Researcher categories are the canonical biological grouping

The primary spectral-library analysis uses the source cover_category field, verbatim, with these five researcher-defined groups:

• Deciduous
• Evergreen
• Herbaceous
• Non-vegetated & dead
• Woody shrub

“Researcher PFT” and “researcher cover category” refer to these recorded labels throughout the current analysis. The population includes all 3,639 polygon IDs, including identities without a species name. Species metadata are provenance; no species lookup defines the primary classes.

Non-vegetated & dead is heterogeneous, not a certified pure endmember. A polygon annotation does not measure pure material composition or complete fractional cover. The biological sampling unit is GlobalID/polygon; it is not a pixel, an independent wavelength or necessarily one biological individual. Field annotations from 2023/2024 reused across imagery years are not independent annual biological verification.

Earlier species-derived woody groupings and their reports are historical and exploratory. They are preserved for provenance, excluded from the new primary analysis and not interchangeable with researcher categories. The explicit active/historical audit records this boundary. No source data or historical outputs were deleted.