The Seasonal Dynamics of Vegetation in an Anthropogenically Transformed Natural Environment Based on Multispectral Survey Data

Reconstruction of the anthropogenically transformed environment in order to identify areas of historical environmental management requires a comprehensive analysis of multispectral data. It includes the construction of maps of vegetation indices that take into account spectral and brightness characteristics, and the calculation of textural features that make it possible to divide the survey area into segments with different structures of vegetation cover. The distinctive features of diverse areas of the natural environment are more contrasting when comparing data from different seasons. The survey area included a fragment of the ironworks district of the Pudemsky ironworks, where in the first half of the 19th century intensive deforestation was carried out. Analysis of the seasonal dynamics of the EVI2 vegetation index showed that the area is covered with mixed forest. The difference in the ratio of coniferous and deciduous trees, as well as in the density of their growth, was the rationale for using Haralick features in segmenting multispectral data. Segmentation was carried out using the k -means algorithm with an a priori setting of the number of classes equal to 5. The interpretation of the selected segments, areas characterized by different vegetation textures in the original images, was carried out by using additional information: historical cartographic materials, orthophotomap, multiseasonal maps of the EVI2 vegetation index (June and October). The refinement of the content of the segments was based on the transition matrix, whose analysis demonstrates the similarities and differences in vegetation texture in different classes. Changes in the structure of the segmented image and variations in the configuration and area of individual segments indicate fundamental differences in the vegetation cover of the western and eastern parts of the survey territory, that is, the area of historical cutting areas and the part of the ironworks district that was not subject to intense anthropogenic impact.