Final Project - Many choices!

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Final Project - Many choices!

• Work on your own data (graduate or senior
  project)
• Tundra fire regimes (Dr. Higuera)
• Fine scale habitat maps (Ginny Harris)
• Develop additional questions using class data
•         

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Final Project Proposal (optional)

• Include the following (max 3 pages)    

• Introduction
• Objectives or Hyporhesis     
• Data and data sources
• Proposed methods
• Expected outputs/results             

Grading rubrik on REM402 web site
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Final Project AlternativesREM402, Fall 2010
Timeline

• Submit proposal (optional) Oct 11 the latest
• Work on project during Friday lab time Oct 15
  (Eva in Boise), 22, 29
• also lecture time Oct 18-29
• You are expected to spend some time outside of
  class hours on the project
• Final due date Nov 15            

Grading rubrik on REM402 web site
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Tundra Fire Regimes in Alaska many questionsfew
answers
Photo Dale Woitas, AFS, BLM
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• Will tundra area burned increase?

Photo Dale Woitas, AFS, BLM
W. Chapman , U of IL http//arctic.atmos.uiuc.ed
u/CLIMATESUMMARY/2003
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Some basic questions

• Are tundra fires biased towards specific
  vegetation types, and/or specific topographic
  conditions or landforms?
• What climatic conditions are associated with
  historic tundra fires?
• How to large vs. small tundra fire differ in
  terms of these patterns?
• How do tundra fires differ from boreal forest
  fires (e.g. fire size)?

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Existing, rich, data sources

• Alaska Fire Database historic fires from 1950 to
  present, including record-setting Anaktuvuk River
  Fire of 2007 (http//agdc.usgs.gov/data/blm/fire/i
  ndex.html)
• Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM) tundra
  vegetation across Alaska and the Arctic
  (http//www.geobotany.uaf.edu/cavm/ )
• LANDFIRE vegetation composition and structure,
  specific for fire and resource management
  (http//landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/)

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• Alaska fire history (red polygons) CAVM
  vegetation classes
• Non-random locations ? implies a biophysical
  explanation

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Example analyses

• Overlay Analysis Do different tundra types burn
  more or less than expected based on random?

Expected area burned
Observed area burned
Tundra vegetation types
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Example analyses

• Overlay Analysis what are the climatic
  conditions where most tundra fire occur?

Undergraduate student in GIS class
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• Contact
• Philip Higuera
• Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology
• phiguera_at_uidaho.edu

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Focus on Sagebrush Habitats
GAP Habitat Model Predicted suitable habitat for
the Greater Sage Grouse
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Objective 1So many maps..so little time
Develop wildlife habitat models using the
vegetation layer produced by GAP (30 m) and
regionally derived finer scale map products (e.g.
3 m resolution and finer thematic resolution,
e.g. shrub cover classes).
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Objective 2Model Accuracy

• Compare the accuracy of wildlife habitat models
  for selected vertebrate species ranging from
  generalists to specialists using the 30 m and 3 m
  maps and different thematic resolution.
• Develop recommendations for biological traits
  that should be considered when selecting the
  mapping scale.

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Objective 3Applications in Local Conservation
Planning

• What map products and other GIS data are useful
  for conservation planning and development of
  CCAs in sagebrush steppe?
• Develop guidelines, describing how GAP principles
  can be applied to regional map products to derive
  habitat models that are suitable for local
  conservation planning.
• Maps and models developed in this project will
• be available to those interested in
  conservation
• planning in the region where the prototype
  data
• was produced.

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OpportunitiesDevelop GIS databases Candidate
Conservation Agreements

• Fine scale vegetation maps with sage cover
  classes
• Gather other GIS data
• Elevation
• Parcels
• Roads
• Streams
• Fire atlas data
• Wells
• .what else?