Chawla, Amit and Kumar, Amit and S, Rajkumar and Singh , R D and Thukral, A K and Ahuja, Paramvir Singh (2010) Correlation of Multispectral Satellite Data with Plant Species Diversity vis-à-vis Soil Characteristics in a Landscape of Western Himalayan Region, India. Applied Remote Sensing Journal , 1 (1). pp. 1-13.

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Abstract

The inter-correlations between Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) P6 LISS III multispectral image, plant species diversity and soil physico-chemical characteristics were evaluated in the Kinnaur region of western Himalaya, India. The study aimed to modeling of spectral variability in the multispectral data; and the plant species diversity and soil physico-chemical characteristics of vegetation communities using multiple regression equations. The means and standard deviation of Digital Number (DN) values of pixels of green, red and near infra-red (NIR) bands of the satellite data were derived for the vegetation sampling sites. There were correlated with in situ data obtained from random stratified sampling of the representative vegetation communities and physico-chemical analyses of soil samples from the sampling sites. Statistically significant linear multiple regressions relating species diversity to DN values were used to create multiple regression images to link satellite data with the field derived ecological data. The red band showed the maximum variation of diversity indices followed by green and NIR bands. The soil physico-chemical parameters as reflected through vegetation were also significantly correlated with the DN values of different bands. The green band explained the maximum variability of most of the soil physico-chemical characteristics. The species diversity when regressed with edaphic factors showed significant positive correlations with soil porosity, soil saturation, soil moisture percentage, organic C, available N, total N concentrations, C/N and N/P ratios of the soil. On the other hand, increase in soil bulk density, pH, total Na and available P resulted in decrease in species diversity. A significant positive correlation was observed between diversity indices and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The correlation of soil characteristics with NDVI showed similar relationships. It was therefore inferred that the plant species diversity and soil physico-chemical characteristics affecting vegetation communities can be assessed using low cost multispectral satellite data.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Multiple regression images, species richness, species diversity, NDVI, western Himalaya, soil physico-chemical characteristics
Subjects:	Remote Sensing and Mapping
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Dr. Aparna Maitra Pati
Date Deposited:	30 Dec 2011 07:19
Last Modified:	07 Feb 2012 10:39
URI:	http://ihbt.csircentral.net/id/eprint/682

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