Remote sensing and field analysis of urban green in Rome

Remote sensing is an important tool for the spatial description of urban green, it is often used in landscape ecology to detect habitat fragmentation and the alterations caused by man on the territory; furthermore the use of remote sensing is important for the detection of vegetation functional conditions. In this study some vegetation indices have been analysed and a land use map has been created using Landsat TM images of the city of Rome and of some of its outskirts. Remote sensing data have been integrated with geld data (leaf area index and leaf fluorescence measurements) carried out on holm oak and coniferous woods. The values of the functional vegetation indices indicate a physiological alteration for the communities inside the city; the fluorescence data have confirmed this result. From a structural point of view, the NDVI map highlights the presence of some green corridors. The good correlation between the values of NDVI and LAI has allowed us to estimate LAI for the entire area analysed. This research has furnished quantitative data on structural and functional characteristics of the study area. The upscaling approach has shown a good performance of analysing and monitoring vegetation subjected to a different anthropogenic impact.