Spectral response of healthy and damaged leaves of tropical seagrass Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, and Cymodocea rotundata

Characterization of seagrass spectral reflectance response is important to understand seagrass condition and for the possibility of mapping activities using remote sensing data, which is important for the management, monitoring, and evaluation of seagrass ecosystem. This paper presents the spectral reflectance response of several tropical seagrass species. These species are Enhalus acoroides (Ea), Thalassia hemprichii (Th) and Cymodocea rotundata (Cr). Spectral reflectance response of healthy seagrass, epiphyte-covered seagrass, and damaged seagrass leaves for each species were measured using Jaz EL-350 field spectrometer ranged from 350 - 1100 nm. Repeated measurements were performed above water on harvested seagrass leaves. The results indicate that there is a change in spectral reflectance response of damaged or epiphyte-covered seagrass leaves compared to the healthy leaves. The results show similar pattern for the three species, where the peak reflectance in visible wavelengths shifted toward longer wavelengths on damaged seagrass leaves. The results of this research open up a possibility of mapping seagrass health condition using remote sensing image.