High resolution spectral data predicts taxonomic diversity in low diversity grasslands

Mitigating impacts of global change on biodiversity is a pressing goal for land managers but understanding these impacts is often limited by the spatial and temporal constraints of traditional in-situ data. Advances in remote sensing address this challenge, in part, by enabling standardized mapping of biodiversity at large spatial scales and through time. In particular, hyperspectral imagery can detect functional and compositional characteristics of vegetation by measuring subtle differences in reflected light. The spectral variance hypothesis (SVH) expects spectral diversity, or variability in reflectance across pixels, to predict vegetation diversity. Especially when assessing herbaceous ecosystems, however, there is inconsistent evidence for the SVH, potentially due to a mismatch between plant size and the traditionally coarse pixels of satellite and airborne imagery or variation in the biological characteristics of the observed ecosystems, such as vegetation structure and compositio..., Data collection for this project built on a long-term grassland monitoring initiative in the city of Boulder, CO, USA, run by their Open Space & Mountain Parks department. The monitoring area covers a 2,000 ha mixed grass prairie in the Front Range of Colorado, USA (39°56 N, 105°12 W). Permanent plots (hereafter, ‘transects’) of 50 m x 2 m were established in 2009 to implement the city of Boulder’s Grassland Ecosystem Management Plan (GEMAP). Transects were surveyed using a panel design for the first 8 years and thereafter, every three years  for vegetation cover and composition. Cover is surveyed with a point intercept method: along the 50 m center line in a transect, species identity (or soil/rock/litter) is recorded at each meter mark at 0.5 m from both sides of the centerline, resulting in a total of 100 points. Additionally, vascular species that are present in the rest of the plot, but not hit during the point intercept method, are noted.
Here, we utilize data from the 17 tran..., , # High resolution spectral data predicts taxonomic diversity in low diversity grasslands

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.z08kprrp0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.z08kprrp0)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains reflectance spectra and species cover data for vegetation plots that are part of a long-term grassland monitoring initiative in the city of Boulder, CO, USA, run by their Open Space & Mountain Parks department. Permanent plots (hereafter, ‘transects’) of 50 m x 2 m were established in 2009 to implement the city of Boulder’s Grassland Ecosystem Management Plan. We collected proximal imagery of 17 of these transects using a handheld Specim IQ hyperspectral camera (Spectral Imaging Ltd., Konica Minolta; [www.specim.com](http://www.specim.com)) in August 2022, coincident with an annual monitoring effort that recorded species cover along each transect. Imagery was taken of square meter plots in 2-meter increments along each transect.

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