Mapping lichen in a caribou habitat of Northern Quebec, Canada, using an enhancement_classification method and spectral mixture analysis

Studies of caribou herds in northern regions are important to better understand population dynamics and define wildlife management strategies. Lichen is a primary food source for caribou and is a good indicator of caribou herd activity because of its sensitivity to overgrazing and overtrampling, its widespread distribution over northern areas, and its influence on herd demography. In this paper, we used Landsat TM imagery for mapping lichen in the summer range of the George River caribou herd in northern Quebec, Canada. Results from the enhancement_classification method (ECM) and from spectral mixture analysis (SMA) were evaluated for their suitability to characterize lichen landcover and for their potential to be applied over large territories. ECM and SMA are assessed individually, and also for potential synergistic use. ECM is based on guided unsupervised classification of enhanced satellite images. Validation based on 3536 pixels from a relatively smaller number of field sites (20) showed an overall accuracy of 74.5% (kappa=0.70) for 10 classes and good discrimination between lichen and non_lichen classes, though we interpret these results with caution due to spatial autocorrelation and non_random sampling within field sites. However, discrimination amongst different lichen classes using ECM was more problematic. SMA derives the proportion of individual scene components at sub_pixel scales. This method provided good results in characterizing variations in lichen abundance validated against field observations, and provided additional and new information not provided by ECM which is important since the abundance of lichen as a primary food source is a key indicator of migration and demographic patterns essential for effective wildlife management. We concluded that the ECM and SMA methods are appropriate for different aspects of lichen mapping. ECM provided good discrimination between lichen and non_lichen classes whereas SMA provided additional lichen information not available by classification yet critical to the environmental application, which is also appropriate for application over much larger areas and in spatio_temporal studies. A synergistic use of SMA and ECM is therefore recommended for future research.