Susceptibility Mapping of Unhealthy Trees in Jiuzhaigou Valley Biosphere Reserve

A novel technology integration approach combining remote sensing and quantitative retrieval successfully mapped the susceptibility of unhealthy trees in Jiuzhaigou Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and biosphere reserve. The method, utilizing high-resolution WorldView-2 satellite images and object-oriented classification with spectral and texture features, achieved an F1 Score exceeding 75%. Further analysis on Sentinel-2 data yielded susceptibility maps with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) over 0.85. Key findings reveal that while Jiuzhaigou's forests show resilience to geological disasters, human activities have increasingly adverse effects on vegetation health, necessitating urgent attention. This cost-effective methodology offers a scalable solution for monitoring and early warning in similar biosphere reserves.

Gao, S., Chen, F., Wang, Q., Shi, P., Zhou, W., & Zhu, M. (2023). Susceptibility Mapping of Unhealthy Trees in Jiuzhaigou Valley Biosphere Reserve. Remote Sensing, 15(23), 5516. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15235516