Super-resolution image analysis as a means of monitoring bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) distributions
The bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) fern is environmentally significant due to its great abundance and swift colonisation, and its perception as a problem plant in degrading agricultural or ecologically sensitive land. Various attempts have been made to map bracken using remote sensing, but these have proved relatively unsuccessful, often apparently constrained by the lack of spatial detail associated with medium spatial resolution satellite sensors such as the Landsat series. In this study, bracken was characterised using a combination of 30m Landsat sensor imagery and 4m IKONOS imagery.