Monitoring clearcutting and subsequent rapid recovery in Mediterranean coppice forests with Landsat time series
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RESEARCH PAPER
Monitoring clearcutting and subsequent rapid recovery in Mediterranean coppice forests with Landsat time series Gherardo Chirici 1 & Francesca Giannetti 1 & Erica Mazza 1 & Saverio Francini 1 & Davide Travaglini 1 & Raffaello Pegna 1 & Joanne C. White 2 Received: 17 January 2019 / Accepted: 3 March 2020 # INRAE and Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract & Key message This work analyses the rate of recovery of the spectral signal from clearcut areas of coppice Mediterranean forests using Landsat Time Series (LTS). The analysis revealed a more rapid rate of spectral signal recovery than what was found in previous investigations in boreal and temperate forests. & Context The rate of post-disturbance vegetation recovery is an important component of forest dynamics. & Aims In this study, we analyze the recovery of the spectral signal from forest clearcut areas in Mediterranean conditions when the coppice system of forest management is applied. & Methods We used LTS surface reflectance data (1999–2015).We generated an annual reference database of clearcuts using visual interpretation and local forest inventory data, and then derived the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) spectral trajectories for these clearcuts. From these spectral trajectories, we calculated the Years to Recovery or Y2R, the number of years it takes for a pixel to return to within a specified threshold (i.e., 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%) of its pre-disturbance value. Spectral recovery rates were then corroborated using measures of canopy height derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. & Results The coppice system is associated with rapid recovery rates when compared to rates of recovery from seeds or seedlings in temperate and boreal forest conditions. We found that the Y2R derived from the spectral trajectories of post-clearcut NBR and NDVI provided similar characterizations of rapid recovery for the coppice system of forest management applied in our study area. The ALS measures of canopy height indicated that the Y2R metric accurately captured the rapid regeneration of coppice systems. & Conclusion The rapid rate of spectral recovery associated with the coppice system is 2–4 years, which contrasts with values reported in boreal and temperate forest environments, where spectral recovery was attained in approximately 10 years. NBR is an effective index for assessing rapid recovery in this forest system. Keywords Landsat . Forestdisturbances . Clearcut . Time seriesanalysis . Remotesensing . Disturbance recovery . Mediterranean forest . Vegetation index . LiDAR . Optical time series images . Satellite images . Coppice Handling Editor: Barry A. Gardiner Contributions of the co-authors Gherardo Chirici was the main author of the manuscript, designed the study, carried out, and supervised the activities. Francesca Giannetti performed all the time series analysis and the extraction of LiDAR data statistics, while Saversio Francini e Raffaello Pegna performed the Landsat i
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