No description available.

No description available.

The Brazilian Pantanal, a continuous tropical wetland located in the center of South America, has been recognized as one of the largest and most important wetland ecosystems globally. The Pantanal exhibits a high biodiversity of flora and fauna species, and many threatened habitats. The spatial distribution of these habitats influence the distribution, abundance and interactions of animal species, and the change or destruction of habitat may cause alteration of key biological processes. The Pantanal may be divided into several distinct subregions based on geology and hydrology: flooding in these subregions is distinctly seasonal, but the timing, amplitude and duration of inundation vary considerably as a result of both the delayed release of floodwaters and regional rainfall patterns. Given the ecological importance of the Pantanal wetland ecosystem, the primary goal of this research was to utilize a dual season set of L-band (ALOS/PALSAR) and C-band (RADARSAT-2 and ENVISAT/ASAR) imagery, a comprehensive set of ground reference data, and a hierarchical object-oriented approach. This primary goal was achieved through two main research tasks. The first task was to define the diverse habitats of the Lower Nhecolândia subregion of the Pantanal at both a fine spatial resolution (12.5 m), and a relatively medium spatial resolution (50 m), thus evaluating the accuracy of the differing spatial resolutions for land cover classification of the highly spatially heterogeneous subregion. The second task was to define on a regional scale, using the 50 m spatial resolution imagery, the wetland habitats of each of the hydrological subregions of the Pantanal, thereby producing a final product covering the entire Pantanal ecosystem. The final classification maps of the Lower Nhecolândia subregion resulted in overall accuracies of 83% and 72% for the 12.5 m and 50 m spatial resolutions, respectively, and defined seven land cover classes. In general, the highest degree of confusion for both fine and medium resolution classifications related to issues of 1) scale of habitats, for instance, capões, cordilheiras, and lakes, in relation to spatial resolution of the imagery, and 2) issues relating to variable flooding patterns in the subregion, and 3) arbitrary class membership rules. The 50 m spatial resolution classification of the entire Pantanal wetland resulted in an overall accuracy of 80%, and defined ten land cover classes. Given the analysis of the comparison of fine and relatively medium spatial resolution classifications of the Lower Nhecolândia subregion, I conclude that significant improvements in accuracy can be achieved with the finer spatial resolution dataset, particularly in subregions with high spatial heterogeneity in land cover. The produced habitat spatial distribution maps will provide vital information for determining refuge zones for terrestrial species, connectivity of aquatic habitats during the dry season, and crucial baseline data to aid in monitoring changes in the region, as well as to help define conservation strategies for habitat in this critically important wetland. / Graduate / 0366 / tevans@uvic.ca

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 2004. / Photocopy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-293).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "August, 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-147). Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2008]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has electronic version on CD-ROM

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page; viewed on June 11, 2009. "June 2009." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Electrical Engineering." "Presented to the Electrical Engineering faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." Major professor: John Saghri, Ph.D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-74). Also available on microfiche.

Thesis (M.S. in Space Systems Operations)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Charles Racoosin. Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-87). Also available online.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb. 23, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dr. Brent Rosenblad, Dissertation Supervisor. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Christopher F. Barnes; Committee Member: Andrew F. Peterson; Committee Member: Douglas B. Williams; Committee Member: Haomin Zhou; Committee Member: Justin K. Romberg. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M. Eng.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Bibliography: leaves 93-100.