A new index for mapping lichen-dominated biological soil crusts in desert areas

Tracking the presence, distribution and disappearance of biological soil crusts is important for ecosystem management of desert regions and provides highly valuable information on desertification and climate change studies in arid environments. Based on the analysis of the spectral features of biological soil crusts, we propose a new biological soil crust index (BSCI) for biological soil crusts mapping. Using both a radiative transfer simulation and an analysis of a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image, we examined the ability of satellite remote sensing to detect and map biological soil crusts. Our simulation indicated that Landsat ETM+ data could be used, after atmospheric correction, to detect biological soil crusts if 33% or more of any pixel was accounted for by biological soil crusts. When the proposed BSCI was applied to the detection of biological soil crusts in the Gurbantonggut Desert, Xingjiang, China, a Kappa coefficient of 0.82 and an overall accuracy of 94.7% were achieved. These experimental results indicate that the new index is applicable to identification of lichen-dominated biological soil crusts, and therefore has good potential for biological soil crust detection and mapping in cool and cold deserts.

[1]  E. Vermote,et al.  Operational Atmospheric Correction of Landsat TM Data , 1999 .

[2]  C. Daughtry,et al.  Plant Litter and Soil Reflectance , 2000 .

[3]  D. Eldridge,et al.  Microbiotic soil crusts: a review of their roles in soil and ecological processes in the rangelands of Australia , 1994 .

[4]  Benoit Rivard,et al.  Spectral properties of foliose and crustose lichens based on laboratory experiments , 2002 .

[5]  C. Elvidge.  Visible and near infrared reflectance characteristics of dry plant materials , 1990 .

[6]  B. Leblon,et al.  Effects of shadowing types on ground-measured visible and near-infrared shadow reflectances , 1996 .

[7]  Eyal Ben-Dor,et al.  Spectral Characteristics of Cyanobacteria Soil Crust in Semiarid Environments , 1999 .

[8]  J. Belnap,et al.  Biological Soil Crusts: Ecology and Management , 2001 .

[9]  E. Milton,et al.  The influence of weathering and lichen cover on the reflectance spectra of granitic rocks , 1994 .

[10]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  Reflectance spectrophotometry of cyanobacteria within soil crusts— a diagnostic tool , 1996 .

[11]  N. Milton,et al.  Spectral reflectance of lichens and their effects on the reflectance of rock substrates , 1987 .

[12]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  What determines the spectral reflectance of the Negev-Sinai sand dunes , 1996 .

[13]  Limin Yang,et al.  Derivation of a tasselled cap transformation based on Landsat 7 at-satellite reflectance , 2002 .

[14]  Y. Kaufman,et al.  Algorithm for automatic atmospheric corrections to visible and near-IR satellite imagery , 1988 .

[15]  Raymond F. Kokaly,et al.  Remote Sensing of Biological Soil Crusts , 2001 .

[16]  Megan M. Lewis,et al.  Discrimination of arid vegetation with airborne multispectral scanner hyperspectral imagery , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[17]  N. West,et al.  Structure and Function of Microphytic Soil Crusts in Wildland Ecosystems of Arid to Semi-arid Regions , 1990 .

[18]  W. R. Rayburn,et al.  Effects of rangefire on soil algal crusts in semiarid shrub-steppe of the Lower Columbia Basin and their subsequent recovery , 1993 .

[19]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  Characteristic spectral reflectance of a semi-arid environment , 1995 .

[20]  Jayne Belnap,et al.  The world at your feet: desert biological soil crusts , 2003 .

[21]  Jayne Belnap,et al.  Disturbance and Recovery of Biological Soil Crusts , 2001 .

[22]  Zhang Yuan.  A study on bryophyte associated with formation of soil crust in south fringe of Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang , 2002 .

[23]  G. Kidron,et al.  The role of dew as a moisture source for sand microbiotic crusts in the Negev Desert, Israel , 2002 .

[24]  D.R.J. Wessels,et al.  Landsat imagery - its possible use in mapping the distribution of major Lichen Communities in the Namib Desert, South West Africa , 1986 .

[25]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  Development and implementation of spectral crust index over dune sands , 1997 .

[26]  J. Johansen.  CRYPTOGAMIC CRUSTS OF SEMIARID AND ARID LANDS OF NORTH AMERICA , 1993 .

[27]  S. Rushforth,et al.  Effects of long-term grazing on cryptogam crust cover in Navajo National Monument, Arizona. , 1983 .

[28]  E. Friedmann,et al.  CHAPTER IV – DESERT ALGAE, LICHENS, AND FUNGI , 1974 .

[29]  J. Belnap,et al.  Biological Soil Crusts: Structure, Function, and Management , 2003, Ecological Studies.

[30]  R. Colwell.  Remote sensing of the environment , 1980, Nature.

[31]  P. A. Jacobberger.  Reflectance characteristics and surface processes in stabilized dune environments , 1989 .

[32]  A. Karnieli,et al.  Spectral reflectance of biogenic crust developed on desert dune sand along the Israel-Egypt border , 1995 .

[33]  A. L. O'neill.  Reflectance spectra of microphytic soil crusts in semi-arid Australia , 1994 .

[34]  G. Green.  Use of SIR-A and Landsat MSS data in mapping shrub and intershrub vegetation at Koonamore, South Australia , 1986 .

[35]  A. Karnieli,et al.  The effect of microphytes on the spectral reflectance of vegetation in semiarid regions , 1996 .

[36]  Didier Tanré,et al.  Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum, 6S: an overview , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..