Abstract
Traditional methods for measurement of vegetative biomass can be time-consuming and laborÂintensive, especially across large areas. Yet such estimates are necessary to investigate the effects of large scale disturbances on ecosystem components and processes. One alternative to traditional methods for monitoring rangeland vegetation is to use satellite imagery. Because foliage of plants differentially absorbs and reflects energy within the electromagnetic spectrum, remote sensing of spectral data can be used to quantify the amount of vegetative biomass present in an area (Tucker and Sellers 1986). In 1987 we found that Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) imagery could be used to quantify green herbaceous phytomass (GHP) on ungulate summer range in the northeastern portion of Yellowstone National Park. Estimates of GHP in the study area were well within values reported for the habitat types sampled (Mueggler and Steward 1980). Annual variation in GHP was related to winter snow accumulation probably due to the timing of snow melt (Merrill et al. 1988). Additionally, we found that GHP explained a significant amount of the variation in the per capita growth rate of elk and bison populations from 1972 to 1987 (Merrill and Boyce 1991). The extensive fires that occurred in the Park in the summer of 1988 provided an opportunity to determine whether remote sensing could be used to monitor grassland vegetation recovery in the Park and to explore the effects of the 1988 fires on ungulate populations using models we developed in 1987. Previous studies have used Landsat imagery to monitor succession of seral stages after fire in pine (Jakubauska et al. 1990), but no studies to our knowledge have used this approach to quantify herbaceous recovery in grasslands.