Phenological heterogeneities of invasive Spartina alterniflora salt marshes revealed by high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery

Abstract

The rapid expansion of invasive Spartina alterniflora in China’s coastal wetlands has seriously threatened regional ecosystem health. Characterizing phenology of S. alterniflora salt marshes supports the studies on plant invasion mechanism and carbon fluxes in coastal wetlands. To date, little is known about the capacity of high-spatial-resolution imagery in revealing local scale heterogeneities and temporal variations in the phenology; in addition, the driving factors of such heterogeneities are not well understood. This study took Yellow River Estuary (YRE) as the study site where S. alterniflora area has expanded since 2008. We retrieved start of season (SOS), end of season (EOS), length of growing season (LOS), and maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVImax) from time series Sentinel-2 imagery (10-meter resolution) during 2017 ∼ 2019 with assist of a rule-based data noise removal approach. Results showed that phenological metrics differ with invasion years. The differences in the median NDVImax reached 0.13, in the median SOS reached 26 days, and in the median LOS reached 51 days. S. alterniflora with 5-year invasion had the highest NDVImax, and younger S. alterniflora marshes had earlier SOS and longer LOS. Both SOS and EOS showed negative relationships with NDVImax, indicating the marshes with greater green vegetation cover had earlier SOS and EOS. More spatial details can be revealed from higher-resolution PlanetScope imagery (3-meter resolution), showing the influence of tidal creeks on phenology. The spatial heterogeneity in phenology was associated with environmental factors such as tidal inundation, elevation, micro-climate, nutrients, and canopy structure. S. alterniflora showed markedly higher NDVImax and earlier EOS in 2018 compared to 2017 and 2019, associated with larger river water discharge and sediment load brought by Water Sediment Regulation Scheme, greater precipitation in the wettest season and lower preseason temperature in 2018. Large phenological variations at both spatial and temporal scales suggest that S. alterniflora marshes are sensitive to the local environment and climate change. This study has the potential to provide references for the management of invasive plants threatening coastal wetlands in the world.