Scale Dependencies of Vegetation and Topography in a Mountainous Environment of Montana

Abstract

This research examines the effects of spatial scale on estimating the relationship between vegetation biomass and topography within a portion of Glacier National Park, Montana. The Reflectance/Absorptance vegetation index, developed from processed Landsat Thematic Mapper digital data, is related to three topographic variables obtained through processed Digital Elevation Models: elevation, slope angle, and slope aspect. R2 values between the vegetation index and the topographic variables are obtained from regression analyses at a series of aggregated spatial scales. The effective range of spatial scales within which the two sets of variables are spatially dependent and the degree of the spatial dependencies are characterized through semivariance and fractal analyses. Key Words: scale dependenciestopographic controlsremote sensingGIS