Landscape Controls on Structural Variation in Eucalypt Vegetation Communities: Woronora Plateau, Australia

Figures & data

FIGURE 1.  Location map.

PLATE 1.  Topography and sample plots. Hillshade solar angle 45°; azimuth 315°. See Jenkins (2009) for additional field site data.

TABLE 1. Plot means, standard error and ANOVA significance α<0.05

	Plot NDVI		Canopy NDVI		Foliage cover (%)		Crown cover (%)		Max ht (m)
Landscape position class	Mean	Significance (n)^a	Mean	Significance (n)	Mean	Significance (s)	Mean	Significance (x)	Mean	Significance (x)
Dry	210±0.9	Wet +	211±0.8		60.6±1.1		29.1±5.0		19.1±0.7	Wet
Moist	210±1.2	Wet	212±1.0		56.5±1.8		27.4±5.4		18.6±1.0	Wet
Wet	213±1.2		214±1.3		60.9±1.9		40.4±5.2		22.2±1.3
Cool	210±1.2		212±1.2		63.7±1.9		41.9±5.8		22.6±1.3
Warm	212±1.1		213±0.9		57.6±1.5	Cool +	32.6±5.4		19.7±1.0	Cool
Hot	211±1.2		212±1.1		57.8±1.2	Cool +	23.9±3.9	Cool	18.0±0.6	Cool +
	Canopy mode (m)		SemiV ht range (1 m)		SemiV NDVI range (1 m)		SemiV ht range (2.4 m)		SemiV NDVI range (2.4 m)
Landscape position class	Mean	Significance (n)	Mean	Significance (s)	Mean	Significance (s)	Mean	Significance (x)	Mean	Significance (x)
Dry	11.4±0.7		9±0.2	Wet +	8.7±0.2		12.7±0.9	Wet	14±1.2	Moist
Moist	11.2±0.6		9.4±0.3	Wet	8.7±0.2		11.4±0.6	Wet +	10.7±0.7	Wet
Wet	14.5±1.1		10.2±0.3		9.3±0.3		15.5±1.0		14±1.0
Cool	14.2±1.6		9.6±0.3		9.0±0.3		13.5±0.9		14.3±1.3
Warm	12.4±0.9		9.9±0.3		9.3±0.3		15.4±1.1		14.0±1.0
Hot	10.8±0.5		9.0±0.2		8.4±0.2	Warm +	11.1±0.5	Warm +	11.0±0.8	Cool
Notes:
Significance cells show landform separation based on Least Squares Difference significance, with plus sign indicating Scheffé significance.
^a Normality test is shown in parentheses below vegetation metric: n=normal; s=sub-optimal; x=non-normal. Test based on Shapiro–Wilk's test where p>0.05 (α<0.05) indicates non-normal distribution (ht=height; SemiV=semivariance).

TABLE 2. Between-plot correlation of QuickBird NDVI vs ALS-derived metrics. The lack of correlation overall shows the lack of redundancy between different metrical and sensor types

Landscape position class	Foliage cover R ^2	SE (%)	p	Crown cover R ^2	SE (%)	p
Dry	<0.3			<0.3
Moist	0.59	5.0	< 0.0001	0.32	20.0	<0.01
Wet	<0.3			<0.3
Cool	<0.3			<0.3
Warm	<0.3			<0.3
Hot	0.41	5.0	< 0.001	<0.3

FIGURE 2.  Semivariance range plots for ALS height data. Semivariance range (vertical axis) for a series of lag widths (horizontal axis) for selected field sites. The range typically plateaus at a certain lag width, which indicates the size of dominant features within the field sites. Distances in metres. Site A1_001 was outside the area of landscape stratification. See Jenkins (2009) for additional site details.

TABLE 3. Correlation of NDVI vs CHM semivariance ranges. The lack of correlation overall shows the lack of redundancy between different metrical and sensor types

Landscape position class	Lags 1 m R ^2	SE (m)	p	Lags 2.4 m R ^2	SE (m)	p
Dry	<0.3			<0.3
Moist	<0.3			<0.3
Wet	0.75	0.71	< 0.0001	0.33	4.60	< 0.002
Cool	0.69	0.70	< 0.0001	<0.3
Warm	<0.3			<0.3
Hot	<0.3			<0.3

PLATE 2.  Vegetation responses to energy and water availability (scale bar 50 m). Representative illustrations from sample plots (a) NDVI increases with increasing water; (b) foliage cover decreases with increasing energy (field photographs); (c) canopy-gap dimension increases with increasing water (from CHM 10 m stratification).

Jenkins , R.B. 2009 High resolution remote sensing for native vegetation assessment and monitoring: an impact assessment approach , University of New England .

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