Spatial Science Commons^™

Measuring And Mapping Spatial Distributions Of Soil Lead Concentrations Along Chicago Parkways: West Ridge And Near South Side, Alyssa M. Kain

DePaul Discoveries

Lead is a heavy metal that can be found in every part of our planet. Human activities like the extraction of fossil fuels and degradation of construction materials can release lead into the environment, where it travels and accumulates in places like our soil or water. Despite efforts to lower the use of lead-based materials within the last fifty years, lead contamination remains as a threat to public health and safety. Elevated blood lead levels are known to cause a variety of health issues particularly for young children and pregnant women. This study aims to measure, map, and analyze the …

Clearing The Air: Tracking Spatial And Temporal Pm2.5 Variability Along A Biking Transect In Chicago, Beau R. Rass

DePaul Discoveries

Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) poses significant risks to human health and disproportionately affects marginalized communities in urban environments (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021; Tessum et al., 2021). Using low-cost mobile sensors, this study explored spatiotemporal PM₂.₅ concentration patterns along a north–south transect of Halsted Street in Chicago. A 2B Technologies Portable Aerosol Monitor (PAM) mounted on a bicycle was used to continuously record PM₂.₅ concentrations with associated GPS coordinates at approximately two-second intervals during 16 sampling events between 08-12-2025 and 10-05-2025. PM₂.₅ concentrations did not differ significantly among the South Side, West Loop, and North Side regions, contrary to the …

Analyzing Urban Space-Use Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Szandra A. Péter, Zehidul Hussain, Solena Kronstedt, Amira Roess, Jennifer Mullinax, Travis Gallo, Taylor Anderson

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Food Access: An Investigation Of Food Insecurity Amongst Latinos In Rural Nebraska, Natalia Santos

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Food insecurity is a public health issue in the United States, with disproportionately higher rates among Latino/Hispanic households. Rural communities face unique geographical, socioeconomic, and systemic barriers that often exacerbate food access disparities. Despite the growing Latino population in rural areas, particularly in Midwestern states like Nebraska, there remains a critical gap in comprehensive research that integrates both objective and subjective understandings of their food environments. Understanding these multifaceted influences is crucial for developing effective, culturally sensitive interventions.

Problem Statement: This dissertation aims to answer the central question: How does food access and food insecurity manifest amongst Latinos in …

Spatial Implications Of Potential Treeline Campfire Restrictions In Selected Usfs-Managed Colorado Wildernesses, Rebecca Hippensteel

Masters Projects

High-elevation ecosystems in Colorado’s Wilderness areas are ecologically sensitive and particularly vulnerable to campfire impacts, which can damage vegetation, alter soil chemistry, and degrade wilderness character. This study presents a preliminary proof of concept evaluating the spatial implications of banning campfires at or above 11,000 feet—used here as a proxy for treeline—in twelve U.S. Forest Service-managed Wilderness areas. Using 30-meter resolution Digital Elevation Models from the USGS National Map and Earth Explorer, a raster-based analysis in ArcGIS Pro identified and quantified acreage above 11,000 feet. Across the twelve Wilderness areas, 268,601 acres were found to lie above treeline, representing an …

Wildlife Distribution Mapping And Analysis In Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Using Site And Satellite Imagery Data, Pinho Joaquim Munhequeira Mr

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

One of Mozambique's most important conservation sites, Gorongosa National Park has seen critical ecological changes over the past several decades resulting from climate variability, habitat loss, and political instability. This research integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing to examine the relationship between vegetation dynamics and wildlife population, and distribution. The main goals of this study are to evaluate the spatial distribution of particular wildlife species: buffalo (Syncerus caffer), elephant (Loxodonta africana), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), and zebra (Equus quagga), and determine the impact of vegetation density and land cover on their …

Gps Accuracy Of Smartphones For Crowdsourcing Research, Derron L. Dike

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

ABSTRACT GPS Accuracy of Smartphones for Crowdsourcing Research Derron Dike Utilizing crowdsourcing with smartphones as a method for field data collection can contribute an array of data for scientific studies and land management applications. This study used crowdsourcing to examine smartphone built-in GPS performance for providing location-specific information with potential forestry applications. The usability of smartphones for GPS data collection in forestry studies or other practical applications is dependent on the level of accuracy required for those applications. A Smartphone Accuracy Trial was designed to test the GPS accuracy performance of current smartphones. Participants used the ArcGIS Field Maps application …

Spatial Ecology Of Mountain Lions Throughout Their Distribution In California, Kyle Duncan Dougherty

