Mapping the Alpine Treeline Ecotone with Digital Aerial Photography and Textural Analysis

Abstract

Textural classifications offer a scale‐sensitive approach to understanding the alpine treeline ecotone in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A. Using aerial photography as primary data, we describe a classification technique, incorporating both spectral and spatial information, to provide ecological insights into the scale dependencies of individual ecotone elements. We found that improvements in classification accuracies incorporating both texture and brightness value depend upon window size and texture parameter, indicating that the optimal scale of analysis varies among ecotone classes. Using texture in image analysis of the ecotone highlights scale sensitivities in ecotone components. Therefore, textural analyses may be useful for reducing error in classifications by providing information on the scale at which various landscape patterns operate.