Characterizing ecosystem attributes relevant for restoration assessment in early successional forests using drone-based remote sensing approaches
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Nuijten, Rik Johannes Gerardus
issued: 2024-06-25T15:17:10Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: To maintain a (social) license to operate, which depends on support from local communities, society, and regulatory bodies, managers in natural resource extraction are increasingly engaged in ecological restoration and reclamation, as well as continuous assessments of ecosystem recovery. This necessitates information on ecosystem status throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases of restoration. Over the last decade, digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) using drone-based optical imagery has emerged as a cost-effective technique for assessing various ecosystem attributes, such as plant functional type composition. However, its effectiveness for early successional forest ecosystems remains under-explored. The primary goal of this dissertation is to evaluate the role of drone-based DAP in providing spatially explicit, valuable, and cost-effective insights into ecosystem recovery by characterizing a wide range of ecosystem attributes. I acquired three-dimensional (3D) point clouds and multispectral ortho imagery for pipeline right-of-ways (ROW) and wildfire-disturbed sites in Northwest Alberta, Canada. The strengths and limitations in characterizing vegetation structure were examined by comparing modelled canopy heights with field measurements, and analyzing maps derived from point clouds using unsupervised learning techniques. Further, I assessed the capacity to map dominant plant species and functional types, through logistic regression modelling, utilizing metrics that describe spectral reflectance, vegetation structure, and habitat characteristics. A framework was introduced to incorporate reference sites, facilitate species composition comparisons between sites from drone-derived maps, and support ecological interpretation of spatial patterns. I also examined the uncertainty and complexity of information from drone approaches (including alternative technologies to DAP) based on a systematic literature review and sentiment analysis. Lastly, I deter…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88515
note: Characterizing Ecosystem Attributes Relevant for Restoration Assessment in Early Successional Forests using Drone-based Remote Sensing Approaches by Rik Johannes Gerardus Nuijten MSc, Utrecht University, 2019 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Forestry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2024 © Rik Johannes Gerardus Nuijten, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Characterizing Ecosystem Attributes Relevant for Restoration Assessment in Early Successional Forests using Drone-based Remote Sensing Approaches submitted by Rik Johannes Gerardus Nuijten in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry Examining Committee: Nicholas C. Coops, Professor, Forest Resources Management, The University of British Columbia Supervisor Cindy E. Prescott, Professor Emeritus, Forest and Conservation Sciences, The University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member Hisham Zerriffi, Associate Professor, Forest Resources Management, The University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member Jeanine M. Rhemtulla, Associate Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, The University of British Columbia University Examiner Adam Wei, Professor, Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, The University of British Columbia University Examiner Karen Anderson, Professor, Environment and Sustainability Institute, The University of Exeter External Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Suzanne W. Simard, Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, The University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract To maintain a (social) license to operate, which depends on support from local communities, society, and regulatory bodies, managers in nat…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0444025
language: eng
degree discipline: Forestry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Coops, Nicholas C.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88515