Detection and mapping of anthropogenic effects on soil quality in drylands, using imaging spectroscopy
Research team: Tarin Paz-Kagan, and Arnon Karnieli, M.A: Nathan Levi
Global population growth in the past few decades increase the need in providing food, shelter, and other services, and has resulted in the transformation of many natural ecosystems into human-dominated ones. Land-use (LU) dynamics usually accompanied by large increases in exploiting of resources, along with considerable loss of biodiversity, affect the ecosystem structure and function and may cause deterioration of environmental conditions, which is reflected in soil quality (SQ). SQ differences among LU can be observed with airborne hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy (IS). We aim to measure SQ performances, based solely on spectral differences, and mapping of soil properties among three LU practices (agro-ecosystems, agro-pastoral grazing, and natural reserves) in an arid dryland environment of the Central Negev Desert, Israel. To achieve this goal we developed an implementation of a spectral soil quality index (SSQI) using IS method, which is generated from both laboratory and field spectrometry, for point scale to airborne IS at a local scale.
