Monitoring Multitemporal Vegetation Change. Using Landsat TM: Sidi Toui Natural Reserve in Southern Tunesia
Essifi, Bouajila; Ouessar, Mohamed
INSTITUT DES REGIONS ARIDES (ARID LAND RESEARCH INSTITUTE), TUNISIA

Arid ecosystems are undergoing accelerated change due to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Sidi Toui national park was created in 1991 in south-eastern Tunisia, and stretched over 6135 hectares.
Change detection is a remote sensing technique used to monitor and map landcover change between two or more time periods and is now an essential tool in landscape management activities.
Multi-temporal Landsat imagery shows a visible asset for monitoring changes in land cover and land use, evaluating desertification and land degradation risks. We analysed the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation during growing season during the time period 1987-2011.
This study examined the potential for spectral detection using supervised and unsupervised classification techniques. The results revealed that the ecological restoration project started from the early nineties has a certain role in promoting the recovery of vegetation.