Session 3A: Using Remote Sensing to Quantify Bison Impacts on Plant Communities in a Restored Prairie
Session Number
Session 3A: 2nd Presentation
Advisor(s)
Dr. Holly Jones, Northern Illinois University
Location
Auditorium
Start Date
26-4-2018 12:40 PM
End Date
26-4-2018 1:25 PM
Abstract
Bison are a keystone species to grasslands, meaning they modulate the species in and functioning of grasslands. There is a wealth of knowledge on how bison impact remnant prairies - those never converted to farmland. However, their exact effects in restored grassland ecosystems are unclear, which is a critical knowledge gap considering that managers are reintroducing bison to restored prairies throughout North America. Recently, drone technology has introduced a new way to collect data, called remote-sensing. Our research seeks to answer how bison grazing and its interaction with fire and restoration age affect productivity (NDVI), plant biomass, and plant diversity using remote sensing. Such information is important because little is known on how human-managed disturbances such as bison reintroduction and fire impact plant communities on a landscape scale. It is particularly important to understand whether remote sensing can be used to ascertain that information. We plan on resuming data collection in the summer of 2018 over a 2 or 3-month period with the drone, and the data will be processed using Pix4D and R software. We will also participate in ground-truthing data collection in the same time period.
Session 3A: Using Remote Sensing to Quantify Bison Impacts on Plant Communities in a Restored Prairie
Auditorium
Bison are a keystone species to grasslands, meaning they modulate the species in and functioning of grasslands. There is a wealth of knowledge on how bison impact remnant prairies - those never converted to farmland. However, their exact effects in restored grassland ecosystems are unclear, which is a critical knowledge gap considering that managers are reintroducing bison to restored prairies throughout North America. Recently, drone technology has introduced a new way to collect data, called remote-sensing. Our research seeks to answer how bison grazing and its interaction with fire and restoration age affect productivity (NDVI), plant biomass, and plant diversity using remote sensing. Such information is important because little is known on how human-managed disturbances such as bison reintroduction and fire impact plant communities on a landscape scale. It is particularly important to understand whether remote sensing can be used to ascertain that information. We plan on resuming data collection in the summer of 2018 over a 2 or 3-month period with the drone, and the data will be processed using Pix4D and R software. We will also participate in ground-truthing data collection in the same time period.