Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the potential of vegetation indices and precipitation-related variables derived from remote sensing to assess rangeland production in the arid environment of the Moroccan Oriental region and identifying the challenges linked to that particular biome. Vegetation indices (VIs) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) computed at various aggregation periods were first integrated into a Random Forest model. In a second step, we studied in more detail the linear relationship between rangeland biomass and one of the spectral indices (ARVI) for the various vegetation formations present in the area. We concluded that, mostly due to the presence of alfa steppes (Stipa tenacissima), and especially to a large proportion of non-photosynthetic vegetation, it is not possible to accurately estimate rangeland production with a global model in this region. We recommend separating Stipa tenacissima from the other species in models and focusing on methods aimed at studying dry and non-photosynthetic vegetation to improve the quality of the prediction for alfa steppes.
Highlights
Arid and semi-arid regions are part of dryland ecosystems, which are characterized by low and variable precipitation in both time and space [1,2,3], combined with high evapotranspiration
We focus on the linear relation between biomass and vegetation indices in an attempt to better identify the largest source of error and highlight ways to improve the assessment of rangeland biomass in arid regions
In terms of unbiased importance (Table 4), we found that vegetation indices that are ranked the highest are found to have the highest values of correlation, with the top five variables being in both cases Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index (ARVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), TSAVI, and the ratio between the NIR
Summary
Arid and semi-arid regions are part of dryland ecosystems, which are characterized by low and variable precipitation in both time and space [1,2,3], combined with high evapotranspiration. The preservation of the integrity of rangeland presents both economic and environmental interests Drylands and their vegetation cover provide a series of ecosystem services, including an important source of food and income for the local population through livestock keeping, and involvement in a series of environmentrelated processes such as the regulation of climate through carbon sequestration and soil–atmosphere energy exchanges, contribution to soil nutrient cycles, regulation of the hydrological cycle, protection against soil erosion, etc. Drylands and their vegetation cover provide a series of ecosystem services, including an important source of food and income for the local population through livestock keeping, and involvement in a series of environmentrelated processes such as the regulation of climate through carbon sequestration and soil–atmosphere energy exchanges, contribution to soil nutrient cycles, regulation of the hydrological cycle, protection against soil erosion, etc. [1,4,6,7].
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