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Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data

Received: 16 December 2014     Accepted: 29 December 2014     Published: 6 January 2015
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Abstract

This paper presents a time series study of an alpine ecosystem in the Big Pine Creek watershed in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain’s. Seventy five sample sites along a 2,500 meter elevation gradient are analyzed for trends in surface reflectance based on vegetative density using USGS data derived from Landsat imagery for the 1984 through 2013 time frame. Three vegetative indices, NDVI, SAVI, and MSAVI2 as well as the Tasseled Cap transformations for Brightness (TCB), greenness (TCG), and wetness (TCW) are explored. We found that over the time period of the study, significant increases in vegetation are occurring at densely vegetated sites at almost all elevations within the watershed while less change and even some significant declines in vegetation are seen in moderately and sparsely vegetated sites. Sparsely vegetated sites show distinct bifurcation in their response with the lower elevations seeing declines and the upper elevations seeing increases in vegetation. Several sites show significant declines in both the visible and near infrared regions suggesting there are compositional changes taking place consistent with climate induced range shifts. This study provides a useful insight into the ecological response of the Big Pine Creek watershed to recent climate change.

Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12
Page(s) 137-146
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Landsat, Vegetation Indices, Elevation Gradient, Alpine Watershed, Climate Change, Time Series Mann-Kendall Trend Analysis

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Patrick Shawn Sawyer, Haroon Stephen. (2015). Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data. Earth Sciences, 3(6), 137-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12

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    ACS Style

    Patrick Shawn Sawyer; Haroon Stephen. Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data. Earth Sci. 2015, 3(6), 137-146. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12

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    AMA Style

    Patrick Shawn Sawyer, Haroon Stephen. Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data. Earth Sci. 2015;3(6):137-146. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12,
      author = {Patrick Shawn Sawyer and Haroon Stephen},
      title = {Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {137-146},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20140306.12},
      abstract = {This paper presents a time series study of an alpine ecosystem in the Big Pine Creek watershed in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain’s. Seventy five sample sites along a 2,500 meter elevation gradient are analyzed for trends in surface reflectance based on vegetative density using USGS data derived from Landsat imagery for the 1984 through 2013 time frame. Three vegetative indices, NDVI, SAVI, and MSAVI2 as well as the Tasseled Cap transformations for Brightness (TCB), greenness (TCG), and wetness (TCW) are explored. We found that over the time period of the study, significant increases in vegetation are occurring at densely vegetated sites at almost all elevations within the watershed while less change and even some significant declines in vegetation are seen in moderately and sparsely vegetated sites. Sparsely vegetated sites show distinct bifurcation in their response with the lower elevations seeing declines and the upper elevations seeing increases in vegetation. Several sites show significant declines in both the visible and near infrared regions suggesting there are compositional changes taking place consistent with climate induced range shifts. This study provides a useful insight into the ecological response of the Big Pine Creek watershed to recent climate change.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Vegetative Response to Climate Change in the Big Pine Creek Watershed along a 2,500 Meter Elevation Gradient Using Landsat Data
    AU  - Patrick Shawn Sawyer
    AU  - Haroon Stephen
    Y1  - 2015/01/06
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 137
    EP  - 146
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20140306.12
    AB  - This paper presents a time series study of an alpine ecosystem in the Big Pine Creek watershed in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain’s. Seventy five sample sites along a 2,500 meter elevation gradient are analyzed for trends in surface reflectance based on vegetative density using USGS data derived from Landsat imagery for the 1984 through 2013 time frame. Three vegetative indices, NDVI, SAVI, and MSAVI2 as well as the Tasseled Cap transformations for Brightness (TCB), greenness (TCG), and wetness (TCW) are explored. We found that over the time period of the study, significant increases in vegetation are occurring at densely vegetated sites at almost all elevations within the watershed while less change and even some significant declines in vegetation are seen in moderately and sparsely vegetated sites. Sparsely vegetated sites show distinct bifurcation in their response with the lower elevations seeing declines and the upper elevations seeing increases in vegetation. Several sites show significant declines in both the visible and near infrared regions suggesting there are compositional changes taking place consistent with climate induced range shifts. This study provides a useful insight into the ecological response of the Big Pine Creek watershed to recent climate change.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Environmental and Public Affairs, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States

  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States

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