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Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a predictor of forage availability for ungulates in forest and field habitats

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Abstract

Quantifying available plant biomass is a crucial step towards improving our understanding of herbivore ecology and trophic interactions. Thanks to the development of satellite-derived vegetation indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), ecologists have been provided with indirect estimates of primary production at various temporal and spatial scales. When it comes to forested ecosystems, most mammalian herbivores predominantly rely on the ground vegetation, yet little is known regarding the suitability of NDVI to predict this component of forest vegetation cover. This study compares the relationship between NDVI and ground vegetation biomass in two contrasting habitats (field and forest) in Eastern Poland over the spring and summer seasons (2007–2008). Results indicate that seasonality shapes the relationship between NDVI and ground vegetation biomass for each habitat type. In the field habitat, NDVI and ground vegetation biomass were positively related, with a stronger correlation between the two variables occurring in summer. In the forest habitat, a switch in the direction of the correlation between biomass and NDVI (from positive in spring to negative in summer) was detected. The timing of the switch was related to the timing of full development of tree and shrub leaves (late May–early June). This suggests that the usefulness of NDVI as a predictor of ground vegetation biomass is dependent upon the habitat considered and the targeted season.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. W. Jędrzejewski for his advice concerning biomass collection and all the students who help in the fieldwork. The work of the first author during analyzing data and writing the manuscript was supported by a Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge Fellowship BIORESC of European Community's Sixth Framework Programme under contract number MTKDCT-2005-029957. Field work was financed by a grant 2 P04F 028 29 from the Polish Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany. We are grateful to Dr. Mathieu Garel and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Waszkiewicza 1, 17-230, Białowieża, Poland

    Tomasz Borowik, Leif Sönnichsen & Bogumiła Jędrzejewska

  2. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK

    Nathalie Pettorelli

  3. Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke Str. 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany

    Leif Sönnichsen

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  1. Tomasz Borowik
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  2. Nathalie Pettorelli
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  3. Leif Sönnichsen
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  4. Bogumiła Jędrzejewska
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Correspondence to Tomasz Borowik.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Borowik, T., Pettorelli, N., Sönnichsen, L. et al. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a predictor of forage availability for ungulates in forest and field habitats. Eur J Wildl Res 59, 675–682 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-013-0720-0

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