Nasa contributions to the ecology of large mammals in central Yellowstone
Fred
Watson, California State University Monterey Bay, fred_watson@csumb.edu
(Presenting)
Robert
Garrott, Montana State University, rgarrott@montana.edu
PJ
White, Yellowstone National Park, pj_white@nps.gov
Susan
Alexander, CSUMB, susan_alexander@csumb.edu
Wendi
Newman, CSUMB, wendi_newman@csumb.edu
Thor
Anderson, CSUMB, thor_anderson@csumb.edu
Thomas
Thein, CSUMB, thomas_thein@csumb.edu
The Systems Integration and Visualization of Yellowstone (SIVY) project is a NASA REASoN project that has developed new uses for NASA technology in wildlife ecology and management at Yellowstone National Park. The project is characterized by close integration between NASA-funded landscape science, NSF-funded wildlife ecology, and National Park Service resource managers. A user-driven development model for spatial data products has been adopted, with an array of remote sensing and spatial modeling products developed to serve specific wildlife analyses and management issues. These products describe the central Yellowstone landscape in terms of vegetation type, precipitation, geothermal heat, wind, snowpack, and vegetation phenology; and they inform the understanding of the spatial dynamics of elk, bison, and wolves. The collaborative, inter-disciplinary approach to their development represents a case study in the use of NASA data that highlights broad potential for similar integrated studies in other major wildlife regions. The major knowledge outcomes of the collaborative effort are synthesized in a 29-chapter book due for release later in 2008 that will be a milestone in the knowledge base underlying NPS management decisions relating to large mammals in central Yellowstone.
NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster: