Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas

North America&#8217;s midcontinent forest&#8722;prairie ecotone is currently exhibiting extensive eastern redcedar (ERC) (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) encroachment. Rapid expansion of ERC has major impacts on the species composition and forest structure within this region and...

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Main Authors: G. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa, Jida Wang, Charles J. Barden
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
Series:Forests
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/2/154
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spelling doaj-ce43ed222230430caf9e0259096005732020-11-25T01:12:28ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072020-01-0111215410.3390/f11020154f11020154Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of KansasG. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa0Jida Wang1Charles J. Barden2Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources, Kansas State University, 2021 Throckmorton Plant Science Center, 1712 Claflin Road, Manhattan, KS 66506, USADepartment of Geography and Geospatial Sciences, Kansas State University, 1002 Seaton Hall, 920 N. 17th Street, Manhattan, KS 66506, USADepartment of Horticulture and Natural Resources, Kansas State University, 2021 Throckmorton Plant Science Center, 1712 Claflin Road, Manhattan, KS 66506, USANorth America&#8217;s midcontinent forest&#8722;prairie ecotone is currently exhibiting extensive eastern redcedar (ERC) (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) encroachment. Rapid expansion of ERC has major impacts on the species composition and forest structure within this region and suppresses previously dominant oak (<i>Quercus</i>) species. In Kansas, the growing-stock volume of ERC increased by 15,000% during 1965&#8722;2010. The overarching goal of this study was to evaluate the spatio-temporal dynamics of ERC in the forest&#8722;prairie ecotone of Kansas and understand its effects on deciduous forests. This was achieved through two specific objectives: (i) characterize an effective image classification approach to map ERC expansion, and (ii) assess ERC expansion between 1986 and 2017 in three study areas within the forest&#8722;prairie ecotone of Kansas, and especially expansion into deciduous forests. The analysis was based on satellite imagery acquired by Landsat TM and OLI sensors during 1986&#8722;2017. The use of multi-seasonal layer-stacks with a Support Vector Machine (SVM)-supervised classification was found to be the most effective approach to classify ERC distribution with high accuracy. The overall accuracies for the change maps generated for the three study areas ranged between 0.95 (95 CI: &#177;0.02) and 0.96 (&#177;0.03). The total ERC cover increased in excess of 6000 acres in each study area during the 30-year period. The estimated percent increase of ERC cover was 139%, 539%, and 283% for the Tuttle Creek reservoir, Perry reservoir, and Bourbon County north study areas, respectively. This astounding rate of expansion had significant impacts on the deciduous forests where the conversion of deciduous woodlands to ERC, as a percentage of the total encroachment, were 48%, 56%, and 71%, for the Tuttle Creek reservoir, Perry reservoir, and Bourbon County north study areas, respectively. These results strongly affirm that control measures should be implemented immediately to restore the threatened deciduous woodlands of the region.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/2/154landsatimage classificationsupport vector machinesoak woodlandschange detection
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author G. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa
Jida Wang
Charles J. Barden
spellingShingle G. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa
Jida Wang
Charles J. Barden
Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
Forests
landsat
image classification
support vector machines
oak woodlands
change detection
author_facet G. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa
Jida Wang
Charles J. Barden
author_sort G. A. Pabodha Galgamuwa
title Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
title_short Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
title_full Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
title_fullStr Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
title_full_unstemmed Expansion of Eastern Redcedar (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) into the Deciduous Woodlands within the Forest–Prairie Ecotone of Kansas
title_sort expansion of eastern redcedar (<i>juniperus virginiana</i> l.) into the deciduous woodlands within the forest–prairie ecotone of kansas
publisher MDPI AG
series Forests
issn 1999-4907
publishDate 2020-01-01
description North America&#8217;s midcontinent forest&#8722;prairie ecotone is currently exhibiting extensive eastern redcedar (ERC) (<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> L.) encroachment. Rapid expansion of ERC has major impacts on the species composition and forest structure within this region and suppresses previously dominant oak (<i>Quercus</i>) species. In Kansas, the growing-stock volume of ERC increased by 15,000% during 1965&#8722;2010. The overarching goal of this study was to evaluate the spatio-temporal dynamics of ERC in the forest&#8722;prairie ecotone of Kansas and understand its effects on deciduous forests. This was achieved through two specific objectives: (i) characterize an effective image classification approach to map ERC expansion, and (ii) assess ERC expansion between 1986 and 2017 in three study areas within the forest&#8722;prairie ecotone of Kansas, and especially expansion into deciduous forests. The analysis was based on satellite imagery acquired by Landsat TM and OLI sensors during 1986&#8722;2017. The use of multi-seasonal layer-stacks with a Support Vector Machine (SVM)-supervised classification was found to be the most effective approach to classify ERC distribution with high accuracy. The overall accuracies for the change maps generated for the three study areas ranged between 0.95 (95 CI: &#177;0.02) and 0.96 (&#177;0.03). The total ERC cover increased in excess of 6000 acres in each study area during the 30-year period. The estimated percent increase of ERC cover was 139%, 539%, and 283% for the Tuttle Creek reservoir, Perry reservoir, and Bourbon County north study areas, respectively. This astounding rate of expansion had significant impacts on the deciduous forests where the conversion of deciduous woodlands to ERC, as a percentage of the total encroachment, were 48%, 56%, and 71%, for the Tuttle Creek reservoir, Perry reservoir, and Bourbon County north study areas, respectively. These results strongly affirm that control measures should be implemented immediately to restore the threatened deciduous woodlands of the region.
topic landsat
image classification
support vector machines
oak woodlands
change detection
url https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/2/154
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