The Methods Guide helps you find the field and remote-sensing methods most useful for your rangeland assessment and monitoring needs. It provides ratings, based on expert and user reviews, on how well each method performs to answer specific questions as well as descriptions, relative costs, references to rangeland applications, and contact information for the different techniques. To learn more about the Methods Guide please visit www.rangelandmethods.org.
Date: Printed on 09/08/2010
Topic: Change in species composition or diversity
Chosen scale: Small landscape(25,000 to 250,000ac)
Chosen date range:
Field methods applicable to your question are listed below. The field methods have been rated by experts according to their precision in answering the question you chose and the feasibility of implementing them. Deciding which method is best for your application will require more in depth comparison tables available with the compare button and consideration of details contained in the full abstracts of each method.
Sample design: Where you sample is every bit as important as how you sample. Sample design will determine whether or not your observations can address your overall objectives and question. An effective number and distribution of samples is required to make valid inferences from field data. Values for costs and level of required effort provided in the comparison tables are relative because the actual cost will depend on sample design. Visit our page on sample design.
| Precision | Effort/Cost | Potential for Bias | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
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Daubenmire Method | |
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Dry Weight Rank Method | |
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Line-point Intercept (for cover and composition) | |
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Plant species richness (includes modified Whittaker approach) | |
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Species richness (estimated by point intercept method) | |
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Step Point Transect Method | |
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Step-pin Transect Method |
Remote sensing methods applicable to your question are listed below. They are ranked by experts according to how well they can answer the question you selected as part of a complete analysis process. Sensors that work with a particular method or methods that work with data from a particular sensor will be highlighted by clicking on the items in the list. Deciding which method is best for your application will require more in depth comparisons available with the compare button and consideration of details contained in the full abstracts of each method.
| Name | Owner | Cost | Platform | Swath Width (km) | Resolution (m) | Return Interval | Image Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASTER | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 15.0 | On demand | Multispectral |
| ASTER | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 30.0 | On demand | Multispectral |
| ASTER | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 90.0 | On demand | Multispectral |
| AVIRIS | NASA | $$$ | Aircraft | 2, 11 | 17.0 | On demand | Hyperspectral |
| FORMOSAT-2 | National Space Agency, Republic of China/Spot Image | $$$ | Satellite | 24 | 8.0 | Daily | Multispectral |
| IKONOS | GeoEye | $$$ | Satellite | 11.3 | 4.0 | 3 days | Multispectral |
| TM7 | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 30.0 | 16 days | Multispectral |
| TM7 | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 60.0 | 16 days | Multispectral |
| TM7 | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 15.0 | 16 days | Panchromatic |
| MSS | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 80.0 | 18 days | Multispectral |
| TM5 | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 60.0 | 16 days | Multispectral |
| TM5 | NASA | $$$ | Satellite | 185 | 30.0 | 16 days | Multispectral |
| Quickbird | DigitalGlobe | $$$ | Satellite | 16.5 | 2.5 | 1 to 3.5 days | Multispectral |
| Radarsat-1 | Canadian Space Agency | $$$ | Satellite | 50 - 500 | 50.0 | 4 to 6 days | Synthetic-aperature radar |
| Radarsat-2 | Canadian Space Agency | $$$ | Satellite | 20 - 500 | 50.0 | On demand | Synthetic-aperature radar |
| RapidEye | RapidEye | $$$ | Satellite | 77 | 5.0 | Daily | Multispectral |
| SPOT1-4 | Spot Image | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 20.0 | 1 to 4 days | Multispectral |
| SPOT1-4 | Spot Image | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 10.0 | 1 to 4 days | Panchromatic |
| SPOT5 | Spot Image | $$$ | Satellite | 120 | 10.0 | 1 to 4 days | Multispectral |
| SPOT5 | Spot Image | $$$ | Satellite | 60 | 2.5 | 1 to 4 days | Panchromatic |
| Name | Relevance |
|---|---|
| Canopy/Texture Mapping | |
| Change Detection | |
| Enhanced Vegetation Index | |
| Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fPAR) | |
| Fractional Cover Estimate | |
| Leaf-area Index | |
| Modified Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index | |
| Net Primary Productivity Estimate | |
| Normalized Difference Vegetation Index | |
| Object-based Classification | |
| Regression Kriging | |
| Soil-adjusted Total Vegetation Index | |
| Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index | |
| Spectral Mixture Analysis | |
| Supervised Classification | |
| Tasseled-cap Transformation | |
| Unsupervised Classification | |