Vegetation of central Florida's East coast: The distribution of six vegetational complexes of Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral Peninsula

Abstract

Several discrete vegetation types on Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral barrier island were delineated by use of LANDSAT satellite data. Categories of vegetation based upon community structure and the presence or absence of water were determined in a two-stage analysis. First, a detailed map covering 52 km 2 was prepared using conventional methods (i.e., site visits, high-resolution aerial photographs, and direct aerial investigations). Then an interactive computerized system (Image 100) was used to analyze LANDSAT data for the same area. Six plant community forms, differing by vegetation height, canopy openness and the amount of water visible from the air, were mapped. These physiognomic characteristics were used because they often influenced the light reflected from an area more than did the floristic composition. The computer was adjusted to detect all regions with similar light-reflectance characteristics; the search limits were then manually adjusted until the regions detected by the computer agreed with the known distribution of vegetation appearing in the detailed vegetation map. These limits were applied to the entire coastal area and the computer maps printed. The resulting distribution maps were spot checked for accuracy by site visitation. The areas identified by the method were indicative of discrete physiognomic types which in turn were easily related to major plant association types. Expression of the computer classification technique's full potential depends on the intimate participation of trained botanists, and the prior completion of extensive field studies.