• DOI:10.1890/1540-9295(2006)4[408:UDPAOI]2.0.CO;2
• Corpus ID: 84822216

Using digital photographs and object-based image analysis to estimate percent ground cover in vegetation plots

@article{Luscier2006UsingDP,
  title={Using digital photographs and object-based image analysis to estimate percent ground cover in vegetation plots},
  author={Jason David Luscier and William L. Thompson and John M. Wilson and Bruce E. Gorham and Lucian Daniel Drăguţ},
  journal={Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment},
  year={2006},
  volume={4},
  pages={408-413}
}

• J. Luscier, W. Thompson, +2 authors L. Drăguţ
• Published 1 October 2006
• Environmental Science, Mathematics
• Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

Ground vegetation influences habitat selection and provides critical resources for survival and reproduction of animals. Researchers often employ visual methods to estimate ground cover, but these approaches may be prone to observer bias. We therefore evaluated a method using digital photographs of vegetation to objectively quantify percent ground cover of grasses, forbs, shrubs, litter, and bare ground within 90 plots of 2m2. We carried out object-based image analysis, using a software program called eCognition, to divide photographs into different vegetation classes (based on similarities among neighboring pixels) to estimate percent ground cover for each category. We used the Kappa index of agreement (KIA) to quantify correctly classified, randomly selected segments of all images. Our KIA values indicated strong agreement (> 80%) of all vegetation categories, with an average of 90–96% (SE = 5%) of shrub, litter, forb, and grass segments classified correctly. We also created artificial plots with known ...