Remote Sensing Techniques and the Smart Turfgrass Management

Dear Colleagues,

In the recent decades, development and industry have increased environmental pollution and reduced air quality in many cities around the world. This negative effect will probably increase in the future due to climate change, decreasing rainfall and increasing toxic gas emissions. In this context, natural grasslands and urban green spaces have a natural capacity to reduce cities’ pollution and, having a positive impact on citizens’ quality of life. As well as their economic and social benefits, both natural grasslands and urban green spaces have many benefits associated with environmental protection. Nonetheless, their maintenance and sustainability require costly inputs with regular and optimal irrigation and fertilization, criteria difficult to achieve in many regions with a lack of economic resources. However, the high demand of water, fertilizer and pesticides in turfgrass monitoring, associated with an efficient management of these inputs (the adequate amount of water irrigation or fertilizer contributed at the right time and with correct quantity), can ensure high-quality turfgrass with a reduced maintenance input. In this context, the use of intelligent techniques and sensors for monitoring vegetation and water status has revealed various advantages to improve the quality and vigor of the grasslands. Currently, the use of technologies such as remote sensing techniques, wireless sensor networks and drone imagery included in the concept of Precision Agriculture (PA) are essential in turfgrass growth control and supervision. This Special Issue aims to highlight the usefulness of remote sensing techniques in turfgrass management. The advances related to digital turfgrass monitoring and the use of intelligent strategies for smart irrigation, fertilization and pest control can contribute to the preservation of the environment and the sustainability of green areas. Contributions in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• The use of remote sensing techniques as keys strategies in the sustainabilty of urban green areas;
• Urban green space in smart cities;
• Intelligents strategies for an efficient irrigation and fertilization regime in turfgrass;
• The contribution of smart turfgrass management in environnmental preservation;
• The effectiveness of drone imagery as an indicator of turfgrass quality and vigor;
• The use of thermal imagery and infrared thermometers as devices to detect stress in turfgrass;
• Soil moisture sensors and irrigation efficiency;
• Stress detection in vegetation monitoring;
• Weeds and pest detection techniques.

Dr. Pedro V. Mauri
Prof. Salima Yousfi
Guest Editors

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• Turfgrass sustainability
• Remote sensing
• Smart irrigation
• Smart Fertilization
• Weeds and pest detection
• Spectral data analytics
• Proximity sensing
• Drone imagery
• Images processing
• Vegetation indices
• Thermal imagery
• Canopy temperature
• Infrared thermometer
• Soil moisture sensors