Queensland Ground Cover Disturbance Index

The Ground Cover Disturbance Index (GCDI) is an index developed by the Biodiversity Assessment Team (BAT) within EHP, which assesses aspects of rangeland biodiversity condition. It relates the ground cover time series statistics from the State Land and Tree Study (SLATS) to the Regional Ecosystem (RE) framework. The primary data input for the index is a percentage ground cover time series, derived from SLATS Landsat TM imagery over Queensland. The GCDI analyses levels of ground cover within each RE, as different REs naturally have different ground cover percentages. Within each RE, by subregion, the mean and trend of the ground cover is calculated since 1988, with different combinations of mean and trend indicating the level of disturbance.GCDI can be calculated in areas with foliage projective cover less than 20%, ie where the satellites can see the ground cover layer through the trees. The GCDI method also requires RE mapping, and only applies in areas that are considered remnant.The GCDI model assumes that climatic conditions (temperature, rainfall, etc) are consistent within a subregion. It also relates the ground cover time series statistics to the dominant ecosystem (RE1_ROOT) in the RE layer.This dataset needs to be viewed in conjunction with the low change and water bodies layers also supplied with this package.