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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Correlational Analysis Of Mammals And Residential Land Use: Amherst, Ma, Ella Gutkowski Dec 2021

Correlational Analysis Of Mammals And Residential Land Use: Amherst, Ma, Ella Gutkowski

Massachusetts GIS Day

Mammal diversity varies in different types of land uses. Residential land use oftentimes interferes with the natural occurrence of mammal species. This study conducts a correlational analysis using camera trap data from Excel and land use data in GIS to uncover whether humans have disrupted mammal occurrence in residential land use areas in Amherst, MA. Results reveal that human activity in residential land use areas in Amherst did not strongly influence the occurrence of these mammals.


Mapping Sandbars In The Connecticut River Watershed Through Aerial Images For Floodplain Conservation, Bogumila Backiel Mar 2018

Mapping Sandbars In The Connecticut River Watershed Through Aerial Images For Floodplain Conservation, Bogumila Backiel

Masters Theses

Active geomorphic features of rivers like sandbars provide habitat for endangered and threatened riparian plant and animal species. However, human development has altered flow and sediment regimes, thus impairing formation of sandbars and islands. Large scale mapping of the fluvial geomorphology in river ecosystems like the Connecticut River is are necessary to understand the dynamics of these features and preserve habitat. Orthophotographs from 2012 from United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA), National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) were used to develop a model in ArcGIS Pro to identify fluvial geomorphic features in the Connecticut River and 12 of …


Stream Power: Origins, Geomorphic Applications, And Gis Procedures, John Gartner Jan 2016

Stream Power: Origins, Geomorphic Applications, And Gis Procedures, John Gartner

Water Publications

Stream power is a widely used parameter to investigate, engineer, and manage river systems.The varied uses ofstream power are increasing as it becomes easier to derive stream power using remotely sensed data coupled with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and improved computational power and technology. This document was created to provide clarity to researchers and practitioners using stream power in their work. It includes a review of the physical basis, terminology, and applications of stream power; an examination of the many considerations and techniques for computing stream power; and a step by step example workflow to compute stream power using GIS …


Using Digital Elevation Models Derived From Airborne Lidar And Other Remote Sensing Data To Model Channel Networks And Estimate Fluvial Geomorphological Metrics, Noah Slovin Nov 2015

Using Digital Elevation Models Derived From Airborne Lidar And Other Remote Sensing Data To Model Channel Networks And Estimate Fluvial Geomorphological Metrics, Noah Slovin

Masters Theses

Recent advances in remote-sensing technologies and analysis methods, specifically airborne-LiDAR elevation data and corresponding geographical information system (GIS) tools, present new opportunities for automated and rapid fluvial geomorphic (FGM) assessments that can cover entire watersheds. In this thesis, semi-automated GIS tools are used to extract channel centerlines and bankfull width values from digital elevation models (DEM) for five New England watersheds. For each study site, four centerlines are mapped. LiDAR and NED lines are delineated using ArcGIS spatial analyst tools with high-resolution (1-m to 2-m) LiDAR DEMs or USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) DEMs, respectively. Resampled LiDAR decreases LiDAR DEM …


Niche-Based Modeling Of Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium Vimineum) Using Presence-Only Information, Nathan Bush Nov 2015

Niche-Based Modeling Of Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium Vimineum) Using Presence-Only Information, Nathan Bush

Masters Theses

The Connecticut River watershed is experiencing a rapid invasion of aggressive non-native plant species, which threaten watershed function and structure. Volunteer-based monitoring programs such as the University of Massachusetts’ OutSmart Invasives Species Project, Early Detection Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS) and the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE) have gathered valuable invasive plant data. These programs provide a unique opportunity for researchers to model invasive plant species utilizing citizen-sourced data. This study took advantage of these large data sources to model invasive plant distribution and to determine environmental and biophysical predictors that are most influential in dispersion, and to identify …


Introduction To Geographic Information Science Using Arcgis V10, Charles M. Schweik, Bethany Bradley, Richard Smith Jan 2013

Introduction To Geographic Information Science Using Arcgis V10, Charles M. Schweik, Bethany Bradley, Richard Smith

Charles M. Schweik

No abstract provided.


Introduction To Geographic Science Using Arcgis V10, Bethany Bradley, Charles M. Schweik Sep 2012

Introduction To Geographic Science Using Arcgis V10, Bethany Bradley, Charles M. Schweik

Charles M. Schweik

This is a lab exercise manual with extra supplemental exercises for use in an introductory course in GIS for students in environmental conservation programs or studying public policy public administration. The emphasis is on environmental management/analysis-related applications. Lab exercises require the ESRI ArcGIS v10 software. Data for all labs and exercises are available on this site as supplementary material in .zip format.


The Role Of Structural Stormwater Best Management Practices, Impervious Surfaces And Natural Factors On Base Flow In Massachusetts, Kimberly B. Klosterman Jan 2012

The Role Of Structural Stormwater Best Management Practices, Impervious Surfaces And Natural Factors On Base Flow In Massachusetts, Kimberly B. Klosterman

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research conducted a GIS analysis of twenty-eight sub-watersheds in Massachusetts and considered five factors which the literature suggested influenced base flow. The literature suggested a positive relation between precipitation, forest cover and base flow and a negative relationship between impervious surfaces, soil drainage class, slope and base flow. A multiple regression analysis of the sub-watershed information confirmed the literature for two factors (soil drainage class and slope) and questioned it on three factors (impervious surfaces, precipitation, and forest cover). The resulting predictive equation indicated that imperviousness and precipitation were the most significant factors affecting base flow. The first derivative …


More Than One River: Local, Place-Based Knowledge And The Political Ecology Of Restoration And Remediation Along The Lower Neponset River, Massachusetts, Simona Lee Perry Sep 2009

More Than One River: Local, Place-Based Knowledge And The Political Ecology Of Restoration And Remediation Along The Lower Neponset River, Massachusetts, Simona Lee Perry

Open Access Dissertations

This research is an exploration of the local, place-based knowledge surrounding a degraded urban river, the Lower Neponset River and Estuary in southern Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and its environmental restoration. Through a mixed-methods approach to sociological inquiry that included 18-months of ethnographic interviews and participant observations, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, archival document research, and critical environmental history, it explores the different ways local citizens interpret the river as a place of historical importance, personal nostalgia, social and family networks, neighborhood legacies, aesthetics, economic security, danger, psychological refuge, ecology, and political power. Using an interpretive analysis of the narrative, visual, …


Watershed Forest Management Information System (Wfmis), Yl Zhang, Pk Barten Jan 2009

Watershed Forest Management Information System (Wfmis), Yl Zhang, Pk Barten

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

Maintenance of a sustainable clean water supply is critical for our future. However, watershed degradation is a common phenomenon around the world that leads to poor water quality. In order to protect water resources, the Watershed Forest Management Information System (WFMIS), was developed as an extension of ArcGIS® and is described in this paper. There are three submodels to address nonpoint source pollution mitigation, road system management, and silvicultural operations, respectively. The Watershed Management Priority Indices (WMPI) is a zoning approach to prioritize critical areas for conservation and restoration management. It meets the critical need to spatially differentiate land cover …