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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 19(1)

Use of linguistic estimates and vegetation indices to assess post-fire vegetation regrowth in woodland areas

Carol R. Jacobson
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.

B Email: carol.jacobson@mq.edu.au

International Journal of Wildland Fire 19(1) 94-103 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF07129
Submitted: 6 September 2007  Accepted: 8 May 2009   Published: 5 February 2010

Abstract

This study examined an area of woodland that was recovering from severe fire in Royal National Park (NSW, Australia). A non-destructive method of field sampling is required for vulnerable recovering vegetation and therefore classification of digital photographs using linguistic terms was trialled. The linguistic data for three vegetation strata (canopy, shrub and ground) were converted to crisp scores and compared with vegetation index data derived from remotely sensed imagery. All possible subset regression was used to test the proposition that the combined vegetation scores (independent variables) would explain the values of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and NDMI (Normalized Difference Moisture Index). Vegetation scores for the three strata were also combined using simplified weighting ratios to assess broad relationships between the indices and field data. The combined vegetation scores explained ~60% of the variation in the vegetation index data and inclusion of variables representing multiple strata explained more of the variation than any single variable. The precise value of the weights used to combine the layers did not affect the strength of the association. A simple ratio is proposed that may be useful to estimate woodland parameters under similar conditions, by inversion of the relationship with vegetation index data.

Additional keywords: forest fire, post-fire regeneration, remote sensing, vegetation strata.


Acknowledgements

The author thanks Andrew Horton of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for his exceptional support of the project and insights into the vegetation communities of the study area. Thanks are also due to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for providing access to fire-sensitive areas, for financial assistance and for support of the field teams. Marcus Bingemann, Lachlan Feggans, Peter Griffiths, Jenna Hore, Allison Shepherd and Robert Wells are thanked for their assistance with fieldwork. I am also grateful to three anonymous referees whose comments significantly improved the paper.


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