Landscape Ecology

1
Landscape Ecology Terrain Analysis

• by
• Solomon Roy Pulapkura
• Geog 6525
• Instructor Esra Ozdenerol

2
Introduction and Problem Statement

• Apply the Spatial Analyst capabilities of GIS to
  study -
• Terrain Analysis
• Landscape Ecology

3
Data

• The for the analysis mainly consisted of a DEM
  file and several raster files that showed various
  features such as wildlife existent in the area,
  water bodies, roads, soils, trees, types of
  timber and park boundaries.

4
Methodology

• Terrain Analysis - Raster files were reclassified
  such that all land was one category and all water
  was another.
• Rasters were added using the raster calculator in
  spatial analyst toolbar. This showed the amount
  of land that was lost to water between 1956 and
  1978.
• For determining relationship of selected wildlife
  with water, first the wildlife raster file was
  reclassified and a new raster with 5 broad groups
  was created.
• Laid over the water layer and the transparency
  set so that it was sufficiently visible.
• Timber Reclassified into different categories
  of timber.
• Made transparent and overlaid over forest
  boundaries layer.

5
Terrain Analysis 1956
6
Terrain Analysis 1978
7
Lost land between 1956 and 1978
Cell size 25 Cell count 22924 Total land area
lost 22924625 14327500 14.32 sq.km
8
Landscape and Ecology Relation of Wildlife to
Water
9
Analysis

• Quail tends to be along streams and are almost
  found independent of any other species.
• Fox and Gray squirrels also tend to be along
  streams mostly but again both are never along the
  same stream.
• The wood pecker always tends to be in groups and
  never scattered and they tend to be along slopes
  and at higher elevations.
• The Fox Squirrel mostly resides in areas where
  there is Slash Pine category of trees unlike the
  gray squirrel which exhibits a more random
  pattern, similar to that of the Quail.

10
Timber
11
Analysis

• Location of different kinds of Timber
• It was found that the national forest is
  dominated by immature timber trees.
• Mature timber occurs near the private lands
  adjoining the national forest areas and in the
  restricted areas.
• Sparse timber is scattered all over.