Utilizing
image analysis and geographic information systems (GIS)
software available at the LTER Network Office, John Magnuson
(North Temperate Lakes) and John Vande Castle (Network
Office) compared at nested spatial scales the spatial
heterogeneity of LTER site remote sensing scenes, calculating vegetation
indices for each 1991 thematic mapper scene masked for
clouds, cloud shadow and water.
One
long-term goal for utilizing such extensive data might
be to analyze temporal and spatial heterogeneity of a
diverse set of ecosystems at the same grain and at nested
sets of spatial scales. Ecologists have a limited ability
to address the idea that the temporal behavior of ecological
systems is greatly influenced by structural complexity.
In part, this is because measures of spatial heterogeneity
depend on the scale of measurement, which differs widely
among subdisciplines and ecosystems. Remote sensing may
provide the only tool ecologists have to observe landscapes
as different as forests, lakes and prairies at the same
spatial scales.
Publications
describing some of this work:
Riera,
J.L., J.R. Vande Castle, J.J. Magnuson, and MacKenzie 1998. Analysis
of Large-Scale Spatial Heterogeneity in Vegetation Indices among North
American Landscapes. Ecosystems - 1:268-282
Vande
Castle, J.R., J.J. Magnuson, M.D. MacKenzie and J.L. Riera.
1995. Regional ecosystem comparison using a standardized
NDVI Approach. Proceedings, GIS'95 - Vancouver 2:797-804.
Vande
Castle, J. R. 1991. Remote sensing and modeling activities
for long-term ecological research. Proceedings: GIS/LIS'91,
Atlanta ACSM/ASPRS pp. 544-550
