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Understanding Microclimate in UBC Botanical Garden : Using a multiple linear regression, a model was created to assess land surface temperature and LiDAR metrics

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office; Forestry, Faculty of; University of British Columbia. Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research

Climate change is a key factor in how extreme weather events affect how ecosystems and species react to these changes in temperatures. UBC Botanical Garden is interested in improving microclimate information within the garden to understand how areas with shade create respite zones for species. Due to the recent extreme weather temperatures in Vancouver, the garden is interested in how to continue to adapt and mitigate to these extremes. Microclimates are important as they are cooler temperatures beneath the canopy. Looking at how canopy cover influences land surface temperature can give insight on microclimates. Using LiDAR metrics to calculate canopy cover and Landsat to calculate land surface temperature, a model was built to understand the significance of canopy cover and land surface temperature, with the addition of other LiDAR metrics. The model could only determine a 34% variation between the variables tested. Canopy cover showed to have a p-value of 0.0993 and maximum height had a p-value of 0.0034. To investigate the results further, an unpaired t-test was run to determine the relationship between areas with canopy cover and areas without canopy cover. The t-test showed there are significant differences as the p-value was 0.0035. With the results, they provide observations of how canopy cover currently influences microclimate within the garden. Areas found to have a high percentage of canopy cover reflected lower land surface temperatures. Currently, the model has the structure to predict canopy cover with LiDAR metrics. However, finer data is needed to accurately predict microclimate. Recommendations are provided to enhance the study area with future directions for research within UBC Botanical Garden to conduct a more intricate analysis. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2022-10-26

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83044

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/