Understanding multitemporal landscape dynamics through remote sensing and paleoecological modeling in the Virginia Tech Environmental Tracking Lab

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.