The objective of this research was to identify and describe the different Ecological Species Groups (vegetation types) present in the Rural Heritage Museum of Guilan. The study area was approximately 260 ha, which is located in the Saravan Forest Park in Guilan province, north of Iran. Sampling procedure was performed with a systematic random technique. A total of 89 plots were sampled. Classif...

The global demand for fossil energy is triggering oil exploration and production projects in remote areas of the world. During the last few decades hydrocarbon production has caused pollution in the Amazon forest inflicting considerable environmental impact. Until now it is not clear how hydrocarbon pollution affects the health of the tropical forest flora. During a field campaign in polluted a...

Two billion ha have been identified globally for forest restoration. Our meta-analysis encompassing 221 study landscapes worldwide reveals forest restoration enhances biodiversity by 15-84% and vegetation structure by 36-77%, compared with degraded ecosystems. For the first time, we identify the main ecological drivers of forest restoration success (defined as a return to a reference condition,...

We present an efficient method for monitoring woody (i.e., evergreen) and herbaceous (i.e., ephemeral) vegetation in Mediterranean forests at a sub pixel scale from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The method is based on the distinct development periods of those vegetation components. In the dry sea...

This study developed a rapid assessment algorithm for post-hurricane forest damage estimation using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements. The performance of five commonly used vegetation indices as post-hurricane forest damage indicators was investigated through statistical analysis. The Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) was identified as the optimal dama...

Scatterometer backscatter measurements ( u ) are primarily and traditionally used to estimate wind speed and direction over the ocean. This paper presents an investigation of the backscatter coefficient of boreal forest and neighboring vegetation regions. ERS-1 backscatter A-values of the Canadian boreal forest are imaged using a resolution enhancement algorithm for this analysis. Regions of bo...

Fire can change the species composition, diversity, and structure of savanna vegetation, thus altering growth and mortality rates. Such changes in the woody vegetation of burned savanna forest were evaluated over four years in comparison to unburned savanna forest. All woody plants with a diameter at breast height > 10 cm were measured in 100 permanent plots. Six months later, 38 of these plots...

Since the completion of the first edition of this book much time and effort has been spent developing more accurate and efficient means of mapping vegetation. At the same time a similar amount of energy has been expended on vegetation classification. Vegetation classification was not directly discussed in the first edition (Colwell 1977). However, in current thinking, the two subjects are intim...

To safeguard the goals of flood protection and nature development, a river manager requires detailed and up-to-date information on vegetation structures in floodplains. In this study, remote sensing data on the vegetation of a semi-natural floodplain along the river Waal in the Netherlands was gathered by means of a Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI; spectral information) and LiDAR (...