Monitoring of Vegetation Cover change in Helen Forested Protected Area and its Causes based on Bi-temporal Analysis of NDVI
Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant professor, Shahrekord University, Faculty of Naural Resources
2 MSc graduate of forestry, Shahrekord University, Faculty of Naural Resources
Abstract
This paper aims to detect occurred changes in vegetation cover of forested Helen protected area using extracted NDVIs from Bi-temporal multispectral images of Landsat TM. To do so, at first forest areas with low and moderate density cover were identified and separated on land use map. Then preprocessing applications including radiometric corrections were done on both 1990 and 2009 images. Also for calculating NDVIs, data on 4th (near-infrared) and 2nd (red) bands were extracted from both images. Finally, changes in vegetation cover from 1990 to 2009 were calculated using NDVI of the study area. Results show that density has increased in 12.4% of the study area including 7.5% in moderate and 4.9% in low density areas. Moreover, in 0.63% of the total area vegetation density was decreased 0.17% out of which belongs to forested area with moderate density and 0.46% to low dense. Taking into account precipitation and temperature trends during this period, these results might be related to increasing long term annual temperature and winter seasonal precipitation, respectively. Also, considering this area as a protected area from 1992 and implementing more protective affairs can be related to these outcomes.
Keywords
1. Abdi O., Akbari H., Sosani J., Shirvani Z (2009) Comparison of vegetation indexes in preparing Zagros forest density using ETM+ imageries. Geomatic Conference Proceeding
2. Abdollahi J., Rahimian M., Dashtakian K., Shadan M (2006) Investigation of environmental effects of land use change on vegetation cover of urban areas using remote sensing technique. Journal of Sciences and Technology, 8(29): 1-6
3. Alavi Panah S. K (2000) Landsat TM spectral bands effectiveness evaluation in the studies of deserts of Iran. Journal of Iran’s Natural Resources. 53(1): 67-78
4. Argany M. Sarajian M., Homayouni S (2009) Subpixel urban region change detection using spectral mixture analysis. Tehran, 2009 Geomatic Conference Proceeding, page: 11
5. Atlas of Protected Areas of Iran (2006) Islamic Republic of Iran Department of Environment Press. ISBN: 9640394114, pp: 158
6. Brussard P. F., Reed M. J., Tracy C. R (1998) Ecosystem Management: What is it really? Landscape and Urban Planning 40: 9-20.
7. Chaharmal & Bakhtiari Governor’s Deputy of Planning and Management (2006a) Annual census of people and buildings, 1. Land and Climate
8. Chaharmal & Bakhtiari Governor’s Deputy of Planning and Management (2006b) Annual census of people and buildings, 2. Population
9. Chaharmahal and Bakhtiary Meteorological Office (2010) Long term precipitation and temperature data. Accessible online in: www.chbmet.ir
10. Colwell, R. N (1987) Remote sensing-past, present and future. Proceedings, Study weak on remote sensing and its impact on developing countries. Vatican City, Italy, 16-21 June 1986, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, pp. 3-141.
11. De Alwis D. A., Easton Z. M., Dahlke H. E., Philpot W. D., and Steenhuis T. S (2007) Unsupervised classification of saturated areas using a time series of remotely sensed images, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 4: 1663–1696.
12. De Jong, R., Shields, J. A. and Sly, W. K (1984) Estimated soil water reserves applicable to a wheat fallow rotation for generalized soil areas mapped in southern Saskatchewan, Canadian J. Soil Sci., 64(3): 667–680.
13. Denègre, J. E (1988) Thematic mapping from satellite imagery: an international report. Elsevier Applied Science.
14. Farrar, T. J., Nicholson, S. E., and Lare, A. R (1994) The influence of soil type on the relationships between NDVI, rainfall, and soil moisture in semiarid Botswana, Remote Sens. Environ., 50(2): 121–133.
15. Gates, D., Keegan, J. J., Schleter, J. C., and Weidner, V. R (1965) Spectral properties of plants, Appl. Opt., 4: 11–20.
16. Gavili Kilaneh E. and Vahabi M. R (2012) The Effect of Some Soil Characteristics on Range Vegetation Distribution in Central Zagros, Iran. Journal of Science and Technology, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water and Soil Sciences, 16(59): 245-258.
17. Ghanbari F. and Shataee Sh (2011) Investigation on Forest Extend Changes Using Aerial Photos and ASTER Imagery (Case Study: Border Forests in South and Southwest of Gorgan City). J. of Wood & Forest Science and Technology, 17(4): 1-18
18. Hale, S. R., and Rock, B. N. (2003) Impact of topographic normalization on land-cover classification accuracy. Photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing, 69(7): 785-792.
