 |
| Titel |
Analysis of vegetation distribution in relation to surface morphology |
| VerfasserIn |
Francesca Savio, Massimo Prosdocimi, Paolo Tarolli, Cristina Rulli |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
|
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250080752
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| The scaling relationship between curvature, and local slope of a given point on the landscape
and its drainage area reveal information about the dominant erosion processes over
geomorphic time scales. Vegetation is known to influence erosion rates and landslide
initiation, and also it is influenced by such processes and climatic regimes. Understanding the
influence of vegetation dynamics on landscape organization is a fundamental challenge in the
Earth Science field. In this study we considered two headwater catchments with vegetation
mostly characterized by grass species (high altitude grassland), but also shrubs (mainly
Alnus viridis), and high forest (mainly Picea abies) are common. We analyzed
then the statistics related to vegetation distribution and different morphological
patterns. High resolution LiDAR data served as the basis upon which derive Digital
Terrain Models (DTMs) and mathematical attributes of landscape morphology
including slope gradient, drainage area, aspect, surface curvature, topographic wetness
index, slope – area and curvature – area loglog diagrams. The results reveal distinct
differences in the curvature-area and slope-area relationships of each vegetation type. For
a given drainage area, mean landscape slope is generally found to increase with
woody vegetation. Profound landsliding signature is detected in areas interested
by Alnus viridis distribution, thus underlining the relation between such pioneer
species with slope instability. This preliminary analysis suggested that, when high
resolution topography is available, is possible to better characterize the vegetation
distribution based on surface morphology thus providing a useful tool for better
understanding the processes and the role of vegetation in the landscape evolution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|