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Browsing by Author "Harris, Ryley Capps"

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    Spatial Patterns on Virginia's Second Highest Peak: Land Cover Dynamics and Tree Mortality in Two Rare Ecosystems
    Harris, Ryley Capps (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-12)
    Whitetop Mountain is Virginia's second highest peak and hosts two globally rare, insular ecosystems: a southern Appalachian grass bald and a red spruce-dominated forest. These areas provide important ecosystem services and habitat for rare and endangered species. They are highly prized for their cultural value and recreational areas that support nearby rural economies. This thesis investigated spatial patterns in both ecosystems on Whitetop. We documented a 24.73% decrease of in the extent of the southern Appalachian grass bald across 68 years through analysis of historical aerial photography. In the red spruce-dominated forest, we used a consumer grade unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to survey the health of all trees within a 46 ha sample plot. We assessed (dead, dying, healthy) over 9,000 individual trees based on visual patterns in the imagery and produced spatial products that will inform land managers about where resources are most needed. About 7.4% of the red spruce trees in our study area were classified as dead or dying. A model relating spruce mortality to biophysical landscape factors identified no single predictive factor related to mortality. The addition of optical information from the UAV imagery into the model proved utility for remotely-sensed data in identification of dead spruce within the forest canopy at Whitetop and possibly in other similarly structured forests. This research contributed to the limited body of knowledge surrounding the decline of both southern Appalachian grass balds and red spruce forests and provided technical insights for future mortality monitoring.
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    Understanding multitemporal landscape dynamics through remote sensing and paleoecological modeling in the Virginia Tech Environmental Tracking Lab
    Harris, Ryley Capps; Kennedy, Lisa M.; Swift, Troy; Donahoe, Daniel; Burton, Devon (Virginia Tech, 2021-04-30)
    The Environmental Tracking Lab at Virginia Tech currently comprises five graduate students under the direction of Dr. Lisa Kennedy. Our team members have prior training in biogeography, physical geography, biology and ecology, geology, fish and wildlife conservation, ecosystem management and restoration, and geospatial and information science. The diverse training and experiences represented in our lab group provide a broad and integrative approach to understanding ecosystem and landscape change at varied temporal and spatial scales. Our members seek to model the ever-changing landscape, identify drivers of change, and predict future changes. Investigation of shorter-term changes using remote sensing, Lidar, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) technologies, in conjunction with longer-term proxy data modeling, can provide a broad and deep window into environmental and landscape changes. Showcased in this poster are glimpses of a few of our research projects in various stages of execution. This presentation demonstrates some of our capabilities as a laboratory with the goal of increasing recognition and collaboration within our college, the university, and beyond.