Vegetation Greenness, Chlorophyll and Water Stress During the Summer in Urban Green Areas (Vilnius, Lithuania)
摘要
Vegetation quality in urban areas is essential to supply ecosystem services. Monitoring their status at a high resolution is essential to understand their status, especially during the Summer when water stress can be higher. The objective of this work is to assess vegetation greenness, chlorophyll and water stress using different spectral indices such as normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), normalised difference red edge index (NDRE) and disease water stress index (DSWI) in an urban green area (urban forests, grass and shrubs and urban gardens) located in Vilnius (Lithuania). The results showed that NDVI, NDRE and DSWI were significantly higher in urban forests than in grass and shrubs. Urban gardens were in an intermediate position. Spearman correlation coefficients showed that vegetation greenness, chlorophyll and water content were positively and significantly correlated in all land uses. Urban forests had the highest vegetation quality due to the lack of management (e.g., clearcuts, biomass removal). In contrast, shrubs and grasses had the lowest vegetation status due to the intense mowing. Irrigation increased urban garden vegetation conditions. Overall, local authorities must reduce the management intensity in grass and shrubs to decrease their vulnerability to summer droughts.