Spatial Analysis of Urban Vegetation Scale and Abundance

Abstract

The urban environment is strongly influenced by the physical properties of the urban mosaic across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The presence or absence of spatial scaling behavior in these physical properties has implications for the parameterization of physical process models that incorporate land surface mass and energy fluxes. The performance of these models is dependent on the accuracy and resolution of the land surface inputs that drive them. The spatial scaling behavior of land surface properties at fine (1–10 m) scales determines the aggregate properties at moderate ( 100 m) scales. Multiscale land surface properties like patch size and density could potentially be mapped at meter scales using the current generation of high resolution sensors. The results could then be used to scale up moderate resolution land cover maps to regional scales. In spite of its importance to physical and ecological processes, relatively little quantitative analysis has been done on the spatial scaling properties of urban land cover.