The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping

The threat of invasive alien plant species is progressively becoming a serious global concern. Alien plant invasions adversely affect both ecological services and socio-economic systems. Hence, accurate detection and mapping of invasive alien species is valuable in mitigating adverse ecological and...

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Main Authors: Perushan Rajah, John Odindi, Onisimo Mutanga, Zolo Kiala
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pensoft Publishers 2019-06-01
Series:Nature Conservation
Online Access:https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/29588/download/pdf/
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author Perushan Rajah
John Odindi
Onisimo Mutanga
Zolo Kiala
author_facet Perushan Rajah
John Odindi
Onisimo Mutanga
Zolo Kiala
author_sort Perushan Rajah
collection DOAJ
description The threat of invasive alien plant species is progressively becoming a serious global concern. Alien plant invasions adversely affect both ecological services and socio-economic systems. Hence, accurate detection and mapping of invasive alien species is valuable in mitigating adverse ecological and socio-economic effects. Recent advances in active and passive remote sensing technology have created new and cost-effective opportunities for the application of remote sensing to invasive species mapping. In this study, new generation Sentinel-2 (S2) optical imagery was compared to S2 derived Vegetation Indices (VIs) and S2 VIs fused with Sentinel-1 (S1) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery for detecting and mapping the American Bramble (Rubus cuneifolius). Fusion of S2 VIs and S1 SAR imagery was conducted at pixel level and multi-class Support Vector Machine (SVM) image classification was used to determine the dominant land use land cover classes. Results indicated that S2 derived VIs were the most accurate (80%) in detecting and mapping Bramble, while fused S2 VIs and S1 SAR were the least accurate (54%). Findings from this study suggest that the application of S2 VIs is more suitable for Bramble detection and mapping than the fused S2 VIs and S1 SAR. The superior performance of S2 VIs highlights the value of the new generation S2 VIs for invasive alien species detection and mapping. Furthermore, this study recommends the use of freely available new generation satellite imagery for cost effective and timeous mapping of Bramble from surrounding native vegetation and other land use land cover types.
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spelling doaj.art-7b444fa90262486db971ec77c618df862022-12-21T22:10:06ZengPensoft PublishersNature Conservation1314-69471314-33012019-06-0135416110.3897/natureconservation.35.2958829588The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mappingPerushan Rajah0John Odindi1Onisimo Mutanga2Zolo Kiala3University of KwaZulu-NatalUniversity of KwaZulu-NatalUniversity of KwaZulu-NatalUniversity of KwaZulu-NatalThe threat of invasive alien plant species is progressively becoming a serious global concern. Alien plant invasions adversely affect both ecological services and socio-economic systems. Hence, accurate detection and mapping of invasive alien species is valuable in mitigating adverse ecological and socio-economic effects. Recent advances in active and passive remote sensing technology have created new and cost-effective opportunities for the application of remote sensing to invasive species mapping. In this study, new generation Sentinel-2 (S2) optical imagery was compared to S2 derived Vegetation Indices (VIs) and S2 VIs fused with Sentinel-1 (S1) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery for detecting and mapping the American Bramble (Rubus cuneifolius). Fusion of S2 VIs and S1 SAR imagery was conducted at pixel level and multi-class Support Vector Machine (SVM) image classification was used to determine the dominant land use land cover classes. Results indicated that S2 derived VIs were the most accurate (80%) in detecting and mapping Bramble, while fused S2 VIs and S1 SAR were the least accurate (54%). Findings from this study suggest that the application of S2 VIs is more suitable for Bramble detection and mapping than the fused S2 VIs and S1 SAR. The superior performance of S2 VIs highlights the value of the new generation S2 VIs for invasive alien species detection and mapping. Furthermore, this study recommends the use of freely available new generation satellite imagery for cost effective and timeous mapping of Bramble from surrounding native vegetation and other land use land cover types.https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/29588/download/pdf/
spellingShingle Perushan Rajah
John Odindi
Onisimo Mutanga
Zolo Kiala
The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
Nature Conservation
title The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
title_full The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
title_fullStr The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
title_full_unstemmed The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
title_short The utility of Sentinel-2 Vegetation Indices (VIs) and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for invasive alien species detection and mapping
title_sort utility of sentinel 2 vegetation indices vis and sentinel 1 synthetic aperture radar sar for invasive alien species detection and mapping
url https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/29588/download/pdf/
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