Understanding patterns of vegetation change at the Angkor World Heritage site by combining remote sensing results with local knowledge

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research uses two disparate data types, quantitative bi-temporal Multivariate Alteration Detection (MAD) remote sensing with qualitative interview data, to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between patterns of vegetation change at the Angkor World Heritage site, Cambodia. The time period of the research data corresponds with periods where there were significant shifts in the regulations affecting management of the site. The findings suggest that components of change identified from MAD across different spatial and temporal scales can be translated to that observed in the field or ‘real world’. Although MAD results provide an indication of change at specific locations, the results from field investigations and interviews suggest, however, that the different forms of change identified are not always clearly understood. For example, in the case where MAD outputs and associated spectral plots suggest evidence of fire in the landscape, it is not clear whether this is the main contributor to vegetation loss at given sites. The research demonstrates that identifying patterns of vegetation change from satellite imagery is achievable using novel and largely under-utilized methods. However, understanding the forms of change and contributing factors are considerably more complex.