Quantifying Potential Changes in ET Following Tree Damage in South African Savannahs
Category: Research Poster
Author(s): Gloria Tait, Miranda Chin
Presenter(s): Gloria Tait
Mentors(s): Jody Vogeler, Steven Filippelli
Stakeholders at Kruger National Park, located in the upper eastern corner of South Africa, noticed an increasing amount of damaged trees, even after the implementation of protections. As elephants and droughts impact the environment, detecting potential changes in ET due to this tree damage can be ever useful for informing stakeholders. This project questions the possibility of quantifying changes in Landsat-derived estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) in trees following tree damage from elephants and drought-related stress. On-ground data on the tree location and damage severity was collected by stakeholders in 2023 and 2024. In conjunction with the METRIC model, the mean ET was extracted from 40 patches, where all trees were digitized and had a recorded damage status. Then, all data was analyzed in models that showed changes in ET over time concerning the trees' damage status. Results indicate a low correlation (r = -0.06) between the percent of patch area with severe damage and change in ET between 2017 and 2024. Implications of this study suggest that further research is needed to determine if measuring ET changes corresponding to tree damage is possible and/or if tree damage does not significantly affect ET. It is recommended to explore any additional environmental variables and refine models for stronger predictions of tree damage and ET changes.