Dataset of "Vegetation cover estimation in semi-arid shrublands after pre-scribed burning. Field-ground and UAV comparison"

This dataset belongs to the experiment carried out in Sierra Filabres (Almería) to explore the effects of prescribed burns and pyric herbiroy on Mediterranean shrubland communities.  This dataset contains data relative to the comparison between the estimation of plant coverage using a multispectral camera on a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), and the plant coverage estimated using ground-truth methods (traditional way). The dataset includes the total coverage for 96 plots within two areas (two treatments) usging the RPAS and using the traditional method. For each of the 96 several fields are included: date: date of the field and RPAS measures quadrat_name: id of the quadrat. cover_type_infoca: an internal classification of the covert type (not used) plant_coverage_field: the estimated plant coverage by traditional methods.  plant_coverage_rpas: the estimated plant coverage by RPAS.  shannon: the Shannon-Wiener index (plant diversity) richness: number of total plant species per quadrat slope: the terrain slope (in percentage) treatment: the treatmen where the plots were set.  cover_type: the cover type considered in the study.  This experiment belong to the LivingLabs developed in this area to explore the role of pastoralism in the conservation of the biodiversity.  </p

Vegetation Cover Estimation in Semi-Arid Shrublands after Prescribed Burning: Field-Ground and Drone Image Comparison

The use of drones for vegetation monitoring allows the acquisition of large amounts of high spatial resolution data in a simple and fast way. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of vegetation cover estimation by drones in Mediterranean semi-arid shrublands (Sierra de Filabres; Almería; southern Spain) after prescribed burns (2 years). We compared drone-based vegetation cover estimates with those based on traditional vegetation sampling in ninety-six 1 m2 plots. We explored how this accuracy varies in different types of coverage (low-, moderate- and high-cover shrublands, and high-cover alfa grass steppe); as well as with diversity, plant richness, and topographic slope. The coverage estimated using a drone was strongly correlated with that obtained by vegetation sampling (R2 = 0.81). This estimate varied between cover classes, with the error rate being higher in low-cover shrublands, and lower in high-cover alfa grass steppe (normalized RMSE 33% vs. 9%). Diversity and slope did not affect the accuracy of the cover estimates, while errors were larger in plots with greater richness. These results suggest that in semi-arid environments, the drone might underestimate vegetation cover in low-cover shrublands