Sub-pixel habitat mapping of a costal dune ecosystem

Bare sand and semi-fixed dunes represent ideal conditions for successionally young slack habitats that support rare species of coastal dune flora. In ecologically significant and large dune systems, such as the Kenfig National Nature Reserve, UK, identification and mapping of favourable (sandy) and unfavourable (scrub-rich) habitats provide baseline information for conservation management. To map this habitat, spectral unmixing of airborne imaging spectrometer (CASI) imagery is performed using a linear mixture model and fuzzy membership functions. Results indicate that both techniques can be used successfully to map the relative proportions of sand and vegetation at the sub-pixel level, (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.