Remote-sensing Based Assessment of Long-term Riparian Vegetation Health in Proximity to Agricultural Lands with Herbicide Use History.

ABSTRACT: Riparian ecosystems provide various ecosystem services including habitat for a variety of plant and animal communities, biofiltering, and stabilizing stream and river systems. Due to their location, riparian zones often share long borders with agricultural fields where herbicides are commonly applied to eliminate unwanted plants. There is a general concern that exposure of riparian vegetation to off-target drifted herbicides may adversely impact their health and diversity. We utilized the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to investigate the long-term (between 1992 and 2011) trend of riparian vegetation health at 17 locations in the Midwest and Great Plains areas of the United States, where herbicide usage was likely most intense. Assessment of NDVI data demonstrated that long-t

SUBMITTER: Yousef F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852167 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature