Large-scale patterns of forest succession as determined by remote sensing

F. G. Hall, D. B. Botkin, D. E. Strebel, K. D. Woods, S. J. Goetz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

233 Scopus citations

Abstract

The spatial pattern of and the transition rates between forest ecological states were inferred for c260 000 pixel-sized (3600 m2) landscape units using satellite remote sensing. Classification of the 1973 and 1983 Landsat images of the 900 km2 study region required a relatively small set of ground-observed and photo-interpreted plots in 1983, with a total area of just 1.62 km2. An innovative technique for correcting multiyear Landsat images for between-image differences in atmospheric effects and sensor calibration, permitted classification of the 1973 Landsat image using 1983 ground observations. For both a wilderness and a nonwilderness area in the study region, sizeable values of transition rates were observed and over half of the landscape units were observed to change state; however, a Markov analysis, using the observed transition probabilities, suggests that at the regional level neither the wilderness nor the nonwilderness areal proportions of ecological states are undergoing rapid change. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)628-640
Number of pages13
JournalEcology
Volume72
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1991
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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