Browsing by Author "Kotze, Johann De Flaming"

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    The feasibility of using landsat TM imagery for longterm vegetation monitoring in the fynbos biome
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999-07) Kotze, Johann De Flaming; Fairall, N.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Forest & Wood Science.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Those who would successfully manage the fynbos biome require management oriented information. Managers, strategic planners and researchers often lack information about fynbos areas and changes that occurs in these areas upon which they can, with reasonable confidence, base decisions. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data provides a potentially strong base to work from. The objective of this project was to determine the feasibility of using TM imagery to quantify fynbos communities within a specific area that can be used for the long term vegetation monitoring in the fynbos biome. TM imagery have advantages over other data sources such as aerial photography, for large area land cover classifications, in part because of their frequent repeat cycles, large-area sample, wide spectral range, cost effectiveness and amenability to automated classification. Considering the very detailed scale the study was done at, another objective of the project was to determine the feasibility of using TM imagery to quantify fynbos communities at a far more detailed scale than the recommended operating scale for TM imagery. At this detailed scale fynbos vegetation can be managed effectively in the long term. A small scale vegetation and vegetation community study of the study area was done to obtain a detailed ground map. The vegetation communities as defined by image processing of the TM data was compared with the accurate ground map. By means of this comparison it was shown that TM imagery could be used effectively to obtain a detailed fynbos community description of a fynbos area at the desired scale. Another objective of the study was to determine the feasibility of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce the amount of natural variation and noise within TM imagery. It has been shown that PCA can be used effectively to achieve the latter and by doing so, baseline imagery can be obtained for a specific area and time period in terms of its vegetation communities, while portraying the maximum environmental variation within the imagery. The final part of the study entailed the determination of the feasibility of using TM imagery to determine vegetation change over time. It has been shown that TM imagery can be used effectively for this purpose. This resulted in some very interesting findings, especially with the recovery of burnt fynbos areas. The objectives of the study have been met and this scale of monitoring holds much promise. Further application is warranted in different areas as well as with additional thematic data.