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have been studied extensively throughout their wide geographic distribution in the Western Hemisphere, but most research has been conducted at relatively small spatial scales. We used GPS telemetry data contributed by researchers in 16 study areas throughout California to advance understanding of mountain lion spatial ecology. First, we investigated multi-scale resource selection of mountain lions relative to spatially varying risk of intentional human-caused mortality associated with livestock depredation management. We show that individuals that proactively avoided mortality risk when selecting home ranges were able to relax their avoidance of risk when making resource selection …

Spatial Ecology Of Mountain Lions Throughout Their Distribution In California, Kyle D. Dougherty

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have been studied extensively throughout their wide geographic distribution in the Western Hemisphere, but most research has been conducted at relatively small spatial scales. We used GPS telemetry data contributed by researchers in 16 study areas throughout California to advance understanding of mountain lion spatial ecology. First, we investigated multi-scale resource selection of mountain lions relative to spatially varying risk of intentional human-caused mortality associated with livestock depredation management. We show that individuals that proactively avoided mortality risk when selecting home ranges were able to relax their avoidance of risk when making resource selection …

Examining Context Dependency Of Invasion Hypotheses At The Continental Scale Using Riverine Fish Communities, Lily Thompson

All Dissertations

Many well-supported hypotheses seek to explain invasion dynamics, but evidence for common patterns among regions and taxa remains inconclusive and often contradictory. Invasion ecology is fundamentally linked to spatial scale, and discrepancies in results among invasion studies may be attributed, in part, to a failure to fully consider scale dependency. In this dissertation, I investigate the sources of inconsistencies across spatial scales and large geographic extents using riverine fish communities across the conterminous United States. To do so, I tested three main ideas. First, that cross-scale interactions contextualize estimated invasion mechanisms among regions. My results demonstrate that local empirical support …

Evaluating The Environmental Impacts Of U.S. Historical Oil Spill Incidents, Yiming Liu, Hua Cai

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Exposure to risks associated with the production and usage of products, particularly oil, poses significant threats to both ecological systems and human health. Notable examples include the Gulf War Oil Spill (1991) and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010). However, numerous smaller-scale oil spills, which collectively contribute to substantial oil releases, often remain overlooked. To fill this gap, our study first developed a detailed oil spill incidents database, covering 1967 to 2023. We quantified the released amount (RA) of oil spills recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Subsequently, we utilized life cycle impact indicators in ReCiPe to …

Aboveground Biomass Density Estimation Using Deep Learning: Insight From Neon Ground-Truth Data And Simulated Gedi Waveform, Ashish Mahaur

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Accurately estimating Aboveground Biomass Density (AGBD) is crucial for managing Earth's carbon cycle and informing climate strategies. NASA's GEDI mission advances global forest mapping, but traditional linear models often yield less reliable AGBD estimates. This study enhances AGBD estimation using deep learning models with NEON ground-truth data and simulated GEDI waveforms. We compared 1D CNNs, LSTMs, and pre-trained CNNs to traditional models. The ResNet152 model outperformed linear regression, achieving an R² of 0.68, demonstrating a 17% improvement. Our experiments also demonstrate the importance of large, diverse datasets, particularly for training deep learning models.

A Tale Of Two Working Landscapes, Sage C. Sutcliffe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Age, Size, And Composition Of Selected Old-Growth Shortleaf Pine Stands In The Upper Buffalo River, Arkansas, Willa Avery Thomason

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) approaches the westernmost limits of its range in the Arkansas Ozarks. Despite heavy logging of shortleaf pine throughout its range during the 19th and 20th centuries, the species was not easily accessible for harvest and transportation in the most rugged areas of the Boston Mountains and, as a result, there are a few extant stands of old-growth shortleaf pine in the region. The shortleaf pine stands in the interior Boston Mountains are unusual in that they exist primarily above bluff lines at topographic breaks in the hardwood canopy and are not disturbed by fire as frequently …

Spatial Conservation Planning In The Southeastern United States: Alignments And Opportunities, Bradly Stewart Thornton

Theses and Dissertations

Conservation managers and planners need the ‘best available science’ to support robust and defensible decisions, ensuring that public resources are appropriately allocated. Spatial planning products and decision-support tools developed for this purpose should enable partner organizations to achieve focus, coordination, and increased effectiveness in their investments and actions. Whereas conservation partnerships have historically created distinct planning tools, there is increasing interest for improved coordination, communication, and unifying biological datasets to improve the cohesiveness of regional management activities. We sought to inform spatial conservation planning efforts in the southeastern United States through the development of species distribution models for focal avian …

