Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Estimation of Plant Biomass by Spectral Reflectance in an East African Grassland
Author
Boutton, T. W.
Tieszen, L. L.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1983-03-01
Body

Canopy spectral reflectance measurements at 0.800 and 0.675 μm were made in a grassland in Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. The reflectance ratio (0.800/0.675 μm) was shown to be a reliable predictor of green biomass, accounting for 70% of the variance in green biomass values. Significant error in the biomass estimates was shown to be due to plots which contained less than 30% of the total vegetation in the live condition. Estimation error tended to increase when time of sampling departed from the interval of 1000 to 1400 hours, although this trend was not statistically significant. We conclude that the spectral reflectance technique can provide reliable estimates of plant biomass in grassland ecosystems where the proportion of live:total vegetation exceeds 30%. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/3898165
Additional Information
Boutton, T. W., & Tieszen, L. L. (1983). Estimation of plant biomass by spectral reflectance in an East African grassland. Journal of Range Management, 36(2), 213-216.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/646016
Journal Volume
36
Journal Number
2
Journal Pages
213-216
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
Eastern Africa