Detailed Environmental Mapping for Resource Management
The mission of the Spatial Analysis Lab is to develop landscape-scale ecological information through partnerships with agency personnel, research groups, and conservation organizations to support effective management of terrestrial, wetland and aquatic communities.
Our research and projects involve scaling ground-based Earth observation data using remote sensing and modeling. A primary focus area is detailed vegetation and habitat mapping using imaging spectroscopy and airborne laser scanning. Applications include biodiversity conservation planning, plant trait and chemistry mapping, forest health monitoring, and invasive species detection.
We promote the use of geo-technologies in the state by delivering student internship and research opportunities, and partnering to develop workshops, training materials, and demonstration projects. Geospatial resources, training, and engagement opportunities and material are provided through this website.
The Spatial Analysis Lab is housed under the Broader Impacts Group at the University of Montana.
Latest News and Opportunities
- Summer internship with Molson Coors in Power, Montana.
- Postdoc opportunity at UC Merced in hyperspectral remote sensing of invasion ecology.
- Postdoc opportunity at NASA Goddard Space Flight center in imaging spectroscopy and plant functional traits at NASA Goddard Space Flight center.
- New paper co-authored by Jessica Mitchell in Ecology and Evolution: Developing a flexible learning activity on biodiversity and spatial scale concepts using open-access vegetation datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network.
- Apply by March 15 for field positions with SAL! We are hiring a field coordinator and 3 field technicians to do vegetation sampling in woodland draw habitats on BLM lands across Montana and the Dakotas; and a field coordinator and field liaison to do vegetation sampling of invasive species on Crow Tribal Lands in southeastern Montana.
- The Big Sky GeoCon will be held virtually from April 5-8, 2021. SAL will be offering an Introduction to Lidar workshop.
- Students, applications close February 26 for 10-week paid internships with the NASA DEVELOP program.
- Students, applications are due March 5 for local Montana summer hands-on paid internship opportunities. High-altitude ballooning, small satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are all possibilities.
- Claudine Tobalske is co-author on a paper in Ecological Applications, Alpine treeline ecotones are potential refugia for a montane pine species threatened by bark beetle outbreaks.
- As of January 2021, Spatial Analysis Lab is now part of the Broader Impacts Group at University of Montana.
- Congratulations to Di Yang on her new position as an assistant professor with WYGISC at the University of Wyoming! We look forward to our continued collaboration.
- Another new paper, this time in Sustainability, co-authored by Di Yang: A Metacoupling Framework for Exploring Transboundary Watershed Management.
- Congratulations to Di Yang on being awarded one of the 2020 NEON-ESA Early Career Scholars!
- Check out this new paper in Remote Sensing co-authored by Di Yang: A Healthy Park Needs Healthy Vegetation: The Story of Gorongosa National Park in the 21st Century.
- Check out the poster that Di Yang presented this December at the AGU 2019 Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
- Attention imagery users! Collection of 2019 NAIP imagery for Montana was halted by early snowfall. Learn more and view a map of coverage here.
- Two new papers out! Regional scale dryland vegetation classification with an integrated Lidar-hyperspectral approach and Empirical methods for remote sensing of nitrogen in drylands may lead to unreliable interpretation of ecosystem function
- Poster -- Research outreach: leveraging NEON data to investigate remote sensing of biodiversity variables
- Can NASA get its satellite data into the real world?
See News and Opportunities for more.