Diversity and Taxonomic Implication of Angiosperms in Sinai Peninsula as Revealed by Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

Abstract

Monitoring natural vegetation through remote sensing data in Egypt is just beginning. Only few studies were carried out to monitor Mangrove communities along Red Sea coast. ASD field spectroradiometer was used to measure spectral reflectance in the wavelength ranged from 350 to 2500 nm for 20 species belonging to the following genera Achillea (one species), Aerva (one species), Alkanna (one species), Asclepias (one species), Astragalus (one species), Ballota (one species), Echinops (one species), Fagonia (one species), Hyoscyamus (one species), Matthiola (two species), Origanum (one species), Peganum (one species), Phlomis (one species), Pyrethrum (one species), Stachys (one species), Teucrium (one species), Verbascum (one species), Zilla (one species), Zygophllum (one species). Then, hyperspectral reflectance characteristics and Macro/micro-morphological features were investigated. One Way ANOVA (Tukey’s HSD Post Hoc Analysis) and Linear Discriminate Analysis were carried out to identify the optimal wavebands and wavelengths to classify the different genera with high pharmaceutical values. It was found that red (550 - 750 nm) and NIR (760 - 1000 nm) spectral zones were the optimal to discriminate the different genera. The specific wavelengths that could be used to isolate each genera were identified. It was found that Asclepias sinaic, Stachys aegyptiaca and Verbascum sinaiticum could be clearly isolated from the rest of the genera with unique spectral characteristics. At the same time, no specific wavelengths were investigated for Alkanna orientalis and Fagonia glutinosa.