Table Of ContentGIS AND REMOTE
SENSING APPLICATIONS IN
BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY
THE KLUWER INTERNATIONAL SERIES
IN ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
GIS AND REMOTE
SENSING APPLICATIONS IN
BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY
edited by
Andrew C. M illington
University of Leicester
United Kingdom
Stephen J. Walsh
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill USA.
Patrick E. Osborne
University of Stirling
United Kingdom
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
GIS and remote sensing applications in biogeography and ecology / edited by Andrew C.
Millington, Stephen J. Walsh, Patrick E. Osborne,
p.cm.
Book arose from two joint symposia held in Leicester and Honolulu in 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (p.).
ISBN 978-1-4613-5596-0 ISBN 978-1-4615-1523-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-1523-4
1. Biogeography—Remote sensing. 2. Ecology—Remote sensing. 3. Geographic
information systems. I. Millington, A. C. II. Walsh, Stephen Joseph, 1951- III. Osborne ,
Patrick E.
QH84 .G47 2001
578\09—dc21
2001038306
The cover is a composite image of Lee Ridge and vicinity, Glacier National
Park, Montana, USA. The image is composed of a 1999 Landsat Thematic Mapper
(TM) satellite image, an orthophoto quadrangle (b&w), and an ADAR 5500 digital
aircraft image referenced to a 30 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
The Landsat TM image is visualized using a channel 4,3,2 color composite and
represented using a RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color model. The ADAR 5500 image was
collected at a spatial resolution of 1 m and processed using the Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to show the "green wave" across Lee Ridge.
The image is used to assess climate change at the alpine treeline ecotone as
part of research funded by the US Geological Survey, Biological Research
Division. Cover art by Sean McKnight and Stephen J. Walsh, Landscape Characterization &
Spatial Analysis Lab, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina -
Chapel Hill, USA.
Copyright ° 2001 by Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers i n 2001
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Printed on acid-free paper.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Co-Editors: Abbreviated Profiles ix
Acknowledgements: ListofReviewers x
1. Introduction- ThinkingSpatially
Andrew C. Millington, Stephen1. Walsh, and PatrickE. Osborne......1
2. ASpectral Unmixing Approach to LeafArea Index (LAI)
Estimationat the Alpine TreelineEcotone
Daniel G. Brown 7
3. The UtilizationofAirborne Digital Multispectral Image Dynamics
and Kinematic Global PositioningSystemsfor Assessingand
MonitoringSaltMarsh HabitatsinSouthern California
Douglas Stow, AliceE. Brewster, and BrianK. Bradshaw 23
4. SpatialVariabilityinSatellite-DerivedSeasonal Vegetation
Dynamics
Simon D. Jones, AndrewC. Millington, and BarryK. Wyatt 47
5. DocumentingLand-CoverHistoryofa HumidTropical
Environmentin Northeastern Costa Rica UsingTime-Series
RemotelySensedData
Jane M. Read, Julie S. Denslow, and SandraM. Guzman 69
6. PatternsofChangein Land-Useand Land-Coverand Plant
Biomass: Separating Intra- and Inter-AnnualSignalsin
Monsoon-Driven NortheastThailand
StephenJ. Walsh, Kelley A. Crews-Meyer,Thomas W. Crawford,
WilliamF. Welsh, BarbaraEntwisle, and RonaldR. Rindfuss 91
7. Barriersand SpeciesPersistence inaSimulatedGrassland
Community
David M. Cairns 109
8. Feedbackand Patternin ComputerSimulationsofthe Alpine
TreelineEcotone
MatthewF. Becker, GeorgeP. Malanson, Kathryn1. Alftine, and
David M. Cairns 123
9. SpatialPatternand Dynamicsofan Annual Woodland Herb
LucyBastinand Chris D. Thomas 139
10. SpatialAnalysisofMicro-Environmental Changeand Forest
CompositioninBelize
PeterA. Fudey, MalcolmPenn, Neil M. Bird, andMalcolmR.
