Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites

An ongoing spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby.) epidemic in southern Colorado has resulted in the death of thousands of acres of forests primarily dominated by Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry.). To evaluate the ecological and economic impacts of this massive mortality event, rese...

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Main Authors: Brian David Woodward, Paul Harrison Evangelista, Anthony Grant Vorster
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-06-01
Series:Forests
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/6/336
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spelling doaj-43a4167366ea4df59b80f2a6ed09494a2020-11-25T01:41:03ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072018-06-019633610.3390/f9060336f9060336Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image CompositesBrian David Woodward0Paul Harrison Evangelista1Anthony Grant Vorster2Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USANatural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USANatural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USAAn ongoing spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby.) epidemic in southern Colorado has resulted in the death of thousands of acres of forests primarily dominated by Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry.). To evaluate the ecological and economic impacts of this massive mortality event, researchers and land managers need to efficiently track its progression, spread, and severity across large spatial extents. In this study, mortality severity (0–100% dead) was successfully mapped at the Landsat pixel scale (30 × 30 m) across a large (5000 km2), persistently cloud-covered study area using multi-sensor (Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)) harmonized tasseled cap image composites as spectral predictors of gray stage spruce beetle mortality. Our maps display the distribution and severity of this landscape-scale mortality event in 2011 (R2 = 0.48, root mean squared error (RMSE) = 7.7) and 2015 (R2 = 0.55, RMSE = 11.6). Potential applications of this study include efficient landscape-scale forest health monitoring, targeted forest and timber management, and assessment of ecological impacts of bark beetle outbreaks.http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/6/336bark beetleLandsatforest health monitoringremote sensingharmonizationmortality severityLandsatLinkr
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Brian David Woodward
Paul Harrison Evangelista
Anthony Grant Vorster
spellingShingle Brian David Woodward
Paul Harrison Evangelista
Anthony Grant Vorster
Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
Forests
bark beetle
Landsat
forest health monitoring
remote sensing
harmonization
mortality severity
LandsatLinkr
author_facet Brian David Woodward
Paul Harrison Evangelista
Anthony Grant Vorster
author_sort Brian David Woodward
title Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
title_short Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
title_full Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
title_fullStr Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
title_full_unstemmed Mapping Progression and Severity of a Southern Colorado Spruce Beetle Outbreak Using Calibrated Image Composites
title_sort mapping progression and severity of a southern colorado spruce beetle outbreak using calibrated image composites
publisher MDPI AG
series Forests
issn 1999-4907
publishDate 2018-06-01
description An ongoing spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby.) epidemic in southern Colorado has resulted in the death of thousands of acres of forests primarily dominated by Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry.). To evaluate the ecological and economic impacts of this massive mortality event, researchers and land managers need to efficiently track its progression, spread, and severity across large spatial extents. In this study, mortality severity (0–100% dead) was successfully mapped at the Landsat pixel scale (30 × 30 m) across a large (5000 km2), persistently cloud-covered study area using multi-sensor (Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)) harmonized tasseled cap image composites as spectral predictors of gray stage spruce beetle mortality. Our maps display the distribution and severity of this landscape-scale mortality event in 2011 (R2 = 0.48, root mean squared error (RMSE) = 7.7) and 2015 (R2 = 0.55, RMSE = 11.6). Potential applications of this study include efficient landscape-scale forest health monitoring, targeted forest and timber management, and assessment of ecological impacts of bark beetle outbreaks.
topic bark beetle
Landsat
forest health monitoring
remote sensing
harmonization
mortality severity
LandsatLinkr
url http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/6/336
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