Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles
Arctic vegetation communities are rapidly changing with climate warming, which impacts wildlife, carbon cycling, and climate feedbacks. Accurately monitoring vegetation change is thus crucial, but scale mismatches between field and satellite-based monitoring cause challenges. Remote sensing from unm...
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Canadian Science Publishing
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0044 https://doaj.org/article/ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae 2023-05-15T14:22:20+02:00 Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles Kathleen M. Orndahl Libby P.W. Ehlers Jim D. Herriges Rachel E. Pernick Mark Hebblewhite Scott J. Goetz 2022-12-01 https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0044 https://doaj.org/article/ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae en fr eng fre Canadian Science Publishing doi:10.1139/as-2021-0044 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae undefined Arctic Science, Vol 8, Iss 4, Pp 1165-1180 (2022) Arctic tundra vegetation mapping drones UAV structure from motion toundra arctique envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0044 2023-01-22T18:04:11Z Arctic vegetation communities are rapidly changing with climate warming, which impacts wildlife, carbon cycling, and climate feedbacks. Accurately monitoring vegetation change is thus crucial, but scale mismatches between field and satellite-based monitoring cause challenges. Remote sensing from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has emerged as a bridge between field data and satellite-based mapping. We assessed the viability of using high-resolution UAV imagery and UAV-derived Structure from Motion to predict cover, height, and aboveground biomass (henceforth biomass) of Arctic plant functional types (PFTs) across a range of vegetation community types. We classified imagery by PFT, estimated cover and height, and modeled biomass from UAV-derived volume estimates. Predicted values were compared to field estimates to assess results. Cover was estimated with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 6.29%–14.2%, and height was estimated with an RMSE of 3.29–10.5 cm depending on the PFT. Total aboveground biomass was predicted with an RMSE of 220.5 g m−2, and per-PFT RMSE ranged from 17.14 to 164.3 g m−2. Deciduous and evergreen shrub biomass was predicted most accurately, followed by lichen, graminoid, and forb biomass. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of using UAVs to map PFT biomass, which provides a link towards improved mapping of PFTs across large areas using earth observation satellite imagery. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctique* toundra Tundra Alaska Unknown Arctic Canada Arctic Science |
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Open Polar |
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language |
English French |
topic |
Arctic tundra vegetation mapping drones UAV structure from motion toundra arctique envir geo |
spellingShingle |
Arctic tundra vegetation mapping drones UAV structure from motion toundra arctique envir geo Kathleen M. Orndahl Libby P.W. Ehlers Jim D. Herriges Rachel E. Pernick Mark Hebblewhite Scott J. Goetz Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
topic_facet |
Arctic tundra vegetation mapping drones UAV structure from motion toundra arctique envir geo |
description |
Arctic vegetation communities are rapidly changing with climate warming, which impacts wildlife, carbon cycling, and climate feedbacks. Accurately monitoring vegetation change is thus crucial, but scale mismatches between field and satellite-based monitoring cause challenges. Remote sensing from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has emerged as a bridge between field data and satellite-based mapping. We assessed the viability of using high-resolution UAV imagery and UAV-derived Structure from Motion to predict cover, height, and aboveground biomass (henceforth biomass) of Arctic plant functional types (PFTs) across a range of vegetation community types. We classified imagery by PFT, estimated cover and height, and modeled biomass from UAV-derived volume estimates. Predicted values were compared to field estimates to assess results. Cover was estimated with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 6.29%–14.2%, and height was estimated with an RMSE of 3.29–10.5 cm depending on the PFT. Total aboveground biomass was predicted with an RMSE of 220.5 g m−2, and per-PFT RMSE ranged from 17.14 to 164.3 g m−2. Deciduous and evergreen shrub biomass was predicted most accurately, followed by lichen, graminoid, and forb biomass. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of using UAVs to map PFT biomass, which provides a link towards improved mapping of PFTs across large areas using earth observation satellite imagery. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kathleen M. Orndahl Libby P.W. Ehlers Jim D. Herriges Rachel E. Pernick Mark Hebblewhite Scott J. Goetz |
author_facet |
Kathleen M. Orndahl Libby P.W. Ehlers Jim D. Herriges Rachel E. Pernick Mark Hebblewhite Scott J. Goetz |
author_sort |
Kathleen M. Orndahl |
title |
Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
title_short |
Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
title_full |
Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
title_fullStr |
Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in Alaska and northwest Canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
title_sort |
mapping tundra ecosystem plant functional type cover, height, and aboveground biomass in alaska and northwest canada using unmanned aerial vehicles |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0044 https://doaj.org/article/ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctique* toundra Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctique* toundra Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Arctic Science, Vol 8, Iss 4, Pp 1165-1180 (2022) |
op_relation |
doi:10.1139/as-2021-0044 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/ae0b96c09c274603adf4f9110b86c1ae |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0044 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
_version_ |
1766294965294465024 |