Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora

Monitoring the spatiotemporal changes of Spartina alterniflora (SA) is essential in effectively managing coastal ecology since it is one of the most harmful invasive weeds worldwide. However, it remains challenging to accurately identify SA invasion, especially in regions subject to periodic tidal f...

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Main Authors: Yuanhui Zhu, Soe W. Myint, Jingjing Cao, Kai Liu, Mei Zeng, Chenxi Diao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-12-01
Series:Ecological Informatics
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954125002171
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author Yuanhui Zhu
Soe W. Myint
Jingjing Cao
Kai Liu
Mei Zeng
Chenxi Diao
author_facet Yuanhui Zhu
Soe W. Myint
Jingjing Cao
Kai Liu
Mei Zeng
Chenxi Diao
author_sort Yuanhui Zhu
collection DOAJ
description Monitoring the spatiotemporal changes of Spartina alterniflora (SA) is essential in effectively managing coastal ecology since it is one of the most harmful invasive weeds worldwide. However, it remains challenging to accurately identify SA invasion, especially in regions subject to periodic tidal flooding. Recent studies have shown that utilizing traditional multitemporal vegetation indices (VIs), such as NDVI and EVI derived from multispectral image features, can improve the accuracy of identifying SA. Still, the application potential of multitemporal hyperspectral images with rich derived VIs has not yet been explored. The Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral satellite offers high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution, providing crucial multitemporal features for accurately identifying SA. This study examined multitemporal VIs from nine months using hyperspectral images and common machine learning methods (i.e., K-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, random forest) to compare a variety of VIs' performance in identifying SA invasion in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Results showed that multitemporal VIs are more effective in identifying SA in periodic tidal flooding areas than individual hyperspectral parameters (spectral features, VIs, and spatial texture features). Significantly, the unique multitemporal VIs derived from red-edge bands of hyperspectral images constantly demonstrated higher accuracies (exceeding 91.6 %) than traditional NDVI (91.47 %) and EVI (84.78 %). Our results consistently identified June, February, and November as the most critical months for identifying SA invasion, as observed across all three algorithms and VIs. These months are connected to SA phenology's greening, yellowing, and withering. Results and findings from this study provided insight into the overwhelming potential of multitemporal hyperspectral image analyses to improve the monitoring and management of invasive species for sustainable coastal ecosystems. The same procedure, algorithms, indices, and features can be employed to effectively identify any other specific species or detailed land cover types.
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spelling doaj-art-128549bbee1146b6a8c021809c4e80692025-08-20T05:05:04ZengElsevierEcological Informatics1574-95412025-12-019010320810.1016/j.ecoinf.2025.103208Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alternifloraYuanhui Zhu0Soe W. Myint1Jingjing Cao2Kai Liu3Mei Zeng4Chenxi Diao5Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USADepartment of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USACollege of Computer Sciences, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou 510665, China; Corresponding author.School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, ChinaSchool of Geographical Sciences, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, ChinaSchool of Geographical Sciences, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, ChinaMonitoring the spatiotemporal changes of Spartina alterniflora (SA) is essential in effectively managing coastal ecology since it is one of the most harmful invasive weeds worldwide. However, it remains challenging to accurately identify SA invasion, especially in regions subject to periodic tidal flooding. Recent studies have shown that utilizing traditional multitemporal vegetation indices (VIs), such as NDVI and EVI derived from multispectral image features, can improve the accuracy of identifying SA. Still, the application potential of multitemporal hyperspectral images with rich derived VIs has not yet been explored. The Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral satellite offers high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution, providing crucial multitemporal features for accurately identifying SA. This study examined multitemporal VIs from nine months using hyperspectral images and common machine learning methods (i.e., K-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, random forest) to compare a variety of VIs' performance in identifying SA invasion in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Results showed that multitemporal VIs are more effective in identifying SA in periodic tidal flooding areas than individual hyperspectral parameters (spectral features, VIs, and spatial texture features). Significantly, the unique multitemporal VIs derived from red-edge bands of hyperspectral images constantly demonstrated higher accuracies (exceeding 91.6 %) than traditional NDVI (91.47 %) and EVI (84.78 %). Our results consistently identified June, February, and November as the most critical months for identifying SA invasion, as observed across all three algorithms and VIs. These months are connected to SA phenology's greening, yellowing, and withering. Results and findings from this study provided insight into the overwhelming potential of multitemporal hyperspectral image analyses to improve the monitoring and management of invasive species for sustainable coastal ecosystems. The same procedure, algorithms, indices, and features can be employed to effectively identify any other specific species or detailed land cover types.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954125002171Spartina alterniflora invasionZhuhai-1 hyperspectral imagesRemote sensingMangroveMachine learning
spellingShingle Yuanhui Zhu
Soe W. Myint
Jingjing Cao
Kai Liu
Mei Zeng
Chenxi Diao
Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
Ecological Informatics
Spartina alterniflora invasion
Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images
Remote sensing
Mangrove
Machine learning
title Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
title_full Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
title_fullStr Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
title_short Evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species - Spartina alterniflora
title_sort evaluating multitemporal vegetation indices from zhuhai 1 hyperspectral images for detecting a rapidly spreading invasive species spartina alterniflora
topic Spartina alterniflora invasion
Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral images
Remote sensing
Mangrove
Machine learning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954125002171
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