title: Identification of land-cover characteristics using MODIS time series data: an application in the Yangtze river estuary.
abstract: Land-cover characteristics have been considered in many ecological studies. Methods to identify these characteristics by using remotely sensed time series data have previously been proposed. However, these methods often have a mathematical basis, and more effort is required to better illustrate the ecological meanings of land-cover characteristics. In this study, a method for identifying these characteristics was proposed from the ecological perspective of sustained vegetation growth trend. Improvement was also made in parameter extraction, inspired by a method used for determining the hyperspectral red edge position. Five land-cover types were chosen to represent various ecosystem growth patterns and MODIS time series data were adopted for analysis. The results show that the extracted parameters can reflect ecosystem growth patterns and portray ecosystem traits such as vegetation growth strategy and ecosystem growth situations.
authors.affiliation: Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of the Yangtze River Estuary, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Mo-Qian
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hai-Qiang
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zu-Tao
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005843:Geography; D045483:Rivers
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