Landscape Heterogeneity of Riverine Wetlands of the Amazon Basin from a Remote Sensing Perspective UCSB – INPE - UW Leal A.K. Mertes Evlyn Novo Yosio Shimabukuro Thelma Krug Jeffrey Richey Funding - NASA & W. Alton Jones Foundation
OUTLINE Relationships among floodplain morphology, vegetation distribution, and inundation hydrology. Floodplain morphology and inundation hydrology 1. along mainstem Amazon River 2. across Amazon Basin. Classification procedure for optical data. Trends in spatial patterns of Amazon Basin wetlands
Inundation Hydrology
Amazon Basin River Network - Digital Chart of the World
Amazon Basin Hydrology (based on unpublished data provided by Dunne & Newton) Average total rainfall - mm Coefficient of variation (by month) Averages based on data for
Vegetation Zonation on Amazon River Wetlands (After Junk 1970) low water
Methodology for Optical Data
forest Classification of SMA Data turbid shade/clear vegetation color composite classified v t sh senesced/bare turbid water clear water macrophyte
Amazon Mainstem Floodplain - Landsat Mosaic
Classified Mainstem Mosaic
FOREST I (LO DENSITY) FOREST II (HI DENSITY) MACROPHYTE I/ PASTURE (HI DENSITY) MACROPHYTE II/PASTURE (LO DENSITY) TURBID WATER CLEAR WATER CLEARWATER W/LOW VEGETATION SENESCED OR DEFOLIATED VEGETATION UNCLASSIFIED MUDDY PASTURE/MACROPHYTE BOTTOM REFLECTANCE SAND BARS URBAN/BARE PASTURE a b c a b c
Vegetation Zonation on Amazon River Wetlands (After Junk 1970) low water
Amazon Mainstem Floodplain - Areal (km 2 ) & Percent Cover lo trees 8776 hi trees lo macro 3328 hi macro 7595 clear turbid 1010 lo veg 2708 dry veg 6383 pasture 173 sand bar 90,275 all 64,383 just veg 25,546 just water
Summary for Mainstem Landform and vegetation heterogeneity is most diverse in Zones 2 & 3 where there is significant mixing of river water and floodplain water during high water. Floodplain landforms available for colonization by vegetation include scroll bars, swales, lake shores, lake deltas, and floodplain drainage channels. Zones 1 & 4 have less heterogeneous vegetation cover. However, where landforms are similar to the middle reaches, the spatial distribution of vegetation is similar. Decreased forest cover downstream result of marked seasonality of precipitation and longer history of forest cutting