Integration of NASA technology and wildlife ecology for use by the National Park Service (Systems Integration and Visualization of Yellowstone) Fred Watson

Integration of NASA technology and wildlife ecologyIntegration of NASA technology and wildlife ecologyfor use by the National Park Servicefor use by the National Park Service(Systems Integration and Visualization of Yellowstone)(Systems Integration and Visualization of Yellowstone)

Fred WatsonFred Watson1*1*, Bob Garrott, Bob Garrott2*2*, PJ White, PJ White3*3*, Susan Alexander, Susan Alexander1*1*,,Rick WallenRick Wallen33, Wendi Newman, Wendi Newman11, Thor Anderson, Thor Anderson11, Tom Thein, Tom Thein11, Jon Detka, Jon Detka11,,Claire GowerClaire Gower22, Jason Bruggeman, Jason Bruggeman2+2+, Matt Becker, Matt Becker22, Sally Plumb, Sally Plumb33, Chris Geremia, Chris Geremia33

11California State University Monterey Bay, California State University Monterey Bay, 22Montana State University Bozeman, Montana State University Bozeman, 33Yellowstone National Park, *Yellowstone National Park, *Principal Investigators, Principal Investigators, ++FormerlyFormerly

Presented at NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Team MeetingPresented at NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Team MeetingMay 2May 2ndnd 2008, University of Maryland, College Park 2008, University of Maryland, College Park

Funding: NASA NCC2-1186 & NCC13-03009,

NSF DEB 0074444 & DEB-0413570, and NPS EcoVizEcoViz: : YellowstoneYellowstoneEcosystem Science and Ecosystem Science and

VisualizationVisualization

EcoVizEcoViz: : YellowstoneYellowstoneEcosystem Science and VisualizationEcosystem Science and Visualization

EcoVizEcoViz: : YellowstoneYellowstoneEcosystem Science and Ecosystem Science and


CrewCrew

Volunteers:Volunteers:

PIs:PIs:

Staff &Staff &postgrads:postgrads:

Under-Under-grads:grads:

National National Parks Parks

Service:Service:

Fie ldwork

W ildlifeoperations

Land scapemo de ls

Re motese n sin ganalyse s

Image ry

Lands at

F ores tc over

G eotherm alheat flux

M O DIS

F oragephenology

G eo the rma lsu rveys

F o restp lo ts

Meadowp lo ts

Anemo -me te rs

Snowmode l

Snowco res

Wildlifemode ls &analyses

Bison bounda ry ope ra tions

W olv esprey a tedges

Visualizatio ns

Datase rv ice s

Snow pac k B is onm igration

F ilm ing

Geys erbas ins

T e leme try

P henologym odel

A S TE R

W olv esnear ly

ex tirpateelk des pite

s now

Elkav o ids now

Bis onav oids now

S nowpac knowc as ts

P rec ipm odel

W indmode l

W ildlifepolicy &planning

Bison road useW o lf re in troduction

D ecades

W ild fires

W eeks to years

W in te r recrea tion

VisitorInterpretation

V is itor c enterk ios k

NP S webs ite

O RNLDA A C

Bis on non-res pons iv e

to roadgrooming

E lk re a l l ya vo id

sn o w wi thwo l ve s

A ICw=1

C lima techange

5 years

So ftw arede v e lop me nt

Te ambu ild ing

16 years

Forest cover surveyForest cover survey



Landsat land cover mappingLandsat land cover mapping



Meadow Meadow phenology phenology

surveysurvey

MODIS MODIS phenologyphenology

WindWind data collectiondata collection



Wind field modelWind field model



Geothermal Geothermal perimeter perimeter

surveysurvey



Geothermal heat flux map



Snowpack coringSnowpack coring

National Parks ServiceNational Parks Servicebison monitoring & management activitiesbison monitoring & management activities





Bison movementBison movement



More More coringcoring

...more coring

...more coring

...more coring



Key bison areas Key bison areas near the Park near the Park

boundaryboundary



Snowpack Snowpack nowcastingnowcasting

How is the nowcasting used?How is the nowcasting used?

