Read Books Online and Download eBooks, EPub, PDF, Mobi, Kindle, Text Full Free.
Californias Dynamic Landscape Monitoring Ecological Response To Human Impact And Drought Using Satellite Imagery
Download Californias Dynamic Landscape Monitoring Ecological Response To Human Impact And Drought Using Satellite Imagery full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Californias Dynamic Landscape Monitoring Ecological Response To Human Impact And Drought Using Satellite Imagery ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!
Book Synopsis California's Dynamic Landscape: Monitoring Ecological Response to Human Impact and Drought Using Satellite Imagery by : Katherine Sarah Willis
Download or read book California's Dynamic Landscape: Monitoring Ecological Response to Human Impact and Drought Using Satellite Imagery written by Katherine Sarah Willis and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Space-borne remote sensing is a rapidly evolving field and is exceptionally useful for monitoring landscape dynamics. The increasing impact of humans on natural ecosystems via land use change and climate change make ecological monitoring vital to environmental health. Human population levels are causing rapid changes in land cover and development, which in turn puts increasing stress on the natural landscape. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated climate change causing varied unexpected changes to vegetation. The effects of increased frequency and intensity of drought in the western United States is an example of this which can be monitored using satellite imagery. This dissertation assesses how these human-induced threats are driving landscape changes and the application of remote sensing to assess the ecological impacts. To address these objectives, remote sensing is applied to natural resource monitoring for effective conservation-based land management (Chapter 2). These methods are then applied to various research, including monitoring ecological status of southern California National Parks (Chapter 3), assessment of the effects of drought on southern California native plants (Chapter 4) and on browning over California vegetation zones (Chapter 5). The remote sensing-based analyses utilize several best practice methods such as supervised classification and time series statistics to examine landscape changes throughout California. Outputs include a standardized protocol to determine future ecological conservation management actions, status reports on current and historical land use, publically available spatial datasets, and assessment of the California landscape and native species in response to 20th Century drought conditions.
Book Synopsis Understanding the Ecological Challenges in California Protected Areas: Through the Lens of Remote Sensing Technologies by : Shenyue Jia
Download or read book Understanding the Ecological Challenges in California Protected Areas: Through the Lens of Remote Sensing Technologies written by Shenyue Jia and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Protected area (PA), usually built to address the potential ecological pressure from different sources, aims to sustain, protect, and maintain the wilderness of nature for ecological, economic, and scenic purposes. Establishing, maintaining, and expanding the monitor network of PAs helps to enhance the ecological and biological value of these areas, especially in the light of species decline and habitat degradation. Intensively monitored and regulated through various administrative agencies, California keeps one of the best maintained network of PAs in the world, which supports various studies to address the significant threats to the preservation of wilderness from the projected warming climate and pressure from human development, including water deficit and prolonged drought, abnormality in wildfires, urban sprawl, and light pollution. With the help of satellite remote sensing technologies and geospatial analysis, we can overcome the limitation of data availability in traditional ecological studies and expand the study of PAs to a continuous gradient both in time and space. This dissertation aims to develop a comprehensive understanding through remote sensing technologies on three signi cant and linked ecological disturbance in California PAs, including the change of land cover, the dynamic of wildfire, and the extent and intensity of human activity reflected by stable nighttime light. Exploiting various of remote sensing observation and its derivatives, this study investigated the three topics through trend, seasonality, abnormality, spatial distribution, and hotspot of change to provide a cost-effective and repeatable studying paradigm for PA managers to better understand the past and present situation, as well as the ecological challenges of PAs. In addition, it also supplemented the study of PAs as a case study focusing on a non-tropic ecosystem, which usually involves greater interaction with human thus faces ecological pressure at a higher level. The analysis on land cover dynamics and change from 2000 to 2015 found that many protected areas in California have experienced an increase of brownness since 2000. PAs with a higher coverage of greenness are associated with a higher temporal variability, mostly because of the more complex life cycle of green vegetation and the sensitivity to the disturbance, possibly due to a drying climate regime. Partly linked to the gradual influence from the drying climate, the change in the regime of wildfire may cause a