its widespread existence and identifying previously undocumented hotspots. The WUI covers a small percentage of land surface but is home to a significant portion of the global population. This research highlights the importance of understanding housing growth and vegetation patterns as drivers of WUI change.
Article
Computer Science, Software Engineering
Benjamin Jakimow, Andreas Janz, Fabian Thiel, Akpona Okujeni, Patrick Hostert, Sebastian van der Linden
Summary: EnMAP-Box is a Python plugin for analyzing imaging spectroscopy data, which can be integrated into the QGIS geoinformation system. It offers advanced functionalities and easy access to algorithms for visualizing and processing hyperspectral, multispectral, and multi-temporal remote sensing data.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kira Anjana Pfoch, Dirk Pflugmacher, Akpona Okujeni, Patrick Hostert
Summary: Precise quantification of forest fire impacts is crucial for post-fire mitigation strategies. Optical remote sensing imagery combined with spectral unmixing has been widely used to measure fire severity. However, most previous studies only used post-fire imagery without considering the pre-fire state. This study presents a bi-temporal spectral unmixing analysis using Sentinel-2 data, which includes pre-fire and post-fire information, to provide a quantitative description of fire impact.
SCIENCE OF REMOTE SENSING
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Mauro Hermann, Matthias Rothlisberger, Arthur Gessler, Andreas Rigling, Cornelius Senf, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Heini Wernli
Summary: Forest dieback in Europe has intensified and expanded, influenced by meteorological variations of temperature and precipitation. This study quantitatively investigates the meteorological history preceding events of reduced forest greenness and identifies the impact of the hottest summer on record in 2022, negatively affecting 37% of temperate and Mediterranean forest regions. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the forest-meteorology interaction for forest dieback in a changing climate.