The Use of Remote Sensing in Habitat Management for Wildlife Helen Holdsworth EES 5053 University of Texas at San Antonio December 2, cache.britannica.com

Problem Statement Habitat fragmentation and urban encroachment are two of the major factors threatening wildlife species around the world. The ability to accurately assess habitat with remote sensing imagery should allow researchers to be more specific in their assessments and recommendations for habitat management.

Overview Introduction Methods Results Management Implications Conclusions fcit.usf.edu animals.timduru.org

Landscape Metrics Associated with Habitat Use by Ocelots in South Texas Hypothesis: Prefer large patches of closed canopy & avoid large patches of unsuitable habitat Location: Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Methods August 1991 Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery Aerial photos Digital orthophoto quadrangles Image from TNRIS

Methods Used supervised and unsupervised classification for better accuracy 4 land cover classes: Urban/barren Water Closed canopy Open canopy Image from published paper, Journal of Wildlife Management

Methods Landscape Metrics Number of patches Shape Patch size Edge Mean nearest neighbor

Results & Management Implications Closed canopy shows a great degree of fragmentation. Ocelots used the largest patches available. Decisions must consider size, shape, and edge. Consider conserving areas with smaller patches. Image from Google Earth

Landscape Models to Predict the Influence of Forest Structure on Tassel-Eared Squirrel Populations Question: Which characteristic best predicts squirrel density & recruitment? Location: Mogollon Plateau in northern Arizona Image from

Methods Data from Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis Ground measurements Digital orthophotos ETM imagery

Results & Management Implications Squirrel density best predicted by basel area Recruitment best predicted by canopy cover Remove smaller trees Leave larger patches with moderate-to-high canopy cover

Identifying Suitable Sites for Florida Panther Reintroduction Question: Which areas would be good for panther reintroduction? Location: Historic range of panther

Methods GIS map layers at 500 x 500 m 1992 National Land Cover Data

Results & Management Implications Identified 9 potential sites with the historic range Need field survey at local scale to verify Need remote inaccessible areas

Analysis of The Use of Remote Sensing 1991 Landsat Thematic Mapper Spatial resolution of 30 m on bands 1-5, 7 Spatial resolution of 120 m on band 6 No problems reported Ocelot Research

Analysis of The Use of Remote Sensing Enhance Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) Spatial resolution of 30 m on bands 1-5, 7 Spatial resolution of 120 m on band 6 Spatial resolution of 15 m on band 8 No problems reported Squirrel Research

Analysis of The Use of Remote Sensing GIS map layers at 500 x 500 m 1992 National Land Cover Data Could not incorporate fine scale characteristics Panther Research

Conclusions Many imagery tools available What you use depends on your resources Should see more research and recommendations based on remote imagery use Probably always need some ground-truthing fcit.usf.edu animals.timduru.org