Mapping Mosquito Breeding Habitats in Mangrove Forest Wetlands: Defining an Appropriate Spatial Metric

摘要

Scientists face many difficulties associated with mapping mosquito-breeding habitats in mangrove basin forests. Remote sensing technology offers solutions, but the information needed are not well defined and methods for extracting the required information from imagery do not exist. Mangrove basin forests have a complex substrate structure composed of various mixes of water, pneumatophores and bare soil. This paper describes analysis of high spatial resolution Daedalus airborne thermal infrared image data to characterise the spatial, structural and compositional characteristics of a mangrove basin forest located in southeast Queensland, Australia. To estimate the spatial variation in the image, variogram analysis and spectral power analysis were used. Differences in substrate structure and composition were evaluated using landscape metrics to describe patch size, shape and connectivity. Characterisation of substrate types provides necessary information for mapping potential mosquito-breeding habitats in mangrove basin forests. This method will enable targeted mosquito control, improving effectiveness and reducing costs.