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

        

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

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

Photo: Dale Woitas, AFS, BLM

Tundra Fire Regimes in Alaska: many questions…few answers

Photo: Dale Woitas, AFS, BLM5

W. Chapman , U of IL: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/CLIMATESUMMARY/2003

Shrub expansion:

AK Fire Service, BLM

Will tundra area burned increase?

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)?

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/index.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/)

Alaska fire history (red polygons) + CAVM vegetation classes: Non-random

locations implies a biophysical explanation

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

Example analyses:Overlay Analysis: what are the climatic

conditions where most tundra fire occur?

Undergraduate student in GIS class

Contact:Philip HigueraAssistant Professor of Fire Ecologyphiguera@uidaho.edu

Focus on Sagebrush Habitats

GAP Habitat ModelPredicted suitable habitat for the Greater Sage Grouse

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).

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.

Objective 3Applications in Local Conservation Planning

1. What map products and other GIS data are useful for conservation planning and development of CCA’s in sagebrush steppe?

2. Develop guidelines, describing how GAP principles can be applied to regional map products to derive habitat models that are suitable for local conservation planning.

3. 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.

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?