Mapping Habitats by Land, Sea, and Air
During the week of July 14, 2008, the Mission-Aransas NERR and partner organizations commenced in a very large habitat mapping event the first of its kind. Professors, students, and technical staff came together from 11 organizations to sample habitats of the Mission-Aransas NERR. The project involved acquiring hyperspectral imagery from an aircraft and tying it to sample points on land and sea. A hyperspectral image contains information about not only visible light, but also light from the ultraviolet to infrared. Hyperspectral images enables scientists to classify different types of vegetation that all may appear as the same color to the human eye. Scientists can classify these different types because plants leave unique "spectral" signatures across the visible to infrared light spectrum. Scientists and students at the Mission-Aransas NERR conducted a large scale sampling effort around the same time as the aircraft acquired the hyperspectral images. This groundtruthing effort collected on-the-ground spectral signatures of plants, which will provide the information necessary to connect the images to the vegetation.
This project is the first of its kind, because it allows scientists to identify plant communities over a very large spatial scale. The habitat maps that will be created will be the most precise measure of vegetation in the NERR and the Coastal Bend. It can even identify invasive species and aid land managers in their locations and growth patterns. The research sites within the NERR that are being mapped include the whooping crane habitat at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, seagrass beds in Redfish Bay, Fennessey Ranch, thermal signatures in Mission Bay, and mangroves at Harbor Island.
At the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, scientists from the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology and the University of Nebraska are using these maps to aid in identification of vegetation and its relationship to invasive species and plant biomass. Seagrass beds will also by mapped by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Jackson State University and be compared to previous maps to determine change over time. Scientists from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will be using these maps at Fennessey Ranch to characterize the plant biodiversity of two biotic provinces, Texas to the north and Tamaulipan to the south. In the Mission Bay area, scientists from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute are using the maps with thermal signatures to determine if they can detect changes in water temperature that could be related to groundwater discharges or septic tank leakages. Abundances of black mangroves at Harbor Island will also be mapped by scientists from Creighton University and Texas A&M University-Galveston and be compared to previous maps to determine change over time. All of these projects were aided by field and boat support from our local Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Student training was also a primary goal of the project. Graduate students participated from many institutions including Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Jackson State University, Texas A&M University-College Station, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Florida A&M University, and Creighton University. During the groundtruthing sampling effort, these students learned valuable remote sensing techniques such as operation of differential GPS (geographic positioning system) equipment, plant identification, and operation of a spectroradiometer. Students were able to experience first hand the natural habitats of the NERR as well as seeing responsible land management techniques. They have even learned field protocols to push pole out of seagrass beds and reclose a closed ranch gate. Students and scientist alike were gifted by the sightings of beautiful species, such as painted buntings and ibis, which were balanced with hair-raising observations of snakes, American alligators, and hoards of mosquitos.
This project has allowed students to be trained using real data, researchers the opportunity to understand the regional ecology, and land managers to adjust management strategies using results from this state-of-the-art technology.
This project is made possible by a partnership with the NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center (ECSC) and funding support from the NOAA ECSC, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program.
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