Murray (withacontributionfromDougR. Lewis) 163
11. The Radiate CapitulumMorphofSenecioVulgaris L. within
Sussex: the UseofGISin EstablishingOrigins
StephenWaite and Niall Burnside 179
12. AGeographicalInformationScience(GISci) Approach to
ExploringVariationin the Bush CricketEphippigerEphippiger
David M. Kidd and Michael G. Ritchie 193
13. The GIS RepresentationofWildlifeMovements: AFramework
LingBian 213
14. StratifiedSamplingforFieldSurveyofEnvironmental Gradients
in the MojaveDesertEcoregion
JanetFranklin,ToddKeeler-Wolf, Kathryn A. Thomas,
David A. Shaari, PeterA. Stine, Joel Michaelsen, and
JenniferMiller 229
vi
15. DevelopmentofVegetationPatterninPrimarySuccessionson
GlacierForelandsinSouthern Norway
GiinterA. Grimm 255
16. Multi-ScaleAnalysisofLand-CoverCompositionand Landscape
ManagementofPublic and Private LandsinIndiana
TomP. Evans, GlenM. Green, andLaura A. Carlson 271
17. Shifting CultivationWithoutDeforestation: ACaseStudyinthe
MountainsofNorthwesternVietnam
Jefferson Fox, StephenLeisz, DaoMinhTruong, A. TerryRambo,
NghiemPhuongTuyen, andLeTrongCue 289
18. LinkingBiogeographyand EnvironmentalManagementinthe
Wetland LandscapeofCoastalNorth Carolina
The difference betweennationwideandindividualwetlandpermits
NinaM. Kelly 309
Index 329
vii
CO-EDITORS: ABBREVIATED PROFILES
Andrew C. Millington is Professor of Geography at the University of
Leicester, where he is currently head ofdepartment. He lectured previously
at the Universities of Reading (UK) and Sierra Leone, and has been a
Visiting Lecturer at the University ofGent and University College, Dublin.
He is the inaugural chair of the IGU Biogeography Study Group (1996
2000) and honorary editor of The Geographical Journal. He has published
over 50 scientific articles and edited five books, including Vegetation
Mapping with R. Alexander (1999) and Environmental Change in Dryland
Environments with K. Pye (1994). His research interests focus on the use of
remotely-sensed data to map and monitor soils and vegetation in arid and
humid tropical environments, modelling habitat and, more generally, in
natural resource management. He has carried out research for the ED, UK
and DutchGovernments, and the World Bank.
Stephen1. Walsh is a ProfessorofGeography, Directorofthe Landscape
Characterisation & Spatial Analysis Lab (LC&SAL), and Research Fellow
of the Carolina Population Centre at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, USA. He is the former Amos H. Hawley Professor of
Geography (1993-1996) and Director of the Spatial Analysis Unit at the
Carolina Population Centre (1992-1997). He is the past Chair of the GIS
(1997-1999) and the Remote Sensing (1995-1997) Specialty Groups of the
Association of American Geographers (AAG). In 1997, Professor Walsh
was the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award and Medal from
the Remote Sensing Specialty Group of the AAG, in 1999 was award
Research Honours from the Southeastern Division ofthe AAG, and in 2001
was awarded Research Scholarship Honours from the Association of
American Geographers. He is on the editorial boards of Plant Ecology
(1996-present), Journal of Geography (1995-present), The Professional
Geographer (1997-2001), and the Southeastern Geographer (1992-2000).
He also has recently co-authored special remote sensing and GIS application
issues in the Journal of Vegetation Science (1994) and Geomorphology
(1998). Professor Walsh's research interests are in GIS, remote sensing,
spatial analysis, physical geography, and population-environment
interactions. Specific research foci are in pattern and process at the alpine
treeline ecotone, biodiversity and river dynamics, scale dependence and
information scaling, and landuse/landcoverchange modelling. Major studies
are underway in Ecuador, Thailand, and NorthCarolina and Montana, USA.