Community Participation And Perspectives Of Ambondrolava Mangrove Restoration Project, Nadine Shannon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Madagascar’s mangrove forests are intertidal ecosystems that provide numerous valuable ecosystem services but are nonetheless under pressure from large amounts of deforestation. On the southwestern coast of Madagascar, the village of Ambondrolava practices community led management of the mangrove and its resources. This research project studied the evolution of the mangrove area using GIS data, and investigated, through interviews, the relationship between the local community of Ambondrolava and the organizations that manage the mangrove ecosystem. From 2000 to 2018, the zone of the mangrove has experienced a net loss in area every year, despite reforestation efforts. Most community members interviewed …

Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region, Sara J. Moriarty-Graves

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing fire size and severity in the western United States causes changes to ecosystems, species’ habitat use, and interspecific interactions. Wide-ranging carnivore and ungulate mammalian species and their interactions may be influenced by an increase in fire activity in northern California. Depending on the fire characteristics, ungulates may benefit from burned habitat due to an increase in forage availability, while carnivore species may be differentially impacted, but ultimately driven by bottom-up processes from a shift in prey availability. I used a three-step approach to estimate the single-species occupancy of four large mammal species: mountain lion (Puma concolor), coyote …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

A Subspecies-Level Database Of Amazonian Bird Distributions, With Inferences On Suture Zones And Conservation, Marco Antonio Rego

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Amazonia has the largest and most biodiverse tropical forest on the planet. However, the distributions of its species are still poorly understood, even for well-studied vertebrates such as birds. Available distribution maps for Amazonian birds often lack accuracy in delimiting the area where species occur. Existing distributional information for Amazonian birds is often limited to species-level level taxonomy, even though many Amazonian bird subspecies represent biological species. Here, I investigate the geographic distributions of 4,148 bird taxa (species and subspecies) using museum scientific specimens as the primary source of data. To build the data base I use more than 600,000 …

Participatory Mapping To Address Neighborhood Level Data Deficiencies For Food Security Assessment In Southeastern Virginia, Usa, Nicole S. Hutton, George Mcleod, Thomas R. Allen, Christopher Davis, Alexander Garnand, Heather Richter, Prachi P. Chaven, Leslie Hoglund, Jill Comess, Matthew Herman, Brian Martin, Cynthia Romero

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Background: Food is not equitably available. Deficiencies and generalizations limit national datasets, food security assessments, and interventions. Additional neighborhood level studies are needed to develop a scalable and transferable process to complement national and internationally comparative data sets with timely, granular, nuanced data. Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) offer a means to address these issues by digitizing local knowledge.

Methods: The objectives of this study were two-fold: (i) identify granular locations missing from food source and risk datasets and (ii) examine the relation between the spatial, socio-economic, and agency contributors to food security. Twenty-nine subject matter experts from three cities …

Expulsive Greening: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Of Green Gentrification In The Resilience Paradigm, Brooklyn 2010–2020, Rose Jimenez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: This project analyzes the spatial coincidence between gentrification typologies and urban greening in Brooklyn, New York from 2010 to 2020. Assets formed under the NYC Green Infrastructure Program were chosen as a proxy for urban greening to represent the spatial practice specifically within the 21st-century climate change resilience paradigm of development. Methods: First, five indexes measuring variations of economic and demographic conditions related to gentrification were applied to Brooklyn for comparative analysis: NOAA’s Social Vulnerability Indicators of Gentrification Pressure, The NYC Heat Vulnerability Index, The Small Area Index of Gentrification, Typologies of Gentrification and Displacement, and The Housing Risk …

Using Lidar To Estimate Carbon Sequestration Of Evergreen Trees At Eastern Washington University (Ewu) Campus, Cheney, Washington, Kristy A. Snyder

2022 Symposium

EWU contains a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees across its campus, providing several benefits. However, no comprehensive record exists of the total number, location, species, or ages of these trees. This knowledge can inform facilities of proper care for individual trees and can be used to estimate carbon sequestration on campus. Traditional on-the-ground methods for assessing trees require tree cores or clinometers, making trees susceptible to pests or disease and leading to inaccurate results. Remote sensing using lidar data is a noninvasive, more precise method to measure tree height and subsequently assess tree age. This poster explores using point …

Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans

All Master's Theses

This research explores the claim that “geotagging ruins nature” by quantifying and qualifying patterns in geotag use and visitors’ experiences in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in Washington, United States. Many have raised concerns that geotags increase recreational visitation to public lands, which subsequently contributes to negative resource impacts. Others, however, claim that geotagging has made the outdoors more accessible to less privileged communities and raise concerns that condemning geotags will perpetuate the exclusion of certain groups from outdoor recreation. This debate is studied within federally designated Wilderness, which is legally defined as “untrammeled by man,” a definition rooted in problematic …

Of Biodiversity, Boundaries, And Distribution: The Myxomycetes Of The Philippines And Beyond, Sittie Aisha Bustamante Macabago

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contains a compilation of independently performed studies primarily focusing on the myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) from the Philippines and integrating local and worldwide data to demonstrate regional and global trends. The major themes include the following: (I) a review of the diverse group of spore-producing amoeboid protists, including the myxomycetes; (II-IV) diversity assessments in three different groups of islands in the Philippine archipelago; (V) mapping the myxomycetes found in the Philippines for databasing and analyzing the geocoded data; (VI) a study on regional boundaries, including the Philippines, using myxomycete species composition; and, (VII) creating a global species distribution …

Using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles For Identifying The Extent Of Invasive Phragmites Australis In Treatment Areas Enrolled In An Adaptive Management Program, Colin Brooks, Charlotte Weinstein, Andrew Poley, Amanda Grimm, Nicholas Marion, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Dana Hansen, Kurt Kowalski

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Higher spatial and temporal resolutions of remote sensing data are likely to be useful for ecological monitoring efforts. There are many different treatment approaches for the introduced European genotype of Phragmites australis, and adaptive management principles are being integrated in at least some long-term monitoring efforts. In this paper, we investigated how natural color and a smaller set of near-infrared (NIR) images collected with low-cost uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) could help quantify the aboveground effects of management efforts at 20 sites enrolled in the Phragmites Adaptive Management Framework (PAMF) spanning the coastal Laurentian Great Lakes region. We used object-based image …

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

Assessing And Mapping The Spatial-Temporal Change In Forest Phenology Of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Using Moderate Resolution Satellite, Bailey Ytterdahl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study focuses on coastal forests in Kenya that have some of the highest variety of flora and fauna, specifically Arabuko Sokoke Forest. Arabuko Sokoke Forest is located 110 miles north of Mombasa and 18 kilometers south of Malindi. This forest is known to be a worldwide biodiversity hotspot that is home to endemic and rare plants and animals. Within the Arabuko Sokoke Forest ecosystem, there are two main issues that challenge the conservation of the area. First, there has been more competition for land, primarily for agriculture and development. Second, there is an increase demand for forest resources due …

Digitization Of Ecological History In The Driftless Area Of Minnesota, St. Mary's University Of Minnesota-Geospatial Services, Winona State University-Library Special Collections

Ecological History StoryMaps

The Winona County Historical Society (WCHS) and Winona State University (WSU) collaborated on applying for a Heritage Partnership grant to produce shared resources with the goal to educate the Winona community about the local ecological history of the area. The grant provided the opportunity to hire St. Mary's University of Minnesota - GeoSpatial Services to reconstruct a map fo the vegetative communities in the city of Winona based on a 1855 land survey and other available data. An 1862 transcription of the 1855 of the land survey was found in the WCHS Laird Norton Archive, which was the starting point …

Measuring Building Height Using Point Cloud Data Derived From Unmanned Aerial System Imagery In An Undergraduate Geospatial Science Course, David L. Kulhavy, I-Kuai Hung, Daniel R. Unger, Reid Viegut, Yanli Zhang

Faculty Publications

The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), also known as drones is increasing in geospatial science curricula within the United States. Within the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) at Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, seniors in the geospatial science program complete capstone projects to evaluate current geospatial technology to investigate complex ecological, social and environmental issues. Under the umbrella of a student initiated and designed senior project, students designed a study to estimate height of buildings with UAS data incorporating UAS data, LP360 and ArcScene programs, and Pictometry web-based interface. Results from a statistical analysis of …

Evaluating St. Catherines Island's Shoreline, Vegetation Line, And The Locations Of Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nests, Sydney O. Davis

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

St. Catherines Island is a highly dynamic barrier island on the Georgia coast that is also federally listed critical nesting habitat for loggerhead sea turtles. Understanding how St. Catherines’ shoreline and vegetation is changing over time is geographically important as a potential template for other barrier islands. Measuring sea turtle nest locations will provide insight into their natural patterns and how they adjust those locations on a changing barrier island. Analyzing Moving Boundaries Using R (AMBUR) is implemented in this research to assess the movement of the vegetation and shorelines from 2005-2017 using the End Point Rate (EPR) and Linear …