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Title: Using QuickBird satellite imagery to estimate giant reed infestations in the Rio Grande Basin of Mexico

Author
item Yang, Chenghai
item Goolsby, John
item Everitt, James

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (JARS)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/8/2009
Publication Date: 5/14/2009
Citation: Yang, C., Goolsby, J., Everitt, J.H. 2009. Using QuickBird satellite imagery to estimate giant reed infestations in the Rio Grande Basin of Mexico. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing. 3:033530.

Interpretive Summary: Giant reed or Arundo is a perennial invasive weed that presents a severe threat to agroecosystems and riparian areas in the Texas and Mexican portions of the Rio Grande Basin. This study used QuickBird satellite imagery to map giant reed infestations and estimate infested areas in the Mexican portion of the Rio Grande Basin. Based on intensive ground surveys and 40 archived and newly-tasked QuickBird image scenes acquired from 2002 to 2007, the total infested area in the Mexican portion of the Basin was estimated to be 4775 ha. These results will be useful for both land owners and government agencies for the management and control of this invasive weed.

Technical Abstract: Giant reed (Arundo donax L.) is a perennial invasive weed that presents a severe threat to agroecosystems and riparian areas in the Texas and Mexican portions of the Rio Grande Basin. The objective of this study was to use QuickBird satellite imagery to map giant reed infestations and estimate infested areas in the Mexican portion of the Rio Grande Basin. Intensive ground surveys were conducted and global positioning system (GPS) points were collected to document the locations along major tributaries and other infested areas in the Mexican portion of the Basin. To map the scattered infestations, QuickBird image scenes covering a total area of 7190 square km were needed. In this study, 40 archived and newly-tasked QuickBird image scenes acquired from 2002 to 2007 and covering a total area of 3252 square km were used. These images were classified using maximum likelihood classification and the areas for giant reed and water in each scene were determined. The total giant reed-infested area determined from the 40 images was 2160 ha. Since the 40 images constituted about 45.2% of the total area to be imaged, the total infested area in the Mexican portion of the Basin was estimated to be 4775 ha. Based on the images acquired along the tributaries, the ratio of giant reed-infested area to water area was 1.6 ha/ha and the ratio of giant reed-infested area to river length was 4.6 ha/km. Although actual infested areas are larger than the estimated areas because some of the infested areas may have not been counted during ground surveys, this study provides the first and accurate estimates of giant reed infestations in the Mexican portion of the Rio Grande Basin. These results will be useful for both land owners and government agencies for the management and control of this invasive weed.