• “The products that you sent a couple of weeks ago were fantastic and just what we needed to convey how the snowpack conditions this year compare to the 25 year range of variability. Thank you very much for those model runs!!! We used the information in the attached brief.”

• ...



Bison Bison distributiondistribution

~~Road Road

grooming grooming doesn’t doesn’t strongly strongly influence influence

bison travelbison travel

(Bruggeman et al.)(Bruggeman et al.)

How are the publications used?How are the publications used?

• “...development of several new approaches to understand the causes,

timing, and routes of migratory movements by bison (Bison bison) that,

in turn, have been applied to management decisions regarding boundary

control measures and the potential for brucellosis transmission to cattle

(Bjornlie and Garrott 2001, Ferrari and Garrott 2002, Coughenour 2005,

Gates et al. 2005, Gogan et al. 2005, Borkowski et al. 2006, Bruggeman et

al. 2006, 2007; Fuller et al. 2007a, Olexa and Gogan 2007, Chapters 26-

28). These studies also provide the best available scientific information from

which adjudicators, park managers, and stakeholders can infer the potential

effects of winter recreation and road grooming on bison and other wildlife.”

White et al. (In Garrott et al., In press.)

Fie ldwork

W ildlifeoperations

Land scapemo de ls


Image ry

Lands at

F ores tc over


M O DIS

F oragephenology


F o restp lo ts

Meadowp lo ts

Anemo -me te rs

Snowmode l

Snowco res




Visualizatio ns

Datase rv ice s


F ilm ing

Geys erbas ins

T e leme try

P henologym odel

A S TE R

W olv esnear ly


s now

Elkav o ids now

Bis onav oids now


P rec ipm odel

W indmode l



D ecades

W ild fires

W eeks to years




NP S webs ite

O RNLDA A C


to roadgrooming



A ICw=1

C lima techange

5 years


Te ambu ild ing

16 years

Fie ldwork

W ildlifeoperations

Land scapemo de ls


Image ry

Lands at

F ores tc over


M O DIS

F oragephenology


F o restp lo ts

Meadowp lo ts

Anemo -me te rs

Snowmode l

Snowco res




Visualizatio ns

Datase rv ice s


F ilm ing

Geys erbas ins

T e leme try

P henologym odel

A S TE R

W olv esnear ly


s now

Elkav o ids now

Bis onav oids now


P rec ipm odel

W indmode l



D ecades

W ild fires

W eeks to years




NP S webs ite

O RNLDA A C


to roadgrooming



A ICw=1

C lima techange

5 years


Te ambu ild ing

16 years

Journalpapers

Bookchapters

AppliedSc ienc es

Ec ologic alforec asting

NASA @Yellowstone

N A S A

I& M

Regions

Parks

N P S

W ildlifemanagement

DailyLandsat

Snow model

Broad, Robust, Efficient

But potentially more difficult to identify linkages between specific management environments

and data products (?)

More focused, decisions realized within project timeframe

But difficult to scale up & generalize

Therefore costly

This project

Key pointsKey points• In our experience at Yellowstone:

– A bottom-up approach leads to realized outcomesin terms of National Park decision making

– The bottom-up approach takes a great deal of time, resources, and teamwork

– It must rest on published foundations

– The dissociation of time scales for funding, collaboration, publication, and decision making heightens the challenge

• In the case of Yellowstone bison:– Forecasting ecological response requires careful attention to spatio-

temporal pattern

– This requires:• spatio-temporal wildlife data,

• spatio-temporal landscape models,

• and analytical methods for relating them to each other.

• Can this approach be scaled for better efficiency?



Documents

Integration of NASA technology and wildlife ecology for use by the National Park Service (Systems Integration and Visualization of Yellowstone) Fred Watson