Detecting spatial and temporal patterns of aboveground production in a tallgrass prairie using remotely sensed data

Spatial and temporal patterns of aboveground production in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem constitute one of the important spatial components associated with ecological processes and biophysical resources (e.g., water and nutrients). This study addresses the effects of disturbance, topography, and climate on the spatial and temporal patterns of North American tallgrass prairie at a landscape level by using high resolution satellite data. Spatial heterogeneity (SH) derived from the satellite data was related to the impacts of the disturbance of fire and grazing, topographical gradient, and amount of precipitation during the growing season. The result suggests that ecological processes and biophysical resources can be quantified with high resolution satellite data for tallgrass prairie management.