PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 14: GIS and Remote Sensing
Tuesday, August 9, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Methodological considerations for using orthophotos and GIS to identify landscape preferences for beneficial Insects in agricultural landscapes.
Fulfrost, Brian*,1, 1 University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
ABSTRACT- Orthorectified aerial photographs (orthophotos) provide an excellent resource for mapping vegetation at a landscape scale. Remote methods allow much larger regional scales to be mapped, compared to the very localized scale of field mapping, often at the expense of vegetation detail and accuracy. The combination of remote and field techniques, where field mapping of vegetation is used to ground truth the products of aerial photo interpretation, provides researchers with the most accurate and efficient result for landscape studies. Although the methodologies for deriving vegetation from orthophotos might be similar, different research objectives often impact the spatial scale and classification methods used. In this case, a combination of color, color infrared and black and white aerial photos are used for identifying landscape around organic farms in order to better understand the potential for enhancing biological control in California annual cropping systems through the provision of perennial habitat within and surrounding the farm. Organic farms within three coastal counties are identified then orthophotos are acquired and vegetation is interpreted. Key to the interpretation process is ground truthing before, during and after the photo interpretation process. Interestingly, little work has been done to map the landscape preferences of agricultural beneficial insects. Orthophoto interpretation provides the most efficient method at a variety of spatial scale for elucidating the differential benefits these landscapes provide beneficial insects. Methodological procedures are described and questions are raised questions about spatial scale, error and classification methods.
Key words: GIS, Aerial photo interpretation, landscape, spatial scale