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Title: ESTIMATION OF TEGIONAL STOCKING RATES FROM REMOTE SENSING: COMPARISON WITH SOIL GEOGRAPHIC DATA

Author
item Hunt Jr, Earle

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/21/2002
Publication Date: 2/1/2003
Citation: Hunt, E.R. 2003. Estimation of regional stocking rates from remote sensing: Comparison with soil geographic data [abstract]. In: 56th Annual Meeting of Society for Range Management Abstracts [CD ROM].

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Vegetation Index (NDVI) is commonly used to estimate net primary production (NPP). Average above-ground NPP were calculated from AVHRR NDVI (1989 to 2000) and geographic information system (GIS) data. Using the method of J. L. Holechek [1988 Rangelands 10(1):10-14], and topographic data, stocking rates in animal-unit-months were calculated for 1-km2 grid cells over the state of Wyoming. These stocking rates were compared to National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) tables spatially extrapolated using a 1:500,000 scale soil GIS data layer produced by the University of Wyoming, Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center. In a cell-to-cell comparison, there was no correlation between the two estimates of stocking rates. Comparisons of the AVHRR NDVI data with Landsat data indicate that the mismatch between the two estimates is not due to the coarse spatial scale of the AVHRR data.