Monitoring the recovery of Juncus roemerianus marsh burns with the normalized difference vegetation index and Landsat Thematic Mapper data

Abstract

Nine atmospherically corrected Landsat Thematic Mapper images were usedto generate mean normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI) at 11burn sites throughout a coastal Juncus roemerianus marsh in St. MarksNational Wildlife Refuge, Florida. Time-since-burn, the time lapse from thedate of burn to the date of image collection, was related to variation inmean NDVI over time. Regression analysis showed that NDVI increasedfor about 300 to 400 days immediately after the burn, overshooting thetypical mean NDVI of a nonburned marsh. For about another 500 to 600days NDVI decreased until reaching a nearly constant NDVI of about0.40. During the phase of increasing NDVI the ability to predicttime-since-burn was within about ±60 days. Within the decreasingphase this dropped to about ±88 days.Examination of each burn site revealed some nonburn related influences onNDVI (e.g., seasonality). Normalization of burn NDVI by site-specificnonburn control NDVI eliminated most influences. However, differentialresponses at the site-specific level remained related to either storm impactsor secondary burning. At these sites, collateral data helped clarify theabnormal changes in NDVI. Accounting for these abnormalities,site-specific burn recovery trends could be broadly standardized into fourgeneral phases: Phase 1 – preburn, Phase 2 – initial recovery (increasingNDVI), Phase 3 – late recovery (decreasing NDVI), and Phase 4 – finalcoalescence (unchanging NDVI). Phase 2 tended to last about 300 to 500days, Phase 3 an additional 500 to 600 days, and finally reaching Phase 4,900 to 1,000 days after burn.