Estimation of Plant Production for Sustainable Use of Arid and Semi-Arid Rangeland Ecosystems Using Satellite Data

Regarding the role of rangelands in natural ecosystems and protection of water and soil, precise and principled management of these arenas seems necessary. Sustainable rangeland management practices are considered to be a solution to manage forage and rangeland degradation. In this study, plant production of arid and semi-arid rangeland in the northern province of Fars during period of 2006 and 2008 were estimated. Four sites were selected and production of plant species of 60 plots was measured. Different digital data were produced and correlation between these data and plant production calculated. The obtained data of the field measurements showed that the rangeland of these regions have little production on the whole. The estimation results of plant production in growth areas under study through LISS-3 digital data shows that there is a significant relationship between total production and digital data. In addition, our results indicate that there is no similarity between produced regression patterns in different studied sites and years