The School of Natural Resources is hosting a spring seminar series for graduate students to share their research.
Pizza will be provided. All are welcome to join!

Catherine Chan - Influence of spatial scale on estimating biodiversity through remote sensing.


Quantifying biological diversity using remote sensing has shown potential in large spatial scale estimations. One such remote sensing technique is spectral diversity, or the variation among spectra, which has been related to environmental characteristics such as species richness. The spatial scale however heavily influences this trend, particularly in how a scale or community is defined. This study seeks to preliminarily discern differences and possible causes for these trends by manipulating the scale, or community extent and definition. Understanding the relationship drivers between biodiversity and spectral variation can inform better quantification methods using remote sensing.

Uc he Ogbenna - How do flow regimes affect nutrient retention in reservoirs.

One of the main global environmental challenges is the management of nutrient contamination. The transition into the Anthropocene, a geologic epoch dominated by human activities such as urbanization and agriculture calls for the development of adaptive ways to manage our ecosystems. In recent times, reservoirs have become an integral part of human-dominated landscapes and have shown the potential to retain nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Nutrient retention in reservoirs is driven by different processes such as sedimentation, denitrification and metabolism. These processes influence the absolute and relative concentration of essential nutrients delivered downstream. However, flow and its variations strongly control these processes. Flows in and out of reservoirs are often a function of catchment characteristics and reservoir operation. Given that the management goals of reservoirs do not always include ecosystem functions like nutrient retention, integrating nutrient retention into reservoir management goals will require an understanding of how flow regimes as influenced by reservoir operations affect the availability and balance of nutrients in and out of the reservoirs. In this study, we plan to analyze reservoir flow data to understand their patterns over time and how these drive the relative and absolute concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in reservoirs within catchments of varying dominant land uses.