more drastic change in land cover, through the removal of aboveground biomass and its in uence on the post-wild re regrowth. In the study focusing on California PAs from 2000 to 2013, a shift in wildfire-prone land cover and season was observed starting from 2008, while the wildfires southern California shrubland during the fall season became nearly extinct and the northern California evergreen forest wildfires in the late spring increased, partly explained by the recent loss of available fuel in biomass and the increase of potential of ignition in evergreen forest as a result of prolonged drought. Most burned areas experienced a signi cant weakening of the immediate growing season, although the in uence from re on local landscape decayed over time, which became irrelevant after ve years on average. The lower fuel moisture and a more intensive removal of aboveground biomass makes shrubs more sensitive in time, with a shorter period for biomass removal by re and a greater delay in the start and peak of post- re growing season. The long-enduring and sometimes intensive disturbance from human activity, especially from the development can be even more disastrous than wild re in damaging the aboveground biomass by interrupting the natural nutrient and mass circulation,thus brings more fundamental and sometimes irreversible consequences to ecosystems. However, after decades of protection, especially the removal of settlements in side PAs, land management strategies may have bored beneficial fruits to reduce the negative effects from historical human disturbance. As a good proxy of human activity and development, the historical records of stable nighttime light from 1992 to 2012 tracked the temporal change and spatial migration of hotspot of human activity inside California PAs. A decrease of lit area at night inside PAs occurred from 1992 to 2012, with a turning point around 2004 when the relatively sharp decrease started from became more gradual thereafter. Besides, area covered by higher stable nighttime light not only shrank, but also retreated from the area with high wilderness. If solidly con rmed by other socioeconomic variable, the above nding demonstrated the e ectiveness of PA establishment and the fruits of multiple conservation strategies kept for decades. The investigation of three major disturbances to the wilderness of California PAs provided an example of exploiting the cost-e ective and continuously available observation of the Earth surface at a regional level to understand the ecological challenges of PAs. The findings can help the National Park Service and other related agencies of PA administration in the review, adjustment, and proposal of regulations and policies regarding to PAs. Future work and analysis can be focused on improving the accuracy of predictive models involved the analysis, either by concentrating on the di erence between categories of protection, or through a better understanding on the related ecological process and mechanisms to identify or develop better explanatory variables. In addition, when conducting analysis on PAs, the bu er area adjacent to PAs cannot be ignored, which is an important source of disturbance to PAs as well as an ecological corridor that links nearby PAs into clusters. Considering the great diversity in the landscape of PAs, the analytical results can be aggregated and interpreted by different ecoregions to derive more accessible guidance to local policy makers.
Book Synopsis Ecosystems of California by : Harold Mooney
Download or read book Ecosystems of California written by Harold Mooney and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 1008 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.
Book Synopsis Remote Sensing of Drought by : Brian D. Wardlow
Download or read book Remote Sensing of Drought written by Brian D. Wardlow and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remote Sensing of Drought: Innovative Monitoring Approaches presents emerging remote sensing-based tools and techniques that can be applied to operational drought monitoring and early warning around the world. The first book to focus on remote sensing and drought monitoring, it brings together a wealth of information that has been scattered throughout the literature and across many disciplines. Featuring contributions by leading scientists, it assembles a cross-section of globally applicable techniques that are currently operational or have potential to be operational in the near future. The book explores a range of applications for monitoring four critical components of the hydrological cycle related to drought: vegetation health, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and groundwater, and precipitation. These applications use remotely sensed optical, thermal, microwave, radar, and gravity data from instruments such as AMSR-E, GOES, GRACE, MERIS, MODIS, and Landsat and implement several advanced modeling and data assimilation techniques. Examples show how to integrate this information into routine drought products. The book also examines the role of satellite remote sensing within traditional drought monitoring, as well as current challenges and future prospects. Improving drought monitoring is becoming increasingly important in addressing a wide range of societal issues, from food security and water scarcity to human health, ecosystem services, and energy production. This unique book surveys innovative remote sensing approaches to provide you with new perspectives on large-area drought monitoring and early warning.
