Landscape Analysis and Modeling

Detailed Schedule

Click below or scroll down to view weekly details. Empty days will be updated throughout the semester.

• Week: 1 - Jan. 12-14; Topic: Intro to Landscape Ecology and GIS

• Week: 2 - Jan. 19-21; Topic: Some Basics of Spatial Data; Intro to R

• Week: 3 - Jan. 26-Feb. 2; Topic: Nearest Neighbor Analyses; Ripley's K

• Week: 4 - Feb. 4-9; Topic: Working with Complete Sample Data

• Week: 5 - Feb. 11-16; Topic: Quantifying Landscape Configuration: Lecture

• Week: 6 - Feb 18-23; Topic: Quantifying Landscape Configuration: Lab

• Week: 7 - Feb. 25-Mar. 1; Topic: Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation

• Week: 8 - Mar. 3-8; Topic: Multivariate Spatial Relationships

• Week: 9 - Mar. 10-22; Topic: Species Distribution Models: Lecture

• Spring Break - Dates: Mar. 14-18

• Week: 10 - Dates: Mar. 24-29 Topic: Species Distribution Models: Lab

• Week: 11 - Mar. 31-Apr. 5 Topic: Animal Movement

• Week: 12 - Apr. 7-12 Topic: Landscape Connectivity

• Week: 13 - Apr. 14-19 Topic: Focus on Projects; Future of Landscape Ecology

• Week: 14 - Apr. 21 Topic: Project Presentations

Week 1: Intro to Landscape Ecology and GIS

Jan. 12, 2016

• Agenda:
  • Introductions
  • Logistics
  • Lecture: Introduction to Landscape Ecology and GIS

Jan. 14, 2016

• Readings:
  • Wiens, J.A., 1989. Spatial scaling in ecology. Functional Ecology 3, 385-397.
• Agenda:
  • Discuss reading assignment
  • Notes about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
  • Exploring QGIS

Week 2: Some Basics of Spatial Data; Intro to R

Jan. 19, 2016

• Agenda:
  • Lecture
    • Some Basic Stats
      • Covariance & Correlation
    • Things to be Aware of with Spatial Data
      • Stationarity
      • Spatial Dependence and Autocorrelation
    • Accessing GIS Data

Jan. 21, 2016

Assignment 1 Due

• Readings
  • Foster et al. 2003. The importance of land-use legacies to ecology and conservation. Bioscience. 53:77-88.
• Agenda
  • Discuss Reading Material
  • Work on Assignment 2
    • Download GIS Data and Make Your Own Map - see info on getting data
    • Introduction to R - answer the questions throughout the document

Week 3: Nearest Neighbor Analyses; Ripley's K

Jan. 26, 2016

• Agenda
  • Testing Hypotheses - focus on Ordinary Least Squares regression
  • Complete Population Data
  • Simple Nearest Neighbor Analyses
  • Ripley's K

Feb. 2, 2016

Assignment 2 Due

• Readings:
  • Montgomery, R. A., et al. 2014. Where wolves kill moose: the influence of prey life history dynamics on the landscape ecology of predation. PLoS ONE 9:e91414.
• Agenda:
  • Discuss Reading Material
  • Work on Assignment 3
    • Working with Scripts in R
    • Getting Data into R
    • Basic Simple Linear Regression in R
    • Introducing R Packages
    • Ripley's K analyses in R

Week 4: Other Techniques for Complete Sample Data

Feb. 4, 2016

• Agenda:
  • Quadrat Variance Methods

Feb. 9, 2016

Assignment 3 Due

• Readings:
  • Kelly, M., et al. 2008. Spatial pattern dynamics of oak mortality and associated disease symptoms in a California hardwood forest affected by sudden oak death. Journal of Forest Research 13:312-319.
• Agenda:
  • Discuss Reading Material
  • Work on Assignment 4
    • Getting YOUR data into R
    • Quadrat Variance Analyses - Setting up sample data in R and Analysis in PASSaGE

Week 5: Quantifying Landscape Configuration: Lecture

Feb. 11, 2016

• Agenda
  • Complete Population Data: Raster Datasets
  • An Introduction to Fragstats
  • Landscape and Class Metrics

Feb. 16, 2016

Assignment 4 Due

• Readings:
  • McIntyre, N.E. and J.A. Wiens. 2000. A novel use of the lacunarity index to discern landscape function. Landscape Ecology 15, 313-321.
• Agenda
  • Discuss Reading Material
  • Patch Metrics
  • Surface Metrics

Week 6: Quantifying Landscape Configuration: Lab

Feb. 18, 2016

• Agenda
  • Work on Part 1 of Lab - Patch-Mosaic Analysis

Feb. 23, 2016

• Agenda
  • Work on Part 2 of Lab - Surface Analysis

Week 7: Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation (Moran's i and Geary's c)

Feb. 25, 2016

• Agenda
  • Lecture about Join Count Analysis and Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation

Mar. 1, 2016

Assignment 5 Due - Part 1 and Part 2

• Agenda
  • Discuss Bone et al. 2013
  • Work on Lab Exercise

Week 8: Multivariate Spatial Relationships

Mar. 3, 2016

Agenda Lecture about Variograms, Mantel Tests, Spatial Regression (GLS)

Mar. 8, 2016

Assignment 6 Due

• Agenda
  • Discuss Perez et al. 2010
  • Work on Lab Assignment 7

Week 9: Species Distribution Models: Lecture

Mar. 10, 2016

• Agenda
  • Lecture about Species Distribution Modeling

Mar. 22, 2016

Assignment 7 Due

• Agenda
  • Discuss Kearney et al. 2010
  • Continued Lecture on Species Distribution Modeling

Spring Break - Have Fun! (And start getting data together for projects!)

Week 10: Species Distribution Models: Lab

Mar. 24, 2016

Mar. 29, 2016

Week 11: Animal Movement

Mar. 31, 2016

Apr. 5, 2016

Week 12: Landscape Connectivity

Apr. 7, 2015

Apr. 12, 2015

Week 13: Project Status Updates/Sort Out Problems; Future of Landscape Ecology

Apr. 14, 2015

Apr. 19, 2015

Week 14: Presentations

Apr. 21, 2015

Apr. 21, 2015