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Automated Tree Mortality Detection Using Ubiquitously Available Public Data, Michael T. Huggins Mar 2024

Automated Tree Mortality Detection Using Ubiquitously Available Public Data, Michael T. Huggins

Master's Theses

Understanding the dynamic interplay between fire severity, topography, and tree mortality, is crucial for predicting future forest dynamics and enhancing resilience against climate change-induced wildfire regimes. This thesis develops a multi-sensor approach for automated estimation of tree mortality, then applies it to examine trends in tree mortality over a six-year period across a fire affected study site in the Trinity River basin in Northern California. The Random Forest model uses publicly available USGS 3D Elevation Program Lidar (3DEP) and NAIP imagery as inputs and is likely to be easily adaptable to other landscapes. The model had a Receiver Operating Characteristic …


Environmental Implications Of Modern Food Production: An Analysis For The Conscious Consumer, Jessica T. Coming Jan 2024

Environmental Implications Of Modern Food Production: An Analysis For The Conscious Consumer, Jessica T. Coming

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores the pathways by which agriculture affects the environment and determines which foods have the greatest climate, water, and land impacts. Agricultural effects on the environment are extensive, from loss of habitat and declines in regional biodiversity to disruption of global nutrient cycles and climate change. Global food production accounts for 26-34% of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, makes up 38-46% of habitable land, and is responsible for 70% of freshwater extraction. The effect of agriculture on the environment is most significantly dictated by what type of food is being produced. Animal-based food products consistently have the highest …