Analyse spatiale de la corrélation entre les variables thermiques et l'activité végétative des forêts de l’Est Algérien

Abstract

In this study, an attempt was made to determine the possible relationship between thermal variables and the vegetative activity of eastern Algerian forests using the NDVI spectral index from the MODIS sensor and thermal data (stationary and interpolated) of the decade [2002-2011]. This relationship was determined by calculating the statistical correlation coefficient between the two datasets for each forest ecosystem and for each pixel in the study area. The results obtained show that the best explanatory variable remains the minimum temperature which can explain 48% of the variability of the NDVI index, then comes the maximum temperature with a lesser predictive power (29%). These results confirm that the calculated correlations can be used as indicators of the sensitivity of forest to thermal parameters. Any increase in the latter results in a reduction in the vegetative activity of trees varying according to the ecosystem concerned and the region studied. The maps from this study have enabled us to identify and geolocate spatially the forest plots where the photosynthetic activity of forest species is conditioned by the variation of the minimum and maximum temperatures.