Remote sensing the distribution and spatiotemporal changes of major lichen communities in the Central Namib Desert Vom Fachbereich Biologie der Universität Kaiserslautern zur Verlei- hung des akademischen Grades "Doktor der Naturwissenschaften" genehmigte Dissertation. vorgelegt von Christoph Schultz Kaiserslautern, 2006. (D 386) Tag der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache 8. Februar, 2006. Prüfungskommission: 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Büdel 2. Gutachter: Dr. Bianca Hörsch Vorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Matthias Hahn I, Christoph Schultz, do hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published by another per- son nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institute of higher learning. Hiermit erkläre ich, Christoph Schultz, dass ich diese Dissertation selbständig verfasst habe und dass ich keine anderen Quellen und Hilfsmittel als die angegebenen benutzt und die Stel- len der Arbeit, die anderen Werken dem Wortlaut oder dem Sinn nach entnommen sind, in jedem Fall als Entlehnung kenntlich gemacht habe. Das gleiche gilt auch für beigegebene Zeichnungen, Karten, Skizzen und Abbildungen. Kaiserslautern, im Dezember 2005. Acknowledgements There are many persons I owe to thank for their support and encouragement during my PhD thesis. This was a long and difficult period, which I might not have managed without them. Firstly, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Burkhard Büdel for accepting me as a PhD stu- dent and for supporting me along the way that led to my PhD work. Secondly, I am highly indebted to Dr. Bianca Hörsch for her continued support, valuable guidance. I also thank Dr. Michael Schmidt, Dr. Gerald Braun and Prof. Dr. Stefan Dech for the possi- bility to work in the Biota project which has been a great experience about real life science. In particular, I thank Dr. Jo Henschel, Dr. Kurt Loris and Prof. Dr. Dirk Wessels for their expertise and cheerful contribution to my work, as well as Elke Erb, Roger Braby and Ben Strohbach for providing me with expert knowledge on their country’s ecology. This list would not be complete without mentioning my present and former colleagues of the German Remote Sensing Data Center and the Unit of Remote Sensing, University of Würzburg: Among others Thilo Wehrmann, Rene Colditz, Martin Bachmann, Michael Bock, Michael Wissen, Godela Roßner, Ralf Hanatschek and Robert Backhaus for prolific discus- sions and scientific support. Last but not least I want to thank my family. First of all I thank my wife Margret Schultz for she knows how difficult it is having a husband writing a PhD thesis. She always gave me strength and encouragement as well as practical advises and was always there for me. I also feel a deep sense of gratitude for my parents. The happy memory of my mother still provides a persistent inspiration for my journey in this life. Thank you all. Abstract Biological Soil Crusts (BSCs), composed of lichens, mosses, green algae, microfungi and cyanobacteria are an ecological important part of the perennial landcover of many arid and semiarid regions (Belnap et al. 2001a), (Büdel 2002). In many arid and hyperarid areas BSCs form the only perennial "vegetation cover" largely due to their extensive resistance to drought (Lange et al. 1975). For the Central Namib Desert (Namibia), BSCs consisting of extraordinary vast lichen com- munities were recently mapped and classified into six morphological classes for a coastal area of 350 km x 60 km. Embedded into the project "BIOTA" (www.biota-africa.org) financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research the study was undertaken in the framework of the PhD thesis by Christoph Schultz. Some of these lichen communities grouped together in so called "lichen fields" have already been studied concerning their ecology and diversity in the past (Lange et al. 1994), (Loris & Schieferstein 1992), (Loris et al. 2004), (Ullmann & Büdel 2001a), (Wessels 1989). Multispectral LANDSAT 7 ETM+ and LANDSAT 5 TM satellite imagery was utilized for an unitemporal supervised classification as well as for the establishment of a monitoring based on a combined retrospective supervised classification and change detection approach (Bock 2003), (Weiers et al. 2003). Results comprise the analysis of the mapped distribution of lichen com- munities for the Central Namib Desert as of 2003 as well as reconstructed distributions for the years 2000, 1999, 1992 and 1991 derived from retrospective supervised classification. This allows a first monitoring of the disturbance, destruction and recovery of the lichen com- munities in these arid environments including the analysis of the major abiotic processes involved. Further analysis of these abiotic processes is