Image-based monitoring to measure ecological change in rangeland

High-resolution, image-based methods can increase the speed and accuracy of ecological monitoring while reducing monitoring costs. We evaluated the efficacy of systematic aerial and ground sampling protocols to detect stocking-rate differences across 130 ha of shortgrass prairie. Manual (SamplePoint) and automated (spectral) image-analysis methods were compared for both aerial and ground data. Vegetative cover changes due to grazing were detectable from 1-mm ground sample distance (GSD, a measure of resolution) digital aerial photography with as few as 30 samples yielding enough data to predict bare ground within ± 5%. We found poor agreement between automated and manual image-analysis methods, but good agreement between manual analyses of imagery from the air (100 m above ground level [AGL]) and from the ground (2 m AGL). We conclude that cover measurements made using SamplePoint from 1-mm GSD images (from 2 or 100 m AGL) can detect ecologically important changes in key indicators such as bare ground. The costs of ground and aerial methods differ markedly, and we suggest that aerial imagery is most cost effective for areas larger than 200 ha.