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Note: Session titles beginning with an asterisk (*) have student presenters.
AUTHORS: M. Keith Wethington, Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources
ABSTRACT: Bobwhite restoration efforts operate at multiple spatial scales, from landscape (regional) levels to farm level (local). Choosing proper data sources, analysis techniques, and accounting for differences in scale (minimum mapping unit) between sources are critical first steps to successfully delivering habitat information useful for broad regional planning efforts and site specific research and management activities. This research compares 3 methods of creating a habitat map and associated data; NLCD 2006, hand digitized from 2010 NAIP imagery, and an by Interactive Supervised Classification of 1m NAIP imagery using ArcGIS 10.1. The study area is a 3,660 ha portion of Peabody WMA (18,486 ha total) in Muhlenberg and Ohio counties in west central Kentucky. We also compare percent cover of forest canopy closure using 2011 NLCD Percent Canopy Closure along with 10m and 30m aggregated datasets derived from image classification. Office inspection of aerial imagery and field verification yielded a 94% positive identification of woody vegetation. We found good agreement between NLCD 2006 and Image Classification for habitat classes. Hand digitizing did not compare well and we do not recommend this method for creating digital habitat data. Percent Canopy closure yielded similar results between data sources. We found the smaller pixel size of the 10m aggregate data to better identify small woody patches in open matrix. Use of 30m National datasets to compare basic habitat across large areas is well warranted. Site specific research and management activities will benefit from image classification of 1m imagery. Additional research into the relationship between varying pixel size.
Wednesday November 1, 2017 8:00am - 8:20am EDT
Carroll Ford