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 - 1:228-282
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
For more information:
John Magnusonjmagnuson@lternet.edu
John Vande Castle