Pedosphere 20(3): 318--325, 2010
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2010 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
A model for estimating total forest coverage with ground-based digital photography
GU Zhu-Jun1,2,3, ZENG Zhi-Yuan3, SHI Xue-Zheng1, LI Lin4, D. C. WEINDORF5, ZHA Yong3, YU Dong-Sheng1 and LIU Yong-Mei2
1 State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)
2 School of Bio-Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171 (China)
3 College of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097 (China)
4 Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN 46202 (USA)
5 LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (USA)
ABSTRACT
      Vegetation fractional coverage (VFC) is one of the key indicators of vegetation distribution. In the work a measurement-based model was developed to derive total forest VFC (TG) as well as the VFC of trees (T) and shrub-grasses (G) separately in a subtropical forest area in Nanjing, China. Both upward and downward photographs were taken with a digital camera in 72 quadrats (10 m × 10 m each). Fifteen models were established and validated. Models jointly using both T and G performed better than those using the T and G separately. The best model, TG=T+G-1.134 × T × G-0.025 (R2 = 0.9115, P < 0.01, root mean squared error = 0.0789), is recommended for application. This model provides a good way to obtain total forest VFC values through taking tree and shrub-grass photos on ground below tree canopy rather than above tree canopy.
Key Words:  digital camera, 2-layer photography, shrub-grasses, trees
Citation: Gu, Z. J., Zeng, Z. Y., Shi, X. Z., Li, L., Weindorf, D. C., Zha, Y., Yu, D. S. and Liu, Y. M. 2010. A model for estimating total forest coverage with ground-based digital photography. Pedosphere. 20(3): 318-325.
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