Journal article
Shortcomings of the normalized difference vegetation index as an exposure metric
Nature plants, v 8(6), pp 617-622
13 Jun 2022
PMID: 35697731
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The health benefits of exposure to trees and plants is a rapidly expanding field of study. Research has shown that exposure is associated with improvements in a wide range of health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, birth outcomes, respiratory disease, cancer, mental health and all-cause mortality
. One of the challenges that these studies face is characterizing participants' exposure to trees and plants. A common approach is to use the normalized difference vegetation index, a greenness index typically derived from satellite imagery. Reliance on the normalized difference vegetation index is understandable; for decades, the imagery required to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index has been available for the entire Earth's surface and is updated at regular intervals. However, the normalized difference vegetation index may do a poor job of fully characterizing the human experience of being exposed to trees and plants, because scenes with the same normalized difference vegetation index value can appear different to the human eye. We demonstrate this phenomenon by identifying sites in Portland, Oregon that have the same normalized difference vegetation index value as a large, culturally significant elm tree. These sites are strikingly different aesthetically, suggesting that use of the normalized difference vegetation index may lead to exposure misclassification. Where possible, the normalized difference vegetation index should be supplemented with other exposure metrics.
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Details
- Title
- Shortcomings of the normalized difference vegetation index as an exposure metric
- Creators
- Geoffrey H Donovan - Pacific Northwest Research StationDemetrios Gatziolis - USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Portland, OR, USAMonika Derrien - USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Seattle, WA, USAYvonne L Michael - Drexel UniversityJeffrey P Prestemon - USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Research Triangle Park, NC, USAJeroen Douwes - Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
- Publication Details
- Nature plants, v 8(6), pp 617-622
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000810334900003
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85131870838
- Other Identifier
- 991019167539004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Plant Sciences