Combining LiDAR vegetation products with Landsat time series archive to assess temporal changes in vegetation condition  

Authors / CoAuthors

Gow, L. | Lymburner, L. | McIntyre, A. | Halas, L. | Magee, J.

Abstract

In many areas of the world, vegetation dynamics in semi-arid floodplain environments have been seriously impacted by increased river regulation and groundwater use. With increases in regulation along many rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin, flood volume, seasonality and frequency have changed which has in turn affected the condition and distribution of vegetation. Floodplain vegetation can be degraded from both too much and too little water due to regulation. Over-regulation and increased use of groundwater in these landscapes can exacerbate the effects related to natural climate variability. Prolonged flooding of woody plants has been found to induce a number of physiological disturbances such as early stomatal closure and inhibition of photosynthesis. However, drought conditions can also result in leaf biomass reduction and sapwood area decline. Depending on the species, different inundation and drought tolerances are observed. Identification of groundwater-dependent terrestrial vegetation, and assessment of the relative importance of different water sources to vegetation dynamics, typically requires detailed ecophysiological studies over a number of seasons or years as shown in Chowilla, New South Wales [] and Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia []. However, even when groundwater dependence can be quantified, results are often difficult to upscale beyond the plot scale. Quicker, more regional approaches to mapping groundwater-dependent vegetation have consequently evolved with technological advancements in remote sensing techniques. Such an approach was used in this study. LiDAR canopy digital elevation model (CDEM) and foliage projected cover (FPC) data were combined with Landsat imagery in order to characterise the spatial and temporal behaviour of woody vegetation in the Lower Darling Floodplain, New South Wales. The multi-temporal dynamics of the woody vegetation were then compared to the estimated availability of different water sources in order to better understand water requirements.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

75164

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Keywords

• External PublicationConference Paper

( Theme )

• groundwater

( Theme )

• vegetation

( Theme )

• image processing

( Theme )

• remote sensing

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Hydrogeology

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2013-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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notPlanned

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environment

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This is an extended abstract based on the research undertaken as part of the Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge Project. Further specifics of this research can be obtained from GA Records produced as part of this project.

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Proceedings of the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, Sunday 21st-Friday 26th July 2013