Use of Remote Sensing to Assess Vegetation Structure and Model Riparian Wildlife Habitat Suitability: Examples from the Santa Clara River, California
Bruce Orr1, Thomas Dudley2, James Hatten3, Linnea Hall4, Rafael Real de Asua1
1Stillwater Sciences
2U.C. Santa Barbara
3U.S. Geological Survey
4Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology
Technological advances in airborne laser mapping (also referred to as light detection and ranging or LiDAR) and other types of remote sensing are providing new tools for environmental assessment. Our talk will draw on recent and ongoing studies of the Santa Clara River (Ventura and Los Angeles counties) to provide examples of how LiDAR and other remote sensing tools can be used, in conjunction with focused field data collection, to conduct river floodplain and riparian assessments and restoration planning at multiple scales (e.g., river corridor, reach, and site scales). Our current vegetation classification and mapping efforts are directly benefiting from the use of LiDAR to estimate stand and even individual tree canopy height along with relative elevation (height above the low flow river water surface, which can serve as a proxy for factors such as depth to groundwater which affects patterns of riparian plant distribution and establishment). The results of these efforts can be incorporated into habitat suitability models for riparian bird species such as the southwestern willow flycatcher or yellow-billed cuckoo. We have also initiated a pilot study to explore the use of LiDAR to provide a more detailed estimate of vertical vegetation structure (from ground surface to top of canopy) that may be used in modeling habitat suitability for other riparian wildlife species, such as the least Bell’s vireo.