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. 2022 Jan 26;17(1):e0256672.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256672. eCollection 2022.

Mapping vegetation species succession in a mountainous grassland ecosystem using Landsat, ASTER MI, and Sentinel-2 data

Efosa Gbenga Adagbasa  1 , Geofrey Mukwada  1   2   3
Affiliations

Mapping vegetation species succession in a mountainous grassland ecosystem using Landsat, ASTER MI, and Sentinel-2 data

Efosa Gbenga Adagbasa et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Vegetation species succession and composition are significant factors determining the rate of ecosystem biodiversity recovery after being disturbed and subsequently vital for sustainable and effective natural resource management and biodiversity. The succession and composition of grasslands ecosystems worldwide have significantly been affected by accelerated environmental changes due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, understanding spatial data on the succession of grassland vegetation species and communities through mapping and monitoring is essential to gain knowledge on the ecosystem and other ecosystem services. This study used a random forest machine learning classifier on the Google Earth Engine platform to classify grass vegetation species with Landsat 7 ETM+ and ASTER multispectral imager (MI) data resampled with the current Sentinel-2 MSI data to map and estimate the changes in vegetation species succession. The results indicate that ASTER MI has the least accuracy of 72%, Landsat 7 ETM+ 84%, and Sentinel-2 had the highest of 87%. The result also shows that other species had replaced four dominant grass species totaling about 49 km2 throughout the study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The study area.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Species spectral reflectance curves of twelve grass species.
(a) Extracted from Landsat 7 ETM+, (b) Extracted from ASTER MI, (c) Extracted from Sentinel-2.
Fig 3
Fig 3. The map of grass species.
(a) derived from Landsat 7 ETM+, (b) derived from the ASTER MI, (c) derived from Sentinel-2 MSI.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Vegetation transformation between 2001 and 2021.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Species contributions to changes in Eragrostis curvula.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Areas where Themeda triandra succeeded from Eragrostis curvula.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Species contributions to change in Sporobolus centrifugus.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Areas where M. junceus succeeded from S. centrifugus.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Areas where M. junceus succeeded from S. Conrathii.
Fig 10
Fig 10. Species contributions to changes in Stiburus Conrathii.
Fig 11
Fig 11. Species contributions to change in Phragmites australis.
Fig 12
Fig 12. Areas where T. triandra succeeded from P. australis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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