Book Synopsis Historical Legacies Shape Contemporary Forests and Woodlands by : Kelly J Easterday
Download or read book Historical Legacies Shape Contemporary Forests and Woodlands written by Kelly J Easterday and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global changes in climate and increased anthropogenic activity are fundamentally reshaping the structure and function of ecosystems across scales. The velocity, scale, and intensity of human impact are irrefutable, yet quantifying the effects of anthropogenic activities in relation to natural ecosystem dynamics can be difficult. Understanding the interaction between human activities and landscape change is of paramount importance, especially as anthropogenic driven land cover conversion and disturbances threaten ecosystem biodiversity and natural resources. Our approaches to natural resource management are challenged when environmental outcomes are embedded in complex socio-ecological systems characterized by profound uncertainties and interactive. Interdisciplinary approaches are thus needed to adequately address contemporary environmental problems and evaluate interactions between biophysical and socio-ecological drivers of change. The research presented in this dissertation has two broad research foci. First, I explore the linkages between human activity and landscape change in the context of California forests and woodlands. I draw on historical and contemporary forest inventory data and investigate more than a century of landscape transformations in California to understand the drivers of change that influence today’s landscape. By studying the changes in forest and woodland distribution and structure across California, I review the often under-evaluated broad scale influence of socio-ecological factors such as land ownership and land management in contributing to forest densification and landscape change. Second, my work contributes to the discussion of technical issues of data availability and data aggregation when historical data are used in modern ecological analysis and combined with contemporary data. My research links historical and contemporary empirical data through data science approaches in data digitization, data aggregation, data sharing, spatial modeling, and species distribution modeling in order to increase the scope and potential of historical data to answer complex environmental problems. At the core of this work is one valuable and recently digitized historical ecological data collection: the California Vegetation Type Mapping (VTM) Project. My second chapter is motivated by several recent studies that report climate (i.e. climate water deficit (CWD)) as the primary mechanism of large tree decline and change in forest structure in California in the 20th century. Reflecting on these studies and other conflicting opinions of primary drivers of change, I found very few studies that quantify the impact of land ownership and land management on the quantities of large trees and other characteristics of forest structure. Land ownership has been used to understand the long-term effects of and variation in land management practices; especially when spatially explicit data on management practices are unavailable or incomplete. Thus, in Chapter Two, I explicitly investigate 20th-century changes in forest structure across six ownership classes in California. In comparing historical and contemporary forest structural data I found that declines in large trees and increases in small tree density were consistent across the state, irrespective of ownership boundaries. However, there were important differences in the magnitude of this change. In particular, this pattern is most pronounced on private timberlands which experience up to 400% regional increases in small tree density since 1930. Nearly all land ownership classes experience declines in large trees, however, private timberland and National Park/Wilderness areas experience a significant reduction of 83% and 73% respectively. In Chapter Three, I investigate the effects of urban development on changes to the distribution of oak species in California. First, by modeling historical patterns of richness for eight oak species using historical map and plot data from the California Vegetation Type Mapping (VTM) collection I examine spatial intersections between hot spots of historical oak richness and modern urban and conservation land. I found that impacts from development and conservation vary by both species and richness. At the state level, the impact of urban development on oaks has been small within the areas of the highest oak richness but areas of high oak richness are also poorly conserved. In the first two chapters, I discuss the relationship between social and biophysical drivers of landscape change. This kind of understanding of long-term patterns of change requires data availability and the ability to re-use data. Following from these, Chapter 4 discusses preserving history's place in the growing data landscape, I review three approaches to sharing historical data from field stations using principles from data science. To encourage greater use of historical data across scientific disciplines it is vital to make data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (e.g. the FAIR principles). This summary of three important data collections emerging from the University of California showcase the potential for their use in research and encourages similar ventures that use common archival, geospatial, and data science practices to shepherd historical data out of file drawers and into the contemporary digital data landscape.
Book Synopsis Atmospheric Rivers by : F. Martin Ralph
Download or read book Atmospheric Rivers written by F. Martin Ralph and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-10 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the standard reference based on roughly 20 years of research on atmospheric rivers, emphasizing progress made on key research and applications questions and remaining knowledge gaps. The book presents the history of atmospheric-rivers research, the current state of scientific knowledge, tools, and policy-relevant (science-informed) problems that lend themselves to real-world application of the research—and how the topic fits into larger national and global contexts. This book is written by a global team of authors who have conducted and published the majority of critical research on atmospheric rivers over the past years. The book is intended to benefit practitioners in the fields of meteorology, hydrology and related disciplines, including students as well as senior researchers.
