Abstract
The bulloak jewel butterfly (Hypochrysops piceata) is an endangered species due to a highly restricted distribution and complex life history, yet little is known of the availability of suitable habitat for future conservation. The aim of this study was to examine the potential of hyperspectral reflectance data for the discrimination of woodland species in support of bulloak jewel butterfly’s habitat mapping. Sites from known butterfly sightings in Leyburn, Southern Queensland, Australia, were examined using hyperspectral scanning and vegetation species discrimination. Reflectance data of eight woodland vegetation species (Allocasuarina luehmannii, Eucalyptus crebra, Eucalyptus populnea, Callitris glauca, Corymbia maculata, Angophora leicarpa, Acacia sparsiflora, and Jacksonia scoparia) were collected at the leaf and canopy levels using a full-range (350 to 2500 nm) hand-held nonimaging spectroradiometer. Partial least square (PLS) regression was used to interpret the bulloak tree spectra against other vegetation species. The PLS results indicated high-prediction accuracies ranging from 78% to 95% and 52% to 5% for canopy and leaf levels, respectively. The highest spectral separability was observed at the near-infrared bands (approximately at 700 to 1355 nm), followed by selected ranges in the short-wave infrared band where separability peaked at 1670 and 2210 nm. The results confirmed the feasible use of hyperspectral sensing for discriminating vegetation species and its potential use for habitat mapping of the endangered bulloak jewel butterfly.
Highlights
The assessment and mapping of high biodiversity areas are vital components of conservation planning.[1,2] The location and extent of wildlife habitat, as well as the spatial distribution of wildlife, are important considerations in developing conservation strategies to mitigate the habitat loss and degradation.[3]
The results from Partial least square (PLS) regression confirm the effectiveness of narrow-band spectral reflectance data for vegetation species discrimination sampled at the study area
Among the seven pairs of species combinations of raw spectra, the least discrimination was observed between bulloak versus narrow-leaf ironbark (89.14%) and bulloak versus apple gum (91.73%) for canopy and leaf levels, respectively
Summary
The assessment and mapping of high biodiversity areas are vital components of conservation planning.[1,2] The location and extent of wildlife habitat, as well as the spatial distribution of wildlife, are important considerations in developing conservation strategies to mitigate the habitat loss and degradation.[3] In assessing and mapping habitat areas, a number of bioclimatic and environmental factors need to be considered at the appropriate level of thematic details and spatial scales.[4,5] As regards to vegetation, the assessment of its structure and composition presents certain challenges whenever vast tracts of land are involved.[6] Traditional field survey and mapping. Zainol Abdullah et al.: Spectral discrimination of bulloak (Allocasuarina luehmannii). Techniques for vegetation classification cannot always provide the required information in an appropriate time and cost-effective manner.[7,8] Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies offer potential solutions to broad-scale vegetation assessment and mapping of wildlife habitat.[9,10,11]
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