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Applications of satellite remote sensing to forested ecosystems

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Abstract

Since the launch of the first civilian earth-observing satellite in 1972, satellite remote sensing has provided increasingly sophisticated information on the structure and function of forested ecosystems. Forest classification and mapping, common uses of satellite data, have improved over the years as a result of more discriminating sensors, better classification algorithms, and the use of geographic information systems to incorporate additional spatially referenced data such as topography. Land-use change, including conversion of forests for urban or agricultural development, can now be detected and rates of change calculated by superimposing satellite images taken at different dates. Landscape ecological questions regarding landscape pattern and the variables controlling observed patterns can be addressed using satellite imagery as can forestry and ecological questions regarding spatial variations in physiological characteristics, productivity, successional patterns, forest structure, and forest decline.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody, 61820, Champaign, IL, USA

    Louis R. Iverson & Elizabeth A. Cook

  2. Department of Forestry, University of Illinois, 61820, Champaign, IL, USA

    Louis R. Iverson, Robin Lambert Graham & Elizabeth A. Cook

  3. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2006, 37831, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Robin Lambert Graham

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Iverson, L.R., Graham, R.L. & Cook, E.A. Applications of satellite remote sensing to forested ecosystems. Landscape Ecol 3, 131–143 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00131175

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