Search results for "VEGETATION"
showing 10 items of 1069 documents
Minimum message length clustering: an explication and some applications to vegetation data
2001
In this paper, we examine the application of a particular approach to induction, the minimum message length principle and illustrate some of the problems that can be addressed through its use. The MML principle seeks to identify an optimal model within some specified parameterised class of models and for this paper we have chosen to concentrate on a single model class, that of mixture separation or fuzzy clustering. The first section presents, in outline, an MML methodology for fuzzy clustering. We then present some applications, including the nature of the within-cluster model, examination of the univocality of results for different groups of species and the effectiveness of presence data …
Relative risk estimation of dengue disease at small spatial scale
2017
Abstract Background Dengue is a high incidence arboviral disease in tropical countries around the world. Colombia is an endemic country due to the favourable environmental conditions for vector survival and spread. Dengue surveillance in Colombia is based in passive notification of cases, supporting monitoring, prediction, risk factor identification and intervention measures. Even though the surveillance network works adequately, disease mapping techniques currently developed and employed for many health problems are not widely applied. We select the Colombian city of Bucaramanga to apply Bayesian areal disease mapping models, testing the challenges and difficulties of the approach. Methods…
Populetum pamiricae ass. nova – an endemic forest association to Pamir in Tajikistan (Middle Asia)
2015
Abstract The floristic structure, distribution and habitat requirements of a forest syntaxon, Populetum pamiricae ass. nova is described. The potential range of the Populetum pamiricae association comprises the mountains of eastern Tajikistan (Pamir Alai Mts), Kashgaria in western China (Kunlun Shan Mts) and north-eastern Afghanistan (Hindu Kush Mts) in Middle Asia. The biotope of this community comprises of high mountain river valleys situated at elevations between 2,500 and 3,200 m above sea level. Phytocoenoses of the Populetum pamiricae association are characterized by the apparent domination in the tree layer of a diagnostic species, Populus pamirica. The tree stand has a mean cover ar…
The role of rock mining for maintaining Dauco carotae-Crepidetum rhoeadifoliae Hejný et Grüll in Hejný et al. 1979 — a new to Poland plant association
2013
AbstractThis work presents the Dauco carotae-Crepidetum rhoeadifoliae plant association, which is new to Poland. The association has been observed in industrial reclamation areas in the vicinity of carbonate mineral excavation sites in the central part of the Opole region. In the vast majority of cases, plots of this association developed in reclaimed areas. The majority of diagnostic species for the association was found within surveyed plots, including Verbascum thapsus, V. densiflorum and Bryum argenteum. Taxa characteristic of the alliance were also constantly present, i.e. Daucus carota, Melilotus alba, M. officinalis, Echium vulgare and Erysimum hieracifolium. This association belongs…
Insensitivity of Tree-Ring Growth to Temperature and Precipitation Sharpens the Puzzle of Enhanced Pre-Eruption NDVI on Mt. Etna (Italy)
2017
On Mt. Etna (Italy), an enhanced Normalized Difference in Vegetation Index (NDVI) signature was detected in the summers of 2001 and 2002 along a distinct line where, in November 2002, a flank eruption subsequently occurred. These observations suggest that pre-eruptive volcanic activity may have enhanced photosynthesis along the future eruptive fissure. If a direct relation between NDVI and future volcanic eruptions could be established, it would provide a straightforward and low-cost method for early detection of upcoming eruptions. However, it is unclear if, or to what extent, the observed enhancement of NDVI can be attributed to volcanic activity prior to the subsequent eruption. We conse…
Geobotanical approach to detect land-use change of a Mediterranean landscape: a case study in Central-Western Sicily
2018
A landscape is a palimpsest of the interactions between human activities and ecological dynamics. In an interdisciplinary perspective of dialogue between the ‘Two Cultures’ (Natural Sciences and Humanities), a study of a rural area has been carried out through a reading of plant ecosystems as signs of human impact. The purpose of this paper—as part of the project ‘Harvesting Memories’: Ecology and landscape archaeology of Castro/Giardinallo Valley and Mt. Barrau district (Corleone, Palermo, Sicily)—is to analyse the formative-processes of a Sicilian rural landscape and its changes in the last century. A key element in the reconstruction of the formation of the present landscape is the serie…
Application of artificial neural networks and logistic regression to the prediction of forest fire danger in Galicia using MODIS data
2012
Fire danger models are a very useful tool for the prevention and extinction of forest fires. Some inputs of these models, such as vegetation status and temperature, can be obtained from remote sensing images, which offer higher spatial and temporal resolution than direct ground measures. In this paper, we focus on the Galicia region (north-west of Spain), and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images are used to monitor vegetation status and to obtain land surface temperature as essential inputs in forest fire danger models. In this work, we tested the potential of artificial neural networks and logistic regression to estimate forest fire danger from remote sensing and f…
Soil Moisture Retrieved From a Combined Optical and Passive Microwave Approach
2016
Abstract With the current remote sensing technology developments, and in particular those at L-band (1.2–1.4 GHz) frequencies such as the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity and the Soil Moisture Active and Passive missions, new approaches concerning passive microwave and its combination with existing optical technologies have become of special interest for the estimation of surface soil moisture. One of these new approaches is the combination of optical and passive microwave data based on a semiempirical approach derived from the general radiative transfer equation. The objective of this chapter is to present some applications of the combined optical-passive microwave approaches over several …
A survey of the orophilous shrubby vegetation of the Teide (Tenerife, Canary Islands)
2008
A survey about the orophilous shrubby vegetation of the Teide volcano (Tenerife) is provided, based on literature and unpublished data. The investigated communities are dominated by broom-shaped nanophanerophytes, chamaephytes and hemicryptophytes, well adapted to the climatic continentality characterizing their growing-sites, due to the localization above the cloud layer. From the syntaxonomical point of view, in this paper is proposed to refer this vegetation to the class Cytiso-Pinetea canariensis Rivas Goday & Esteve ex Sunding 1972, to the order Spartocytisetalia supranubii Schonfelder & Voggenreiter 1994 and to three alliances: Spartocytision supranubii Oberd. ex Esteve 1973, grouping…
CloudSim: A fair benchmark for comparison of methods for times series reconstruction from cloud and atmospheric contamination
2015
Cloud contamination of optical data is a constant and annoying feature of time series analyses, whether while using vegetation indices or surface temperatures, since it tends to decrease artificially the values taken by these parameters. Therefore, any time series analysis of optical data needs a previous step for gap-filling reconstruction of the time series. Numerous techniques have been presented in the literature to carry out this preliminary and mandatory step. However, the evaluation and comparison of these techniques is difficult, since no “truth” time series is available. We present here a probabilistic model (CloudSim) to provide global typical annual time series for NDVI (Normaliz…