Using UAV Imagery to Examine the Spread of the Invasive Phragmites australis in the Crow Island State Game Area in Saginaw, Michigan, USA

Keywords: remote sensing, Phragmites australis, drone imagery
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 38

Abstract

Phragmites australis is an aggressive, invasive perennial that is rapidly replacing the native species in wetlands across the United States. It can quickly spread by seed dispersal or rhizomes. I hypothesized that when it is left unidentified and untreated, it can continually expand and further alter the natural landscape. To manage the spread of Phragmites, maps are needed to track the location of Phragmites patches and their growth over time. The purpose of this research was to quantify the growth of Phragmites in the Crow Island State Game Area in Saginaw, Michigan using drone imagery and make accurate maps of the land cover types. Once I processed the drone images, I used remote sensing classifications to construct a map of each year. After the classifications were run, I used 50 random pixels from each classification to determine the accuracy of the map. I ran a maximum likelihood classification and had overall accuracies in the sixtieth percentile for all three years. My results showed a continual growth across the three-year study, which agreed with my hypothesis.