Use of Remote Sensing for Detecting and Mapping Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula)
Everitt JH, Anderson GL, Escobar DE, Davis MR, Spencer NR, Andrascik RJ. 1995. Use of Remote Sensing for Detecting and Mapping Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula). Weed Technology. 9:599-609
Leafy spurge is a troublesome, exotic weed in the northern Great Plains of the United States. Leafy spurge produces showy yellow bracts during June that give this weed a conspicuous appearance. A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using remote sensing techniques to detect leafy spurge in this phenological stage. Study sites were located in ND and MT. Plant canopy reflectance measurements showed that leafy spurge had higher visible reflectance than several assocaited plant species. The conspicuous yellow bracts of leafy spurge gave it a distinct yellow-green and pink images on conventional color and color-infrared aerial photographs, respectively. Leafy spurge also could be distinguished on conventional color video imagery where it had a golden yellow image response.Large fomat conventional color photographs of THRO were digitized and integrated with geographic information system to produce a map of leafy spurge populations within the park that can be useful to monitor the spread or decline of leafy spurge.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Everitt, James; Anderson, Gerald; Escobar, David; Davis, Michael; Spencer, Neal; Andrascik, Roger
- Units
- THRO
- Keywords
- Exotic, GIS, leafy spuge, Non-Native, Remote Sensing