Patrick E. Osborne lectures in Environmental Management at the
University of Stirling, I\cotland, UK, and is co-director of the masters'
programme. He was previously the Head ofEcology at the National Avian
Research Center in Abu Dhabi where he directed research on conservation
issues and compiled the book The Desert Ecology ofAbu Dhabi (1996). He
has travelled extensively and worked in Europe, Lesotho, Kenya, Mexico,
the Middle East, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Dr Osborne's research interests
are in spatial ecology and landscape ecology, and the uses of new
technologies in conservation biology, particularly birds. He is currently
working on large-scale predictive models of bird distributions based on
digital cartography and satellite imagery. His research students are studying
the effects of forest fragmentation on birds, building simulation models of
forests succession, comparing correlative mapping and Individual-Based
Behaviour Models for predicting areas used by grazing geese, studying
forest cover change in Nigeria, and devising conservation strategies for
woodlandgrouse.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. LIST OF REVIEWERS
Thomas R. Allen, OldDominion University
StephenJ. McGregor, University ofNorthCarolina -Chapel Hill
JosephP. Messina, Michigan StateUniversity
John Kupfer, UniversityofArizona
Duane Griffin, Bucknell University
Paul Mausel, Indiana StateUniversity
Stephen R. Yool, UniversityofArizona
DavidR. Butler, SouthwestTexas State University
LingBian, State University ofNew York-Buffalo
Nina M. Kelly, University ofCalifornia-Berkeley
Daniel G. Brown, University ofMichigan
Stephen1. Walsh, UniversityofNorthCarolina -Chapel Hill
Kelley A. Crews-Meyer, UniversityofTexas -Austin
SteveBlackmore, Royal Botanic Gardens- Edinburgh
John Proctor, University ofStirling -Stirling
Godfrey Hewitt-UniversityofEastAnglia -Norwich
DanHoward -New Mexico StateUniversity -Las Cruces
D. McCollin, UniversityCollegeNorthampton -Northampton
MikeHutchings, University ofSussex -Brighton
J.A. Matthews, UniversityCollegeofSwansea, Swansea
O.R. Vetaas, University ofBergen- Bergen, Norway
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION - THINKING SPATIALLY
AndrewC. Millington
DepartmentofGeography, UniversityofLeicester, UK
[email protected].
Stephen1. Walsh
DepartmentofGeography, UniversityofNorth Carolina, USA
[email protected]
PatrickE. Osborne
DepartmentofEnvironmentalManagement, UniversityofStirling, UK
[email protected].
Keywords: geographicinformationscience,remotesensing,biogeography,ecology.
Context The idea for the book arose from twojoint symposiathat were organised
by the Biogeography Study Group of the International Geographical
Union; the Biogeography, Remote Sensing, and GIS Speciality Groupsof
theAssociationofAmericanGeographers,andthe BiogeographyResearch
Groupofthe Royal Geographical Society-InstituteofBritish Geographers
and held in Leicester and Honolulu in 1999. These groups represent the
majorityofgeographers who are conductingresearch in biogeographyand
ecology,andteachingthismaterialtogeographers.
Many members ofthese groups have strong links with ecologists and
biogeographers in biological sciences, but as geographers they have
particular insights into biogeography and ecology, which arise from their
training in spatialdigital technologies that have been collectively referred
to as Geographic Information Science (GISc). It is this issue - the
aVVllcation of spatial concepts and techniques of GISc to biogeography
andecology- thathasformedthefocusofthetwosymposiaandthisbook.
This material is increasingly being covered in a varietyofdisciplines and
sub-disciplines (e.g., large-area ecology, landscape ecology, remote
sensing and GIS), butmany researchers in these fields lack the training in
spatial concepts behind the techniques that they utilise. The spatial
concepts that are covered in this book are richer than those found within
landscape ecology at the present time, and we suspect that this book will
promote the use ofmany ofthese concepts amongst landscape ecologists.
Wefeel thatitis timely togathertogetherarepresentative setofexamples
ofthe many varied spatial techniques and analytical approaches that are
