Geographic Information Systems And Remote Sensing Applications For Ecosystem Management

Particularly about forests in the USA.

In recent years, the conservation of tropical forests has received worldwide publicity whereas effective forest management, particularly for timber extraction, has attracted little attention and gained some notoriety. The overall aim of the present paper was to examine how environmental micro-variation in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve of Belize can influence species distribution and thereby inform management strategy. The paper deals first with the background to forest management in Belize, then considers the methodology used in the present study and fin~~ly assesses the preliminary results. The specific objectives are: (1) to assess the effects of changing scale on the variability of selected individual soil properties in forest plots within the same vegetation class; and (2) to examine the variation in soil properties and tree species distribution, and to integrate environmental and ecological data over a range of scales. BACKGROUND Whereas the global and regional distribution of tropical forests is broadly governed by climatic and altitudinal variation, individual forest tracts need to consider a range of other, locally important factors to explain species distribution and change. With very high species diversity, tropical forests present a major challenge in the attempt to unravel controlling factors in distribution and growth (Swaine et aI. 1987). Research that attempts to explain diversity has looked at species distribution according to a range of factors, with a general recognition that soil fertility plays a significant if ill defined role (Swaine 1996).

Environmental information and systems play a major role in environmental decision making. As such, it is vital to understand the impact that they have on different aspects of sustainable environmental management, as well as to understand the opportunism they might present for further improvement. Environmental Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is an innovative reference source containing the latest research on the use of information systems to track and organize environmental data for use in an overall environmental management system. Highlighting a range of topics such as environmental analysis, remote sensing, and geographic information science, this multi-volume book is designed for engineers, data scientists, practitioners, academicians, and researchers interested in all aspects of environmental information systems.

The objective of this document is to illustrate the ways in which Geographical Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing and mapping can play a role in the development and management of marine aquaculture. The perspective is global. The approach is to employ example applications that have been aimed at resolving many of the important issues in marine aquaculture. The underlying purpose is to stimulate the interest of individuals in the government, industry and educational sectors of marine aquaculture to make more effective use of these tools. A brief introduction to spatial tools and their use in the marine fisheries sector precedes the example applications. The most recent applications have been selected to be indicative of the state of the art, allowing readers to make their own assessments of the benefits and limitations of use of these tools in their own disciplines. Also published in Chinese and Spanish.

Shelving Guide: This book will present new research regarding the interdisciplinary applications of spatial information sciences for identification, assessment, monitoring, and modeling issues related to natural resources and environmental management. It will focus on the creation, collection, storage, processing, modeling, interpretation, display and dissemination of spatio-temporal data, which could greatly aid with environmental management issues including ecosystem change, resource utilization, land use management, and environmental pollution. The positive environmental impacts of information technology advancements with regard to global environmental and climate change will also be discussed. Features Explains how geospatial information can best serve environmental management needs, including ecosystem change, resource utilization, land use management, and environmental pollution. Examines the environmental impacts of information technology advancements with regard to global environmental and climate change. Focuses on the creation, collection, storage, processing, modeling, interpretation, display and dissemination of environmental spatio-temporal data. Presents examples of applications for spatial information sciences regarding the assessment, monitoring, and modeling of natural resources. Includes practical case studies in every chapter.