Time-series maps of shrub expansion on the North Slope of Alaska, USA

David M. Cairns is the Principal Investigator and is a Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University Adam T. Naito is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University, working under the supervision of Dr. Cairns.

The expansion of shrubs in the northern Brooks Range and North Slope uplands is a phenomenon that has occurred over much of the 20th century. Its historic spatial characteristics and environmental influences, however, remain understudied. Naito's dissertation research addresses this issue in two ways by developing: 1) time-series maps of historic shrub expansion based upon vertical aerial photographs (acquired from the USGS Earth Resources and Observing System (EROS)) and high-resolution satellite imagery, and 2) a spatially-explicit, stochastic simulation model that simulates shrub expansion based upon parameters relating to topographically-derived hydrological characteristics, shrub growth rates, and reproductive characteristics.