Research – Remote Sensing

Satellite images provide a wonderful record of the last fifty years of global change. We have pioneered new methods to map wildlife habitat and proxies for biodiversity and habitat, as well as agricultural abandonment and other types of land use change for large areas. We analyze MODIS/VIIRS data across the globe, Landsat and Sentinel-2 across continents, and high-resolution CORONA spy satellite imagery across countries.

Land cover and land abandonment maps of the Eurasian Steppe for biological research
April 13, 2021
Evaluating Trends in Arctic Sea Ice Loss Using the Multi-Decadal SMMR/SMMI Passive Microwave Archive (1979-2020)
February 8, 2021
Developing the Dynamic Habitat Indices from Landsat satellite data to assess bird richness and bird abundance in conterminous U.S.
February 8, 2021
50 years of housing growth in the WUI in California
February 8, 2021
Land cover mapping in the Caucasus for the 1960s from Corona satellite imagery
February 8, 2021
Deriving the Winter Habitat Indices (WHIs) from satellite data for biodiversity and conservation applications around the world
January 28, 2021
What is driving land degradation in the Caucasus Mountains?
February 6, 2019
Large land cover and land use change mapping in the Caucasus Mountains since 1987
January 17, 2019
Urbanization’s Effects on Avian Predator Occupancy and Citizen Science’s Contribution
December 13, 2018
Using texture analysis of Landsat satellite imagery to map habitat heterogeneity and avian biodiversity across the conterminous U.S.
December 13, 2018
A New Frontier for Dynamic Habitat Indices: Predicting Animal Abundance
December 13, 2018
Monitoring the dynamics of abandoned agriculture and fallow with Landsat and Sentinel 2 time series
December 13, 2018
Quantifying the spatial distribution and socio-economic drivers of small holder tree planting in Tanzania
November 14, 2018
Should I stay or should I go? Patterns of building and re-building after wildfires
January 28, 2016
Satellite Classification of Tree Species
January 6, 2016
Working with managers – sharing research results, and getting feedback on research on extreme climate events
January 6, 2016
Forest Changes in the Altay
January 14, 2015
The dynamic habitat index and biodiversity in Thailand
April 1, 2014
Change in alpine wetlands of Southwest China and its implications for wintering Black-necked Cranes
March 31, 2014
Pay attention to the man behind the curtain: David Helmers and the servers that keep SILVIS going!
January 30, 2014
The power of maps and the beauty of old ones
January 16, 2014
The potential effects of extreme weather events on bird reproductive output
January 16, 2014
It is getting weirder – extreme events in satellite records
January 16, 2014
Forest degradation in Mexico and spectral mixture analysis
January 16, 2014
If you can’t stand when it gets dry, fly north: Dickcissels reliably track extreme weather events in the Midwestern United States
January 15, 2014
Always on the bright side of life: removing clouds and their shadows in satellite imagery
April 2, 2013
Vegetation structure and bird populations across the U.S.
February 25, 2013
Oases along the flyway: Identifying stopover sites for migratory birds in the southeastern U.S.
January 28, 2013
Where do fires destroy homes in the United States?
January 28, 2013
How are birds breeding in New England affected by the weather?
January 28, 2013
Monitoring of deforestation and forest degradation in Mexico
January 24, 2013
Small-versus large-scale farming in Eastern Europe
January 24, 2013
When a tree falls in the woods, can a satellite image tell you why?
January 17, 2013
Forest Songbirds and Extreme Weather: How do Drought, Heat Waves, and Cold Snaps Affect Birds?
January 17, 2013
Understanding where we’ve been: implications of land-use legacies in the Carpathians for future conservation and planning initiatives
January 16, 2013
Why and where did farmers abandon their fields in the Ukraine?
August 3, 2011
Magic inspires science: documenting forest pattern change in Mexico’s Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve and what it means for its biodiversity and its people
August 3, 2011
Going, going, going – gone! The loss of alpine meadows in Yunnan
August 2, 2011
Predicting Broad-scale Patterns of Avian Biodiversity with Landsat Image Texture
July 28, 2011
Change in and near Kavkaskzy Nature Reserve in the Caucasus Mountains
July 28, 2011
Deforestation patterns in Mexico, and the effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services programs
July 27, 2011
Conservation planning for two of Wisconsin’s most treasured landscapes: the Baraboo Hills and the Northwest pine barrens
November 15, 2010
Land-cover change, people and jaguars – remote sensing or close sensing?
September 15, 2010
The potential of image texture for measuring vertical vegetation structure
August 9, 2010
The Collapse of Socialism and the Rise of Fire in Kalmykia
August 9, 2010
Patterns and processes of agricultural abandonment in Eastern Europe
August 9, 2010
Institutional change and logging in post-Soviet Russia
August 9, 2010
Things aren’t as they used to be: forest disturbance, birds, and the shifting baseline syndrome
July 15, 2010
Patterns of logging in the last two decades in temperate forests of Russia
July 15, 2010
Of lasers, forests, birds, and collaboration: using LiDAR to predict forest structure and songbird species richness
July 15, 2010
Studying Intertwined Networks of Human-Natural Relationships in Northwest Yunnan, China
March 4, 2010
Post-USSR Land Cover Change in Eastern Europe – Socioeconomic Forcings, Effects on Biodiversity, and Future Scenarios
January 28, 2010
Mapping Large Areas: New Possibilities Opened by Chain Classification
January 28, 2010