Journal article
Historical maps from modern images: Using remote sensing to model and map century-long vegetation change in a fire-prone region
KE Callister, PA Griffioen, SC Avitabile, A Haslem, LT Kelly, SA Kenny, DG Nimmo, LM Farnsworth, RS Taylor, SJ Watson, AF Bennett, MF Clarke
Plos One | Published : 2016
Abstract
Understanding the age structure of vegetation is important for effective land management, especially in fire-prone landscapes where the effects of fire can persist for decades and centuries. In many parts of the world, such information is limited due to an inability to map disturbance histories before the availability of satellite images (∼1972). Here, we describe a method for creating a spatial model of the age structure of canopy species that established pre-1972. We built predictive neural network models based on remotely sensed data and ecological field survey data. These models determined the relationship between sites of known fire age and remotely sensed data. The predictive model was..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This study is part of a larger research project, the Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project, which received funding and support from: Parks Victoria (http://parkweb.vic.gov.au), Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (Vic) (http://www.delwp.vic.gov.au), Mallee Catchment Management Authority (http://www.malleecma.vic.gov.au), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au), Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au), Lower Murray Darling Catchment Management Authority (http://murray.lls.nsw.gov.au/home), Department for Environment and Heritage (SA) (http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/Home), Land and Water Australia (http://lwa.gov.au), Natural Heritage Trust (http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/natural-heritage), Birdlife Australia (Gluepot Reserve) (http://www.birdlife.org.au), Australian Wildlife Conservancy (Scotia Sanctuary) (http://www.australianwildlife.org), Murray Mallee Partnership. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.