SNRE Brown Bag Presentation

Topic: The Potential of Ecological Inference from LiDAR

Aerial Light Detection and Range (LiDAR) collected over Pima County and other federally managed lands for regional flood control models contain the incidental interception of vegetation (as discrete point structures in three dimensional space). This surface ‘noise’ to users interested in bare surface models to ecologists represents a potential quantum leap forward in the understanding of how ecosystems respond to top-down (climate) and bottom-up (disturbance) factors. Spatial inference of why and where vegetation disperse will be critical toward managing the predicted negative effects (decreased precipitation, increased temperatures) of climate change.