Using in situ hyperspectral reflectance data to distinguish nine aquatic plant species

In situ hyperspectral reflectance data were studied at 50 bands (10 nm bandwidth) over the 400-900 nm spectral range to determine their potential for distinguishing among nine aquatic plant species: American lotus [Nelumbo lutea (Willd.) Pers.], American pondweed (Potamogeton nodusus Poir.), giant duckweed [Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid.], Mexican waterlily (Nymphaea mexicana Zucc.), white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata Aiton), spatterdock [Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm.], giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta Mitchell), waterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] and waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.). The species were studied on three dates: 30 May, 1 July and 3 August 2009. All nine species were studied in July and August, while only eight species were studied in May; giant duckweed was not studied in May due to insufficient availability. Two procedures were used to determine the optimum bands for discriminating among species: multiple comparison range tests and stepwise discriminant analysis. Multiple comparison range tests results for May showed that most separations among species occurred at bands 795-865 nm in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region where up to six species could be distinguished. For July, few species could be distinguished among the 50 bands; most separations occurred at the 715 nm red-NIR edge band where four species could be differentiated. The optimum bands in August occurred in the green (525-595 nm), red (605-635 nm) and red-NIR edge (695-705 nm) spectral regions where up to six species could be distinguished. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified 11 bands in the blue, green, red-NIR edge and NIR spectral regions to be significant to discriminate among the eight species in May. For July and August, stepwise discriminant analysis identified 15 bands and 13 bands, respectively, from the blue to NIR regions to be significant for discriminating among the nine species.