Télédétection et connaissance des ripisylves / Remote sensing and knowledge of river bank vegetation

Remote sensing gives the possibility of distinguishing three categories of land cover with Landsat or Spot satellite data. It concerns : damp forest on wet soils ; deciduous gallery forest in valleys and alder, ash or poplar plantations ; shrubby low vegetation associated with ponds and swamps. Such information is particularly interesting in studies which aim to gain knowledge of changes in the watersheds close to major concentrations of small lakes and swamps as well as in the flood plains of major rivers or in the system of hedges in bocage areas, so as to protect or develop these zones. Different examples of the work carried out by the French Ministry of Environment illustrate the interest of studies undertaken by remote sensing on river bank vegetation..Lenco Michel. Télédétection et connaissance des ripisylves / Remote sensing and knowledge of river bank vegetation. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 67, n°4, 1992. La gestion environnementale des grands bassins fluviaux. pp. 329-332