Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
18
CHAPTER
Accuracy Assessments of Airborne Hyperspectral
Data for Mapping Opportunistic Plant Species in
Freshwater Coastal Wetlands
Ricardo D. Lopez, Curtis M. Edmonds, Anne C. Neale, Terrence Slonecker, K. Bruce Jones,
Daniel T. Heggem, John G. Lyon, Eugene Jaworski, Donald Garofalo, and David Williams
CONTENTS
18.1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................253
18.2
Background...........................................................................................................................254
18.3
Methods ................................................................................................................................255
18.3.1 Remote Sensor Data Acquisition and Processing....................................................255
18.3.2 Field Reference Data Collection ..............................................................................259
18.3.3 Accuracy Assessment of Vegetation Maps ..............................................................260
18.4
Results...................................................................................................................................261
18.4.1 Field Reference Data Measurements .......................................................................261
18.4.2 Distinguishing between
Phragmites
and
Typha
.......................................................261
Mapping ......................................................................261
18.4.4 Accuracy Assessment ...............................................................................................262
18.5 Discussion.............................................................................................................................264
18.6 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................265
18.7 Summary...............................................................................................................................265
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................................266
References ......................................................................................................................................266
18.4.3 Semiautomated
Phragmites
18.1 INTRODUCTION
The aquatic plant communities within the coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes (LGL)
are among the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems in the world (Mitsch and
Gosselink, 1993). Coastal wetland ecosystems are also among the most fragmented and disturbed,
as a result of impacts from land-use mediated conversions (Dahl, 1990; Dahl and Johnson, 1991).
Many LGL coastal wetlands have undergone a steady decline in biological diversity during the
1900s, most notably within wetland plant communities (Herdendorf et al., 1986; Herdendorf, 1987;
Stuckey, 1989). Losses in biological diversity can often coincide with an increase in the presence
253