key for understanding the influence of Namib lichen communities on overall aeolian and water induced erosion rates, nutrient cycles, water balance and pedogenic processes (Belnap & Gillette 1998), (Belnap et al. 2001b), (Bel- nap 2001c), (Evans & Lange 2001), (McKenna Neumann & Maxwell 1999). In order to aid the understanding of these processes SRTM digital elevation model data as well as climate data sets were used as reference. Good correlation between geomorphological form elements as well as hydrological drainage system and the disturbance patterns derived from individual post classification change comparisons between the timeframes could be observed. Conjoined with the climate data sets sporadic foehn-like windstorms as well as extraordinary precipitation events were identified to largely affect the distribution patterns of lichen com- munities. Therefore the analysis and monitoring of the diversity, distribution and spatiotemporal change of Central Namib BSCs with the means of Remote Sensing and GIS applications proof to be important tools to create further understanding of desertification and degradation processes in these arid regions. “Warum interessierren Sie sich eigentlich so sehr für diese Geschichte, Mr. Bulero? Haben Sie eine, äh, besondere Vorliebe für Flechten?” “Nein, Mister Hepburn-Gilbert, ich bin nur ein um das Gemeinwohl besorgter Bürger des Sol-Systems. Und ich verlange, daß Sie etwas unternehmen.” Philip K. Dick, Die drei Stigmata des Palmer Eldritch. CURRICULUM VITAE Personal Information CHRISTOPH SCHULTZ Theodor-Litt-Str. 9 53121 Bonn E-Mail: [email protected] born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany (Jan. 6, 1974) married Education since 06/2001 Research Assistent at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Department of Environment and Geoinformation, Cologne / Munich, Germany. 04/1994 - 04/2001 Studies at the Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Ger- many (Specialization in Ecology and Environmental Sciences). Final Degree: Diplom Geographer. Thesis: “Fernerkundungs- und GIS- gestützte Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge zwischen Phytodiver- sität und Geofaktoren Afrikas”. 10/1993 - 03/1994 Studies at the Department of Geography University of Cologne, Germany. 1984 - 06/1993 Dietrich-Bonhöffer-Gymnasium, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. 08/1990 - 12/1990 Coronado High School, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States of America 1980 - 1984 Primary School: Gemeinschafts-Grundschule Hand-Paffrath, Ber- gisch Gladbach, Germany. Employment 01/1996 - 03/1999 Student Assistent at the Department of Geography, Prof. Wini- ger, University of Bonn, Germany. 09/1999 - 08/2000 Student Assistent at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany. since 06/2001 Research Assistent at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Department of Environment and Geoinformation, Cologne / Munich, Germany. Focus: BIOTA Southern-Africa Project, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education. since 2002 Ph.D. studies at the Department of General Botany, Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. International Experience 02/1999 - 03/1999 DFG-Research-Project in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa. 03/2002 - 04/2002 Field work for the Biota-Southern-Africa Project within the Central Namib Desert, Namibia. 04/2003 - 05/2003 Field work for the Biota-Southern-Africa Project within the Central Namib Desert, Namibia. 02/2005 - 04/2005 Field work for the Biota-Southern-Africa Project within Central- and Northern Namibia as well as the Central Namib Desert, Nami- bia. 09/2005 - 10/2005 Field work for the Biota-Southern-Africa Project within the Nama- qualand, South Africa, Central Namibia and the Central Namib Desert, Namibia. Publications Schultz, C. (2001): Fernerkundungs- und GIS-gestützte Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge zwi- schen Phytodiversität und Geofaktoren Afrikas. Diplomarbeit, Bonn. Mutke, J., Kier, G., Braun, G., Schultz, C. & Barthlott, W. (2001): Patterns of African vascular plant diversity - a GIS based analysis. In: Systematics and Geography of Plants. Bd. 71, 1125-1136. Hörsch, B., Schultz, C., Hanatschek, R. & Vogel, M. (2002): Remote Sensing and GIS based Sur- vey of Spatial and Temoporal Biodiversity Dynamics in Southern and West Africa. Proceedings of the Second Workshop of the EARSeL Special Interest Group on Remote Sensing for Developing Countries, Bonn. Hörsch, B., Schultz, C., Hanatschek, R. & Vogel, M. (2003): The Potential of Remote Sensing and GIS for Biodiversity Monitoring in Southern Africa. GTÖ 2003 - 16. Jahrestagung, Rostock. Büdel, B., Deutschewitz, K., Dojani, S. Hörsch, B., Loris, K., Rambold, G., Reisser, W., Salisch,