Aerial Lasers Map Bird Habitats

Researcher:

Nathaniel E. Seavy
CALFED Postdoctoral Research Fellow
PRBO Conservation Science
Petaluma, CA
E.: nseavy@prbo.org
T.: (415) 868-0655 ext 311

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Revised:

October 1, 2009

Dusky flycatcher with brown-headed cowbird nestling.
Credit: Chris McCreedy

October 1, 2009

Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334

PETALUMA, CA – An aerial scanning technology originally developed by the military to remotely pinpoint tank routes and landing strips is being used to identify bird habitats in the Central Valley.

Image courtesy of Chris Aldridge

In an article appearing in the October issue of Ecological Applications, scientists from PRBO Conservation Science and UC Davis show that laser-derived maps of vegetation can provide accurate information on the locations of different bird species along the Cosumnes River, between Stockton and Sacramento and the only remaining free-flowing river on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

The maps are made from a laser-scanning device called LiDAR, an acronym for “light detection and ranging.” The same type of scanner was used to measure the crater at the World Trade Center after 9-11. California Sea Grant scientists are also employing LiDAR to monitor coastal bluff failures and sand supply to beaches in San Diego County.

For the bird habitat project, funded by the CALFED Science Fellows Program, a LiDAR device was mounted to an airplane that flew transects over the study area and recorded patterns of reflected laser light from the plants and ground below. From these, researchers constructed detailed 3D maps of the forest and canopy structure.

“By combining this advanced imaging technology with traditional field research, we are able to measure and predict ecosystem components in unprecedented ways,” says Josh Viers, a watershed scientist at UC Davis. “Not only can we provide managers with detailed information about biodiversity and carbon storage, but we can do so over very large areas.”

Certain birds only inhabit specific canopy structures. In the past, these associations were established through painstaking field studies. “Using the LiDAR measurements of vegetation, we can predict the birds’ locations in areas impossibly vast to survey by foot,” explains Nat Seavy, Terrestrial Ecologist Research Director at PRBO Conservation Science in Petaluma and a CALFED Science Fellow.

With the habitat maps, scientists can prioritize wildlife areas that should be protected first. “We want to make sure common birds stay common,” says Chrissy Howell, an ecologist at PRBO Conservation Science. “This technique will help us design restoration projects that create new, and improve existing, habitats.”

In addition to Seavy and Viers, Julian Wood of PRBO Conservation Science is also a co-author of the article. Oregon-based Watershed Sciences collected the LiDAR imaging data.

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NOAA’s California Sea Grant College Program (www.csgc.ucsd.edu) is a statewide, multi-university program of marine research, extension services, and education activities administered by the University of California. It is the largest of 32 Sea Grant programs and is headquartered at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The National Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce.

The CALFED Science Fellows Program (www.csgc.ucsd.edu/EDUCATION/CALFED/CALFEDIndx.html) was established to bring together junior scientists with CALFED Program agency scientists and senior research mentors in collaborative data analysis and research projects relevant to ecosystem management and water supply reliability questions, including analyses of the immense monitoring data collected and maintained by the implementing agencies. California Sea Grant administers the fellowship program.