Trees scattered throughout paddocks have long been considered keystone structures in agricultural landscapes, however little is known about how they actually influence pasture growth. Assessing pasture biomass with sufficient spatial detail requires a cost and time-effective sensor. In this study we test whether an active optical sensor, utilising red and near-infrared wavebands to derive the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), can be used as a surrogate measure of photosynthetically active biomass (PAB) associated with native perennial grasses around scattered trees in grazing paddocks. Pasture cuts were acquired to create and test NDVI-biomass calibrations in the vicinity of 12 scattered trees across a range of species and soil parent materials. ...
Barnes, P.1, Trotter, M.1, Lamb, D.1, Wilson, B.1,2, Reid, N.1, Lockwood, P.1, and Koen, T.2(2010). Using active optical sensing of biomass to investigate the effect of scattered trees on native perennial pastures.In: Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference of the Australian Rangeland Society, Bourke (Eds D.J. Eldridge and C. Waters) (Australian Rangeland Society: Perth).
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