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Remote Sensing of Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Vegetation

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Remote Sensing of Biosphere Functioning

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 79))

Abstract

Most of the world’s vegetation is in a state of flux at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Plant growth and reproductive patterns respond to seasonal fluctuations in climate. Yearly climatic variations are also responsible for differences in species growth and establishment patterns, leading to changes in species composition and distributions. Over long periods of time, directional vegetational changes may occur through succession. Vegetation changes may take place at extremely small scales, for instance, in canopy gaps created by the death of individual trees (Shugart and West, 1981; Runkle, 1985), or over larger scales where vegetation responds to such disturbances as fires or floods. Species distributions may change rapidly in response to episodic events (e.g., Hobbs and Mooney, 1989), or over longer periods in response to climatic shifts (e.g., Davis, 1986; Delcourt and Delcourt, 1987). Evidence of past vegetational changes resulting from changes in climate during glaciation cycles reinforce the view that major vegetational shifts are possible.

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  1. Richard J. Hobbs
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, Midland, WA, 6056, Australia

    R. J. Hobbs

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-5020, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

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Hobbs, R.J. (1990). Remote Sensing of Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Vegetation. In: Hobbs, R.J., Mooney, H.A. (eds) Remote Sensing of Biosphere Functioning. Ecological Studies, vol 79. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3302-2_10

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