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Using Machine Learning Classification And Esa Sentinel 2 Multispectral Imager Data To Delineate Marsh Vegetation And Measure Ecotone Movement In Coastal Georgia, Thomas A. Pudil
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Tidal marshes are unique communities that are subjected to environmental stressors including sea level rise, salinity change, and drought, resulting in constant change. It is important to monitor these changing areas because of the ecosystem services they provide to us, such as protection from storms and carbon sequestration. The proposed work for this thesis project is focused on the study of tidal marshes and the dynamics between the vegetation species within them. The aim of this project is to use geospatial technology and analyses, along with machine learning classification methods, to monitor change in these valuable ecosystems. The Georgia coast …
Remote Sensing Of Georgia Tidal Marsh Habitats Using Aerial Photography And Planetscope Satellite Imagery, Harrison M. Currin
Remote Sensing Of Georgia Tidal Marsh Habitats Using Aerial Photography And Planetscope Satellite Imagery, Harrison M. Currin
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Globally, tidal marshes cover about 90,800 km. Within the state of Georgia tidal marshes are primarily located behind the barrier islands and total 1,619 km2. The combination of high salinity environments and daily inundation, and being dependent on river output, make these dynamic systems. Tidal marshes provide numerous ecosystem services such as carbon and nitrogen sequestration, flood control, coastal protection, and numerous biogeochemical processes. Due to their unique position, tidal marshes are under threat from sea level rise, drought, coastal development, and large-scale disturbance events. Tidal freshwater marshes are especially susceptible to these threats due to their geographic …
Evaluation Of Tidal Fresh Forest Distributions And Tropical Storm Impacts Using Sentinel-2 Msi Imagery, Galen Costomiris
Evaluation Of Tidal Fresh Forest Distributions And Tropical Storm Impacts Using Sentinel-2 Msi Imagery, Galen Costomiris
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Situated in the transitional zone between non-tidal forests upstream and tidal fresh marshes downstream, tidal fresh forests occupy a unique and increasingly precarious habitat. The threat of intensifying anthropogenic climate change, compounded by the effects of historical logging and drainage alterations, could reduce the extent of this valuable ecosystem. The overall goals of this project were to identify forest communities present in the Altamaha tidal fresh forest; develop satellite imagery-based classifications of tidal fresh forest and tidal marsh vegetation along the Altamaha River, Georgia; and to quantify changes in vegetation distribution in the aftermath of hurricanes Matthew and Irma. Based …
Bicknell's Thrush Habitat Use On Commercial Forests In Maine, Usa, Kaitlyn Wilson
Bicknell's Thrush Habitat Use On Commercial Forests In Maine, Usa, Kaitlyn Wilson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Forest reliant species may be significantly impacted by forest management practices. Understanding these impacts, and whether they are positive or negative, requires a species- specific understanding of habitat use. Bicknell’s thrush (Catharus bicknelli) is a range-restricted habitat specialist occurring in balsam fir (Abies balsamea) dominated montane forests that have been recently disturbed and are undergoing successional growth. While research investigating this species’ habitat use has been conducted throughout much of its breeding range, knowledge of Bicknell’s thrush habitat use in Maine is lacking. Greater understanding of habitat use in Maine would improve the ability of forest managers to promote conservation …
Prairie Dogs And Livestock In Rangeland Systems: Balancing Biodiversity And Production In The Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Jameson Robert Brennan
Prairie Dogs And Livestock In Rangeland Systems: Balancing Biodiversity And Production In The Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Jameson Robert Brennan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
A major constraint of beef production within the Standing Rock Reservation has been identified as a reduction in rangeland quality due in large part to wide-scale colonization by black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). The desire exists within the community to design a holistic framework which incorporates livestock management with the goal of increasing production and rangeland health while still maintaining increased diversity associated with prairie dogs. Prairie dogs reduce the carrying capacity of cattle on rangelands by up to 50% on occupied hectares through direct consumption of vegetation and waste due to clipping to improve detection of predators. Livestock stocking …
Speleogenetic Evolution And Geological Remote Sensing Of The Gypsum Plain, Eddy County, New Mexico, Jessica Shields
Speleogenetic Evolution And Geological Remote Sensing Of The Gypsum Plain, Eddy County, New Mexico, Jessica Shields
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Permian evaporites of the Gypsum Plain region of the Delaware Basin host extensive karst phenomena, as well as unique diagenetic alterations of host strata. Because of the complex, poorly understood hydrogeologic system, little has been established concerning the relation and evolution of the overprinted, modern and ancient karst manifestations within the Gypsum Plain, as a whole. Through a combination of traditional field studies and the development of improved remote sensing methodologies, this study established the speleogenetic evolution of the Gypsum Plain in relation to the greater tectonic, stratigraphic, hydrogeologic and climatic history of the Delaware Basin. Emphasis was focused on …
Mapping And Risk Assessment Of Juniper Encroachment Into A Prairie Landscape, Kyle D. Kaskie
