New poster "Unmanned aerial vehicles can revolutionize shrubland mapping"

I have a new poster on our lab's website titled "Unmanned aerial vehicles can revolutionize shrubland mapping". You can view it by clicking HERE.

Joe Brehm and Anna Knight theses available

The Great Basin Landscape Ecology Lab now has two new masters students - Joe Brehm and Anna Knight. Joe's thesis is titled "Cheatgrass die-off in the Great Basin: A comparison of remote sensing detection methods and identification of environments favorable to die-off" and can be downloaded by clicking HERE. Anna's thesis is titled "Watershed-scale controls on riparian vegetation distribution and dynamics: Impacts of geomorphology, climate, and disturbance" and can be downloaded by clicking HERE. Great work Anna and Joe! I'd encourage you to take a look at their theses and any papers that result from them. Anna and Joe now both reside in Moab, Utah.  Congratulations on work well done and best wishes for you in your new positions.

New ArcGIS Idea - Add options to deal with ties in cell statistics tool when selecting the majority option

I have a new idea that I've posted on ArcGIS Ideas.  If you like it please go to the website and vote it up.  You can view it by clicking HERE.

Here is the idea:

Cell statistics is an incredibly useful tool.  When using the MAJORITY option the default behavior of the tool for dealing with ties (when the two most abundant values are of equal abundance) is to create NoData.  This will often result in a map with lots of holes (NoData cells).  I would propose adding at least three options for dealing with ties.  One option would be FIRST. This would take the first value of the two tied values in the raster stack.  Another option would be LAST in which it takes the last raster of the stack with the tied value. A third option would be RANDOM. This would randomly select one of the two tied values. Finally a fourth option would be NEIGHBORHOOD. This option would expand by searching a 3x3 neighborhood and using the MAJORITY  cell in that neighborhood.  If a tie couldn't be broken using a 3x3 neighborhood then a 5x5 neighborhood would be used, etc. until all cells have a value.

Congratulations to Joe Brehm and Anna Knight for successfully defending their theses

Congratulations to Joe Brehm and Anna Knight for successfully defending their master's theses. Joe's defense presentation took place 10am, Friday July 26th, 2019 and the title of his thesis was "Cheatgrass Die-Off in the Great Basin: A Comparison of Remote Sensing Detection Methods and Identification of Environments Amenable to Die-Off". Anna's thesis presentation was Thursday, July 25, at 1 pm and the title was "Watershed-scale controls on riparian vegetation distribution and dynamics: Impacts of geomorphology, climate, and disturbance". Both presentation were very well attended and well received. You can find out more about Joe and Anna by clicking HERE and make sure to keep an eye out for their theses and scientific papers.  Great work Anna and Joe!

Edited wikipedia page of notable UNR people

I was quite astounded to find that the great ecologist William Dwight Billings was not listed on the Wikipedia page of notable UNR people. For the first time in my life I found myself editing a Wikipedia page!  You can view the updated website by clicking HERE.

Dwight Billings was a leading ecologist, was known as the "father" of physiological ecology, and was a major contributor in desert and arctic ecology. In Nevada he received the prestigious Nevada medal. You can read about him by clicking HERE. Below is a partial list of his many papers which focused on our region:

Billings, W. D. (1945). The plant associations of the Carson Desert region, western Nevada. Butler University Botanical Studies, 7(1/13), 89-123.

Billings, W. D. (1949). The shadscale vegetation zone of Nevada and eastern California in relation to climate and soils. American Midland Naturalist, 87-109.

Billings, W. D. (1950). Vegetation and plant growth as affected by chemically altered rocks in the western Great Basin. Ecology, 31(1), 62-74.

Chabot, B. F., & Billings, W. D. (1972). Origins and ecology of the Sierran alpine flora and vegetation. Ecological Monographs, 42(2), 163-199.

DeLucia, E. H., Schlesinger, W. H., & Billings, W. D. (1988). Water relations and the maintenance of Sierran conifers on hydrothermally altered rock. Ecology, 69(2), 303-311.

Schlesinger, W. H., DeLucia, E. H., & Billings, W. D. (1989). Nutrient‐use efficiency of woody plants on contrasting soils in the western Great Basin, Nevada. Ecology, 70(1), 105-113.

Billings, W. D. (1994). Ecological impacts of cheatgrass and resultant fire on ecosystems in the western Great Basin. Proceedings–Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands’.(Eds SB Monsen, SG Kitchen) pp, 22-30.

New ArcGIS Idea - time slider

I posted a new ArcGIS Idea "The Wayback World Imagery service is a wonderful start, but nothing beats the ease of use of Google Earth's time slider.  I would love it if Esri could adopt this more streamline approach directly into ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap.  We spend a lot of time using both Google Earth and ArcMap side by side.  It would be wonderful if we didn't need to use both simultaneously all of the time." You can view this comment and vote on it by clicking HERE.

Anna Knight is defending her thesis - July 25th, 1 pm