RadialPheno: A tool for near-surface phenology analysis through radial layouts

Author(s)

Mariano, Greice C. ; Alberton, Bruna ; Morellato, Leonor Patricia C. ; Torres, Ricardo da S.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: APPLICATIONS IN PLANT SCIENCES; v. 7, n. 6, p. 5-pg., 2019-06-01.

Abstract

Premise Increasingly, researchers studying plant phenology are exploring novel technologies to remotely observe plant changes over time. The increasing use of phenocams to monitor leaf phenology, based on the analysis of indices extracted from sequences of daily digital vegetation images, has demanded the development of appropriate tools for data visualization and analysis. Here, we describe RadialPheno, a tool that uses radial layouts to represent time series from digital repeat photographs, and applies them to the analysis of leafing patterns and leaf exchange strategies of different vegetations. Methods and Results We developed a web tool, RadialPheno, provided with the R and Shiny environments, which uses radial visual structures to represent cyclical multidimensional temporal data associated with digital image time series. We demonstrate the application of our methods and tool for a savanna vegetation phenology in the Brazilian Cerrado. We visually represented the greenness index extracted from sequential imagery using the RadialPheno tool. Conclusions RadialPheno was successfully applied for the visualization and interpretation of individual, species, and community long-term leafing phenology data associated with near-surface phenological observations of Cerrado vegetation. RadialPheno was also effective for intercomparisons of ground-based direct visual observations and camera-derived phenology observations. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/00215-0 - Remote phenology and leaf exchange patterns towards a sazonality gradient
• Grantee: Bruna de Costa Alberton
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 13/50155-0 - Combining new technologies to monitor phenology from leaves to ecosystems
• Grantee: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - University-Industry Cooperative Research (PITE)
• FAPESP's process: 09/54208-6 - Multi-User Centralized Laboratory at the São Paulo State University Center for Biodiversity Studies
• Grantee: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Support Opportunities: Multi-user Equipment Program
• FAPESP's process: 10/51307-0 - Floristic diversity and seasonal patterns of rupestrian fields and cerrado
• Grantee: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Partnership for Technological Innovation - PITE
• FAPESP's process: 16/01413-5 - Using leaf phenology patterns to investigate net ecosystem exchange controls in tropical vegetations
• Grantee: Bruna de Costa Alberton
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 09/18438-7 - Large-scale classification and retrieval for complex data
• Grantee: Ricardo da Silva Torres
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants