The paper I presented in class aimed to detect the variation of ecotones in an alpine, arctic biome using high resolution panchromatic satellite imagery. The study sites were two 8x8km QuickBird satellite tiles, which pictured two mountainous areas in the Yukon. In recent years, ecologists studying the arctic have increasingly found that climate warming is changing the composition of the biome and shifting the treeline northward as well as to higher elevations.

Different spatial analyses were used to determine the dispersion of trees in the landscape and the ecotone abruptness. By applying an unsupervised ISODATA classification in Idrisi, the study area was classified into different vegetation types. Both the influence of the slope angle and azimuth on the appearance of ecotones was evaluated and the authors found that there was less dense bushy undergrowth on northern slopes. Lower seedling suppression on northern slopes was thus suggested to increase the likelihood of treeline advances here.

Another paper that I found particularly interesting was the assessment of appropriate habitats for lynx in the UK by Amanda. If the habitat needs of species is well understood, the spatial modelling of possible reintroduction areas seems to me like a great approach. Reintroduction of keystone species is timely, costly and often met with skepticism and habitat modelling could help improve the success rate of reintroduction measures.

Reference:

Dearborn, K. D., & Danby, R. K. (2020). Spatial Analysis of Forest–Tundra Ecotones Reveals the Influence of Topography and Vegetation on Alpine Treeline Patterns in the Subarctic. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(1), 18–35. doi:10.1080/24694452.2019.1616530