Fraction of Vegetation Cover (FCover)
1. Description
Fraction of vegetation cover, or FCOVER, measures the fraction of ground covered by green vegetation. It quantifies the ratio between biomass (1) and soil (0), i.e. the spatial extent of the vegetation.
2. Inputs and parameters
Fraction of Vegetation Cover for field experiment:
- Basic scouting maps * (NDVI by default, MCARI2, and VARI can also be selected)
- Microplots *
Fraction of Vegetation Cover for production field:
- Basic scouting maps * (NDVI by default, MCARI2, and VARI can also be selected)
- Field boundaries *
- Grid Size*
*Mandatory
- There is only one analytic for both field experiment and production field. If the analytic receives a microplot, then the platform considers that the site is a field experiment. On the other hand, if it receives field boundaries, it will consider that the site is a production field.
- Can be used from the emergence stage up to full canopy coverage of the field.
- Be careful at the flowering stage, flowers can have an impact on the results.
3. Launching the analytics
Step 1 - Open a site in Alteia, and select the appropriate survey (see inputs required).
Step 2 - Go to the analytics catalog from the analytics button of the left menu, select "Fraction of Vegetation Cover" under Any Agriculture category and click on "LAUNCH".
Step 3 - Select the DSM as a base layer and the microplot or field boundaries depending on the scope of your analysis. Press the "NEXT STEP" button.
Step 4 - If field boundaries were previously defined, enter the size of the grid and click on "LAUNCH FRACTION OF VEGETATION COVER".
Step 5 - Click on "FINISH".
4. Progress & Completion Status
Check the status anytime from the analytic LAUNCHED tab.
A notification is sent to inform of the end of the treatment, see Notification Center.
5. Results
Open Inventory then a Fraction of vegetation cover subgroups of layers belonging to the SURVEY DATA section on the left menu panel. FCOVER per microplot is displayed under Fcover% layer, click it to open its information panel on the right side to view the value chart.
- Field experiment
- Production field
- FCover mask
Biomass mask is under the same layer subgroup; Click any location to view the value for any point on the map, see Measurement Tool.
- Customize the layer styles, see Vector Layers Styling.
6. Deliverables
Fraction of Vegetation Cover for field experiment:
- FCover%.geojson
- FCover mask.tif
Fraction of Vegetation Cover for production field:
- FCover%.geojson
- FCover mask.tif
7. Geojson output attributes
FCover% Geojson output for field experiment:
- Attributes from the input vector file (md_trial_id, md_plot_plot_id,… if the vector is from Alteia)
- fcover: Fraction of vegetation cover per microplot
- vegetation_surface: the surface of vegetation per plot (m²)
FCover % Geojson output for production field:
- id: Id of the grid cell
- id_x: column number
- id_y: row number
- fcover: Fraction of vegetation cover per microplot
- vegetation_surface: the surface of vegetation per plot (m²)
