<p>ABSTRACTHARRELL, MELANI HIX. Development of a digital protocol for vegetation mapping. (Under the direction of Dr. Hugh Devine)Softcopy photogrammetry has proven useful to reduce mapping time with aerial photography and aids in producing a digital product that is easily transferable over other electronic media. This study brings together computer stereo viewing with scanned aerial photos in a GIS to produce a fully digital protocol for mapping vegetation to the formation level. Erdas Imagine was used to generate digital images from aerial photos, Erdas Orthobase was applied to orthorectify the images through a joint triangulation solution for 42 photos, and Erdas StereoAnalyst provided on screen stereo viewing for vegetation delineation. Vegetation polygons were then classified using the National Vegetation Classification System formations in ArcView 3.2, and a thematic accuracy assessment was carried out on the vegetation map using the USGS-NPS standards. A positional accuracy assessment was conducted on the photo mosaic produced from the orthorectified images. Thematic accuracy was 77.55% initially, and the revised map had an 88.70% thematic accuracy. Positionally, the photo mosaic had Class 1 positional accuracy along the X-coordinate with 0.603 meters RMSE and had Class 2 accuracy along the Y-coordinate with 2.415 meters RMSE. A protocol using entirely digital methods was produced with the software cited that meets the formation level USGS-NPS vegetation mapping standards. <P>

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-163).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-144). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Differences among individual responses to behavioral stimuli have been observed throughout a variety of taxa and these individual differences can affect female reproductive success and juvenile settlement decisions. In this study, we examined the effect of reversed sexual dimorphism on behavior phenotype and the effect of behavior on maternal reproductive success and juvenile dispersal of a fossorial rodent (Tamias dorsalis) in southeastern Arizona. We found that multiple behavioral phenotypes existed within this population and female litter size was not affected by behavioral type. We also found that natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) does occur at the population level, but only weakly occurs for the individual. We also found no effect of personality on site selection. Our results indicate that sex and mass may explain differences in behavioral phenotypes; however, individual behavioral differences are weakly related to female reproductive success and settlement decisions during juvenile dispersal.

Fire history and fire-climate relationships of upper elevation forests of the southwestern United States are imperative for informing management decisions in the face of increased crown fire occurrence and climate change. I used dendroecological techniques to reconstruct fires and stand-replacing fire patch size in the Madrean Sky Islands and Mogollon Plateau. Reconstructed patch size (1685-1904) was compared with contemporary patch size (1996-2004). Reconstructed fires at three sites had standreplacing patches totaling > 500 ha. No historical stand-replacing fire patches were evident in the mixed conifer/aspen forests of the Sky Islands. Maximum stand-replacing fire patch size of modern fires (1129 ha) was greater than that reconstructed from aspen (286 ha) and spruce-fir (521 ha). Undated spruce-fir patches may be evidence of larger (>2000ha) stand-replacing fire patches. To provide climatological context for fire history I used correlation and regionalization analyses to document spatial and temporal variability in climate regions, and El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) teleconnections using 273 tree-ring chronologies (1732 - 1979). Four regions were determined by common variability in annual ring width. The component score time series replicate spatial variability in 20th century droughts (e.g., 1950’s) and pluvials (e.g., 1910’s). Two regions were significantly correlated with instrumental SOI and AMO, and three with PDO. Subregions within the southwestern U.S. varied geographically between the instrumental (1900-1979) and the pre-instrumental periods (1732-1899). Mapped correlations between ENSO, PDO and AMO, and tree-ring indices illustrate detailed sub-regional variability in the teleconnections. I analyzed climate teleconnections, and fire-climate relationships of historical upper elevation fires from 16 sites in 8 mountain ranges. I tested for links between Palmer Drought Severity Index and tree-ring reconstructed ENSO, PDO and AMO phases (1905-1978 and 1700-1904). Upper elevation fires (115 fires, 84 fire years, 1623- 1904) were compared with climate indices. ENSO, PDO, and AMO affected regional PDSI, but AMO and PDO teleconnections changed between periods. Fire occurrence was significantly related to inter-annual variability in PDSI, precipitation, ENSO, and phase combinations of ENSO and PDO, but not AMO (1700-1904). Reduced upper elevation fire (1785-1840) was coincident with a cool AMO phase.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 12, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-472).

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).

Project report (M. Eng.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-147). Also available via the Internet.