Mapping And Risk Assessment Of Juniper Encroachment Into A Prairie Landscape, Kyle D. Kaskie
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Juniper encroachment is a considerable threat to the prairie ecosystems of the Great Plains because it has the potential to alter native grasslands by changing soil characteristics, limiting herbaceous biomass, and hindering native community regeneration. Accurate maps of juniper cover and predictions of areas at risk for future expansion are needed to support proactive management measures. Therefore, our objectives are to: (1) Develop a practical workflow for large-scale juniper mapping using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) imagery and partial unmixing techniques, (2) Compare the classification accuracies from the resulting map based on different juniper density thresholds and different types …
Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Crop Water Use To Improve Irrigation Water Management, Arturo Reyes-Gonzalez
Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Crop Water Use To Improve Irrigation Water Management, Arturo Reyes-Gonzalez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Irrigation water is scarce. Hence, accurate estimation of crop water use is necessary for proper irrigation managements and water conservation. Satellite-based remote sensing is a tool that can estimate crop water use efficiently. Several models have been developed to estimate crop water requirement or actual evapotranspiration (ETa) using remote sensing. One of them is the Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model. This model has been compared with other methods for ET estimations including weighing lysimeters, pan evaporation, Bowen Ratio Energy Balance System (BREBS), Eddy Covariance (EC), and sap flow. However, comparison of METRIC model outputs to …
Land Surface Phenologies And Seasonalities Using Cool Earthlight In Temperate And Tropical Croplands, Woubet Gashaw Alemu
Land Surface Phenologies And Seasonalities Using Cool Earthlight In Temperate And Tropical Croplands, Woubet Gashaw Alemu
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In today’s world of increasing food insecurity due to more frequent and extreme events (droughts, floods), a comprehensive understanding of global cropland dynamics is critically needed. Land surface parameters derived from the passive microwave Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on EOS (AMSR-E) and AMSR2 data enable monitoring of cropland dynamics and they can complement visible to near infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) data. Passive microwave data are less sensitive to atmospheric effects, cloud contamination, and solar illumination constraints resulting in finer temporal resolution suitable to track the temporal progression of cropland cover development compared to the VNIR data that has …
Simulating The Impacts Of Land-Use Land-Cover Changes On Cropland Carbon Fluxes In The Midwest Of The United States, Zhengpeng Li
Simulating The Impacts Of Land-Use Land-Cover Changes On Cropland Carbon Fluxes In The Midwest Of The United States, Zhengpeng Li
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Understanding the major drivers of the cropland carbon fluxes is important for carbon management and greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture. Past studies found that agricultural land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes, such as changes in cropland production technologies, tillage practices, and planted crop species, could have large impacts on carbon fluxes. However, the impacts remain highly uncertain at regional to global scales. Satellite remote sensing is commonly used to create products with geospatial information on LULC changes. This geospatial information can be integrated into biogeochemical models to simulate the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon fluxes. We used the General Ensemble …
Integrated Remote Sensing And Forecasting Of Regional Terrestrial Precipitation With Global Nonlinear And Nonstationary Teleconnection Signals Using Wavelet Analysis, Lee Mullon
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies have a demonstrable effect on terrestrial climate dynamics throughout the continental U.S. SST variations have been correlated with greenness (vegetation densities) and precipitation via ocean-atmospheric interactions known as climate teleconnections. Prior research has demonstrated that teleconnections can be used for climate prediction across a wide region at sub-continental scales. Yet these studies tend to have large uncertainties in estimates by utilizing simple linear analyses to examine chaotic teleconnection relationships. Still, non-stationary signals exist, making teleconnection identification difficult at the local scale. Part 1 of this research establishes short-term (10-year), linear and non-stationary teleconnection signals …
Remote Sensing With Computational Intelligence Modelling For Monitoring The Ecosystem State And Hydraulic Pattern In A Constructed Wetland, Golam Mohiuddin
Remote Sensing With Computational Intelligence Modelling For Monitoring The Ecosystem State And Hydraulic Pattern In A Constructed Wetland, Golam Mohiuddin
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Monitoring the heterogeneous aquatic environment such as the Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) located at the northeast of the Everglades is extremely important in understanding the land processes of the constructed wetland in its capacity to remove nutrient. Direct monitoring and measurements of ecosystem evolution and changing velocities at every single part of the STA are not always feasible. Integrated remote sensing, monitoring, and modeling technique can be a state-of-the-art tool to estimate the spatial and temporal distributions of flow velocity regimes and ecological functioning in such dynamic aquatic environments. In this presentation, comparison between four computational intelligence models including Extreme …