Developing and validating a method for monitoring and tracking changes in southern pine beetle hazard at the landscape level

Ronald Billings; L. Allen Smith; Jin Zhu; Shailu Verma; Nick Kouchoukos; Joon Heo

Treesearch

Developing and validating a method for monitoring and tracking changes in southern pine beetle hazard at the landscape level

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Ronald Billings, L. Allen Smith, Jin Zhu, Shailu Verma, Nick Kouchoukos, Joon Heo

Year:

2010

Type:

General Technical Report

Station:

Pacific Northwest Research Station

Source:

In: Pye, John M.; Rauscher, H. Michael; Sands, Yasmeen; Lee, Danny C.; Beatty, Jerome S., tech. eds. Advances in threat assessment and their application to forest and rangeland management. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-802. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations: 541-549

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Abstract

The objective of this research project is to develop and validate a method for using satellite images and digital geospatial data to map the distribution of southern pine beetle (SPB) habitats across the pinelands of east Texas. Our approach builds on a work that used photo interpretation and discriminant analysis to identify and evaluate environmental conditions suitable for SPB infestation. Because current implementations of Billings and Bryant’s method by the Texas Forest Service (TFS) use manual photo interpretation, they are relatively costly, labor intensive, and require sampling. Satellite imagery and geographic information system (GIS) technology present potential means to reduce operational costs and improve accuracy. Here we report the principal results of our work in a pilot area of east Texas, specifically: (1) development and integration of satellite and digital inputs into the Billings and Bryant model, (2) accuracy assessment of model inputs, (3) validation of the model adaptation through comparison of satellite-derived SPB hazard maps to operational maps produced by TFS, and (4) revalidation of the model through comparison of satellite-derived SPB hazard maps to known locations of SPB infestations. Collectively, the results point to the considerable potential of satellite imagery and automated analysis techniques to produce timely, accurate, and cost-effective maps of SPB hazard at the landscape level.

Parent Publication

Advances in threat assessment and their application to forest and rangeland management—Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Keywords

Dendroctonus frontalis, GIS, hazard rating, remote sensing, risk assessment, satellite data, Texas

Citation

Billings, Ronald; Smith, L. Allen; Zhu, Jin; Verma, Shailu; Kouchoukos, Nick; Heo, Joon. 2010. Developing and validating a method for monitoring and tracking changes in southern pine beetle hazard at the landscape level. In: Pye, John M.; Rauscher, H. Michael; Sands, Yasmeen; Lee, Danny C.; Beatty, Jerome S., tech. eds. Advances in threat assessment and their application to forest and rangeland management. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-802. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations: 541-549.