Assessment of fire resilience in subtropical wetlands using high spatial resolution images

Resilience is the ability of a system to absorb disturbances, rearrange itself, and adapt in order to maintain its functionality, structure, identity, and feedback. Research involving fire resilience in subtropical wetlands (SW) allows us to understand the dynamics of these ecosystems, measure impacts on fauna and flora, and promote policies for the management and protection. The aim of the present study is to assess the fire resilience of SW. The study was divided into three steps: (i) burned area classification, (ii) vegetation pattern classification, and (iii) temporal analysis of SW fire resilience based on NDVI calculation. Our results show that (a) high resilience potential of emerging plants, which developed green leaves in less than 90 days after the fire; (b) poor recovery of peatlands with underground fire history. Daily coverage of high spatial resolution PlanetScope images has great potential for classification and monitoring of land use in areas where there are rapid changes, such as after a fire event, explosions, and dam ruptures with ore tailings, for example.