new paper - Phenology-based classification of invasive annual grasses to the species level

The Great Basin Landscape Ecology Lab and Center for Transformative Environmental Monitoring Programs has a new paper in Remote Sensing of Environment that uses drones to map two different invasive grasses in the Great Basin - cheatgrass and medusahead.  Our study found that we could effectively differentiate the species using three well-timed flights and a simple red-green-blue camera.  Using unmanned aerial vehicles we were able to accurately map the occurrence of these two different invasive species on the landscape. You can read our paper by clicking HERE.

New paper - Cheatgrass Die-Offs: A Unique Restoration Opportunity in Northern Nevada

Owen Baughman recently authored "Cheatgrass Die-Offs: A Unique Restoration Opportunity in Northern Nevada" in the journal Rangelands. This nice short piece highlights some of the restoration opportunities presented by cheatgrass die-offs. Cheatgrass die-off is a term that refers when a whole stand of cheatgrass fails to regenerate due to a pathogen.  Usually this results in nearly complete lack of regeneration which can clearly be seen from both high resolution imagery and moderate resolution imagery, such as Landsat. Owen completed his master's thesis in 2014. I'd expect several papers related to his thesis out soon.

This paper also highlights some of the findings from our more detailed paper on remote sensing of cheatgrass die-offs "Development of remote sensing indicators for mapping episodic die-off of an invasive annual grass (Bromus tectorum) from the Landsat archive" in Ecological Indicators. The Great Basin Landscape Ecology Lab continues to explore ways in which remote sensing can be used to map cheatgrass die-offs across the Great Basin and to use imagery to quantify spatial pattern and relate it to climatic and other abiotic factors. Joe Brehm is a current master's student in the lab who is focusing on remote sensing of cheatgrass die-offs for his thesis. I'm looking forward to seeing Joe's findings.

Cheatgrass die-off paper is now in print

Our paper about remote sensing of cheatgrass die-off patches is now in print in Ecological Indicators. To read our paper click HERE or request a PDF from myself or one of the other authors.  Since this paper we've done more mapping of cheatgrass die-offs in Skull Valley of western Utah and have a new graduate student coming on board next month to take the die-off mapping to new heights.