Investigating vegetation biophysical and spectral parameters for detecting light to moderate grazing effects: a case study in mixed grass prairie

Identifying effective vegetation biophysical and spectral parameters for investigating light to moderate grazing effects on grasslands improves management practices on grasslands. Using mixed grasslands as a case study, this paper compares responses of vegetation biophysical properties and spectral parameters derived from satellite images to grazing intensity, and identifies the suitable biophysical and spectral parameters to detect grazing effects in these areas. Biophysical properties including cover, canopy height and Leaf area index (LAI) were measured in three sites with different grazing managements and one benchmark site in 2008 and 2009 in Grasslands PlaceTypeNational Park and surrounding provincial pastures, Canada. Thirteen vegetation spectral indices, calculated by statistically combining different spectral information, were evaluated. The results indicate that canopy height and the ratio of photosynthetically active vegetation cover to non-photosynthetically active vegetation cover (PV/NPV) showed significant differences between ungrazed and grazed sites. All spectral vegetation indices except the canopy index (CI) show significant differences between grazing treatments. Red-Near infrared (Red-NIR) based vegetation indices, such as Modified Triangular Vegetation Index 1 (MTVI1), Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), are significantly correlated to the PV/NPV. Green/Mid-infrared (Green/MIR) related vegetation indices, i.e. Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PRSI) and Normalized Canopy Index (NCI), show significant correlation with canopy height. Models based on a linear combination of MTVI1 and SAVI were developed for PV/NPV and PRSI and NCI for canopy height. Models that simulated PV/NPV and canopy height show significant correlations with grazing intensity, suggesting the feasibility of remote sensing to quantify light to moderate grazing effects in mixed grasslands.