Book Synopsis Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States by : U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Download or read book Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States written by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions by : Kurt Schwabe
Download or read book Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions written by Kurt Schwabe and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-07-08 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a cross-country examination and comparison of drought awareness and experience, this book shows how scientists, water managers, and policy makers approach drought and water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
Book Synopsis Biodiversity and Environmental Change by : Emma Burns
Download or read book Biodiversity and Environmental Change written by Emma Burns and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2014-02-06 with total page 841 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This data-rich book demonstrates the value of existing national long-term ecological research in Australia for monitoring environmental change and biodiversity. Long-term ecological data are critical for informing trends in biodiversity and environmental change. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) is a major initiative of the Australian Government and one of its key areas of investment is to provide funding for a network of long-term ecological research plots around Australia (LTERN). LTERN researchers and other authors in this book have maintained monitoring sites, often for one or more decades, in an array of different ecosystems across the Australian continent – ranging from tropical rainforests, wet eucalypt forests and alpine regions through to rangelands and deserts. This book highlights some of the temporal changes in the environment that have occurred in the various systems in which dedicated field-based ecologists have worked. Many important trends and changes are documented and they often provide new insights that were previously poorly understood or unknown. These data are precisely the kinds of data so desperately needed to better quantify the temporal trajectories in the environment in Australia. By presenting trend patterns (and often also the associated data) the authors aim to catalyse governments and other organisations to better recognise the importance of long-term data collection and monitoring as a fundamental part of ecologically-effective and cost-effective management of the environment and biodiversity.
Book Synopsis Indicators of Climate Change in California by : Carmen Milanes (Environmentalist)
Download or read book Indicators of Climate Change in California written by Carmen Milanes (Environmentalist) and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences by : National Research Council
Download or read book Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-05-24 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists have long sought to unravel the fundamental mysteries of the land, life, water, and air that surround us. But as the consequences of humanity's impact on the planet become increasingly evident, governments are realizing the critical importance of understanding these environmental systemsâ€"and investing billions of dollars in research to do so. To identify high-priority environmental science projects, Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences explores the most important areas of research for the next generation. The book's goal is not to list the world's biggest environmental problems. Rather it is to determine areas of opportunity thatâ€"with a concerted investmentâ€"could yield significant new findings. Nominations for environmental science's "grand" challenges were solicited from thousands of scientists worldwide. Based on their responses, eight major areas of focus were identifiedâ€"areas that offer the potential for a major scientific breakthrough of practical importance to humankind, and that are feasible if given major new funding. The book further pinpoints four areas for immediate action and investment.
Book Synopsis Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by :
Download or read book Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists written by and published by . This book was released on 1961-05 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.
Author :National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher :National Academies Press ISBN 13 :0309492432 Total Pages :29 pages Book Rating :4.3/5 (94 download)
Book Synopsis Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Download or read book Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live on a dynamic Earth shaped by both natural processes and the impacts of humans on their environment. It is in our collective interest to observe and understand our planet, and to predict future behavior to the extent possible, in order to effectively manage resources, successfully respond to threats from natural and human-induced environmental change, and capitalize on the opportunities â€" social, economic, security, and more â€" that such knowledge can bring. By continuously monitoring and exploring Earth, developing a deep understanding of its evolving behavior, and characterizing the processes that shape and reshape the environment in which we live, we not only advance knowledge and basic discovery about our planet, but we further develop the foundation upon which benefits to society are built. Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space (National Academies Press, 2018) provides detailed guidance on how relevant federal agencies can ensure that the United States receives the maximum benefit from its investments in Earth observations from space, while operating within realistic cost constraints. This short booklet, designed to be accessible to the general public, provides a summary of the key ideas and recommendations from the full decadal survey report.
Book Synopsis Managing California's Water by : Ellen Hanak
Download or read book Managing California's Water written by Ellen Hanak and published by Public Policy Instit. of CA. This book was released on 2011 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author :Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group II. Publisher :Cambridge University Press ISBN 13 :9780521634557 Total Pages :532 pages Book Rating :4.6/5 (345 download)
Book Synopsis The Regional Impacts of Climate Change by : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group II.
Download or read book The Regional Impacts of Climate Change written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group II. and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Download or read book Treatise on Geomorphology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 6392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!
Book Synopsis Sourcebook on Remote Sensing and Biodiversity Indicators by : Holly Strand
Download or read book Sourcebook on Remote Sensing and Biodiversity Indicators written by Holly Strand and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This sourcebook is intended to assist environmental managers and others who work with indicators in pursuing appropriate methods for indicator testing and production, and to offer some guidance to those responsible for the interpretation of indicators and implementation of decisions based on them. Upon reading this document, technical advisers, environmental policy makers, and remote sensing lab directors and project managers should be able to identify specific, relevant uses of remote sensing data for biodiversity monitoring and indicator development related to the CBD." --p. 8.