19. Holling C. S (1978) Adaptive environmental assessment and management. (Editor) London: John Wiley & Sons
20. Hosseinzadeh M. M., Esmaili R., Nohegar A., Saghafi M (2009) A Survey of Changes to Forest Covering in the Northern Slopes of Alborz - A Case Study: the Distance between Harahz and Chalos River and Chalos, Noshar, Noor and Amol Cities. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 7(1): 1-19
21. Kumar A., Uniyal S. K., Lal B (2007) Stratification of forest density and its validation by NDVI analysis in a part of western Himalaya, India using Remote sensing and GIS techniques. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 28(11): 2485-2495
22. Lillesand, T. M., and Kiefer, R. W (2000) Remote sensing and image interpretation. (Fourth edition). New York’ John Wiley and Sons Publication.
23. Lyon, J. G., Yuan, D., Lunetta , R. S., and Elvidge, C. D (1998) A change detection experiment using vegetation indices. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 64(2): 143–150.
24. Madjnoonian H (2000) Protected Areas of Iran (Principles & Guidelines for Conservation and Management). Islamic Republic of Iran Department of Environment Press. 742 pp.
25. Makhdoum M. F (2001) Land use planning fundamental. Tehran University Press. 248 pp.
26. Maselli, F (2003) Monitoring forest conditions in a protected Mediterranean coastal area by the analysis of multiyear NDVI data. Remote sensing of environment, 89(4): 423-433.
27. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2006) Landsat 7 science data users’ handbook, (on-line). available on. http:// landsathandbook.gsfc.nasa.gov/pdfs/Landsat7_Handbook.pdf (September, 2011).
28. Naseri F., Darvishsefat A. A., Sobhani H., Namiranian M (2004) Assessment of landsat 7 imageries for preparing forest density in arid and semi arid areas. Iranian Natural Resources Journal. 57(1): 109-119
29. Nazari Samani A., Ghorbani M. and Koohbenani H. R (2010) Assessment of land use change trend in Taleghan watershed in 1987- 2001. Rangeland, 4(3): 442-450
30. Nicholson, S. E. and Farrar T. J (1994) The influence of soil type on the relationships between NDVI, rainfall, and soil moisture in semiarid Botswana, Remote Sens. Environ., 50: 107–120.
31. Rouse, J. W., Haas, R. H., Schell, J. A., Deering, D. W., and Harlan, J. C (1974) Monitoring the vernal advancement and retrogradation (greenwave effect) of natural vegetation, NASA/GSFC Type III Final Report_, Greenbelt, Md. 371 p.
32. Sader, S.A., Bertrand, M., Wilson, E.H (2003) Satellite Change Detection of Forest Harvest Patterns on an Industrial Forest Landscape, Forest Science, 49 (3): 341–353
33. Salehi A., Mohammadi A., Safari A (2011) Investigation and comparison of physical and chemical soil properties and quantitative characteristics of trees in less-damaged and damaged area of Zagross forests (Case study: Poldokhtar, Lorestan province). Iranian Journal of Forest, 3(1): 81-89
34. Sanchez Flores, E. S., Yool, S. R (2007) Sensitivity of Change Vector Analysis to Land Covers Change in an Arid Ecosystem, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 28: 1069–1088.
35. Shataee Sh., Abdi O (2007) Land cover mapping in mountainous lands of Zagros using ETM + data, Case Study: Sorkhab watershed, Lorestan province, Iran. Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources. 14(1): 129-139.
36. Talebi M., Sagheb-Talebi Kh., Jahanbazi H (2006) Site demands and some quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Persian Oak (Quercus brantii Lindl.) in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari Province (western Iran). Journal of Forest and Fir Researches, 14(1): 67-79
37. Tavan M., Mesdaghi M., Dianati Tilaki G. A (2010) Floristic composition and plant species richness of plains and hills at Agh-Ghala rangelands in Golestan Province, Iran. Rangeland, 4(2): 178-187
38. Timlin, D. J., Pachepsky, Y., Walthall, C. L., Loechel, S. E (2001) The use of a water-budget model and yield maps to characterize water availability in a landscape, Soil and Tillage, 58: 219–231.
39. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future, chair: Gro Harlem Brundtland, United Nations Development Program
40. Zebardast L., Jafari H. R., Badian Z., Ashegh Moalla M (2010) Assessment of vegetation cover changes of Arasbaran protected area in time series of 2002, 2006 and 2008 using landsat imageries. Environment Researches. 1(1): 23-33
)