Vegetation Indices for Identifying Melaleuca Forest from Multispectral Satellite Sensors

Abstract

Melaleuca forest or locally known as Gelam forest mostly occur in beach ridges interspersed with swales (BRIS) sandy areas, coastal, wetland, peatland, and lowland regions. It is a mono-specific species dominance ecosystem, where Melaleuca cajuputi trees are dominant. It is fringing along the coast of Terengganu and Kelantan and certain parts along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The landscape is small but it has equal importance to other ecosystems in terms of local environmental functions and economic contributions. The benefits include timber for building constructions and furniture and other traditional uses, such as for fuel wood, charcoal, tea-tree, honeybee breeding areas and others. However, this forest is inevitable from threats by anthropogenic activities such as land clearing and conversion to other land uses that can affect the ecosystem. These activities occur because most of this ecosystem reside on stateland areas, where development is rapid. Only small patches of this forest was protected as Permanent Forest Reserve, which is secure from any threat. Currently the information about the tracts and extents of this forest is very scarce. Therefore, this study was carried out to acquire latest information on the distribution and extent of Melaleuca forest in Peninsular Malaysia through the utilization of remotely sensed data. Optical images from Landsat-8 OLI were used as primary input for this study. Spectral characteristic from visible and infrared regions were analyzed to produce a specific vegetation index for recognizing Melaleuca forest ecosystem on the images. The study demonstrated that the Melaleuca forest covers some 23,000 ha in Peninsular Malaysia that are intact but vulnerable to surrounding threats. The findings of study should attract attentions from the relevant State Governments to take appropriate management actions to protect this unique and priceless ecosystem in the future.