Assessing changes of forest area and shrub encroachment in a mire ecosystem using digital surface models and CIR aerial images

This paper presents an approach to assess increase and decrease (2002–1997) of forest area and other wooded areas in a mire biotope in the Pre-alpine zone of Central Switzerland using logistic regression models and airborne remote sensing data (CIR aerial images, DSM derived from them). The present study was carried out in the framework of the Swiss Mire Protection Program, where increase and decrease of forest areas are key issues. In a first step, automatic DSMs were generated using an image matching approach from CIR aerial images of 1997 and 2002. In a second step, the DSMs were co-registered and normalized using LiDAR data. Tree layers from both years of various levels of detail were then generated combining canopy covers derived from normalized DSMs with a multi-resolution segmentation and a fuzzy classification. On the basis of these tree layers, fractional tree/shrub covers were calculated using explanatory variables derived from these DSMs only. Bias was estimated by analysing the distribution of the fractional model differences. The corrected models reveal a decrease of tree/shrub probability which indicates a decrease of forest and other wooded areas between 1997 and 2002. The models also indicate real shrub encroachment in open mire. The detection of shrub encroachment may be helpful for selective logging purposes for sustainable mire habitat management. The study stresses the importance of high-resolution and high-quality DSMs and highlights the potential of fractional covers for ecological modeling.