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Main Authors: Sultana, Rezwana, Murshed, Manzur, Sheffield, Kathryn, Florentine, Singarayer, Lee, Tsz-Kwan, Teng, Shyh Wei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11267
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author Sultana, Rezwana
Murshed, Manzur
Sheffield, Kathryn
Florentine, Singarayer
Lee, Tsz-Kwan
Teng, Shyh Wei
author_facet Sultana, Rezwana
Murshed, Manzur
Sheffield, Kathryn
Florentine, Singarayer
Lee, Tsz-Kwan
Teng, Shyh Wei
contents Invasive species pose major global threats to ecosystems and agriculture. Serrated tussock (\textit{Nassella trichotoma}) is a highly competitive invasive grass species that disrupts native grasslands, reduces pasture productivity, and increases land management costs. In Victoria, Australia, it presents a major challenge due to its aggressive spread and ecological impact. While current ground surveys and subsequent management practices are effective at small scales, they are not feasible for landscape-scale monitoring. Although aerial imagery offers high spatial resolution suitable for detailed classification, its high cost limits scalability. Satellite-based remote sensing provides a more cost-effective and scalable alternative, though often with lower spatial resolution. This study evaluates whether multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery, despite its lower spatial resolution, can provide a comparable and cost-effective alternative for landscape-scale monitoring of serrated tussock by leveraging its higher spectral resolution and seasonal phenological information. A total of eleven models have been developed using various combinations of spectral bands, texture features, vegetation indices, and seasonal data. Using a random forest classifier, the best-performing Sentinel-2 model (M76*) has achieved an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 68\% and an Overall Kappa (OK) of 0.55, slightly outperforming the best-performing aerial imaging model's OA of 67\% and OK of 0.52 on the same dataset. These findings highlight the potential of multi-seasonal feature-enhanced satellite-based models for scalable invasive species classification.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_11267
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evaluating the Efficacy of Sentinel-2 versus Aerial Imagery in Serrated Tussock Classification
Sultana, Rezwana
Murshed, Manzur
Sheffield, Kathryn
Florentine, Singarayer
Lee, Tsz-Kwan
Teng, Shyh Wei
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Invasive species pose major global threats to ecosystems and agriculture. Serrated tussock (\textit{Nassella trichotoma}) is a highly competitive invasive grass species that disrupts native grasslands, reduces pasture productivity, and increases land management costs. In Victoria, Australia, it presents a major challenge due to its aggressive spread and ecological impact. While current ground surveys and subsequent management practices are effective at small scales, they are not feasible for landscape-scale monitoring. Although aerial imagery offers high spatial resolution suitable for detailed classification, its high cost limits scalability. Satellite-based remote sensing provides a more cost-effective and scalable alternative, though often with lower spatial resolution. This study evaluates whether multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery, despite its lower spatial resolution, can provide a comparable and cost-effective alternative for landscape-scale monitoring of serrated tussock by leveraging its higher spectral resolution and seasonal phenological information. A total of eleven models have been developed using various combinations of spectral bands, texture features, vegetation indices, and seasonal data. Using a random forest classifier, the best-performing Sentinel-2 model (M76*) has achieved an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 68\% and an Overall Kappa (OK) of 0.55, slightly outperforming the best-performing aerial imaging model's OA of 67\% and OK of 0.52 on the same dataset. These findings highlight the potential of multi-seasonal feature-enhanced satellite-based models for scalable invasive species classification.
title Evaluating the Efficacy of Sentinel-2 versus Aerial Imagery in Serrated Tussock Classification
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11267