Mapping the vegetation of the ultramafic outcrops of Saddle Hills (North Andaman Islands, India) using remote-sensing tools

作者：Chaudhury Krishna^*; Dutta Suman; Mukherjee Prasanta

来源：Australian Journal of Botany, 2015, 63(3-4): 234-242.

DOI：10.1071/BT14243

• phytosociology
• RS analyses
• serpentine vegetation

Saddle Peak (734m asl) is the highest peak of North Andaman in the Andaman group of islands of India and is reported to be an ultramafic massif. To map the forest vegetation and to identify the species association in this otherwise inaccessible topography, several remote-sensing (RS) tools were used. In standard false colour composite (FCC) satellite image, the area showed smooth texture and bright tone owing to uniform height of the trees and close canopy cover, caused by low variability of the spectral signature. Ratioed images were found useful for discrimination of brightness variation in the slopes between the two bands involved. Vegetation analyses revealed that thick dwarf shrubby trees cover this ultramafic outcrop on the top of Saddle Hills, termed here as 'stunted evergreen forests.'

• 出版日期2015