Plant primary production is a key driver of several ecosystem functions in seasonal marshes, such as water purification and secondary production by wildlife and domestic animals. Estimating the spatio-temporal dynamics of biomass production is however challenging in seasonal wetlands with variable flooding regimes.
In this paper, stemming from the MSc Thesis developed by Maria Lumbierres in out group, we develop a method to estimate standing aboveground plant biomass using NDVI Land Surface Phenology (LSP) derived from MODIS, and follow to calibrate and validate it in the Doñana National Park’s marsh vegetation. The estimator was robust to environmental variation in precipitation and hydroperiod, and to spatial variation in the productivity and composition of the plant community - and may represent a key tool for the long-term monitoring and management of seasonal marsh ecosystems.
Model predictions indicate that the marsh areas with highest productivity coincide with those in which productivity has been declining during the last 16 years—suggesting changes in flooding patterns and/or the potential effect of overgrazing by wild and domestic herbivores. Further work will hopefully allow us to disentangle these two proceses.
Lumbierres, M., Méndez, P. F., Bustamante, J., Soriguer, R., & Santamaría, L. (2017). Modeling biomass production in seasonal wetlands using MODIS NDVI land surface phenology. Remote Sensing 9: 392.
