@mastersthesis {KNZ002026,
	title = {Characterizing woody encroachment in the konza prairie using object-based analysis of aerial photographs},
	volume = {MS Thesis},
	year = {2016},
	school = {University of Kansas},
	type = {M.S. Thesis},
	address = {Lawrence, Kansas},
	abstract = {<p>Woody encroachment is a threat to the ecological integrity of tallgrass prairie in Kansas.\&nbsp; Encroachment data that covers a large spatial and temporal scale would be valuable to managers of tallgrass prairie, but no such dataset exists.\&nbsp; The objective of this research is to develop a replicable technique for creating woody vegetation maps from aerial photographs.\&nbsp; Rather than using a traditional pixel-by-pixel approach to classification, this project uses an object-based approach, wherein individual pixels are grouped into meaningful image objects according to user-defined parameters and then classified.\&nbsp; I created woody vegetation maps of eight watersheds in the Konza Prairie using imagery from 1978, 1991, 2003, 2006, and 2010.\&nbsp; I also determined the efficacy of LIDAR data in classifying the image from 2006.\&nbsp; Ground-based vegetation survey data exist for two of the watersheds included in the remote sensing portion of this study.\&nbsp; I analyzed the data from the available years nearest to the imagery dates (1983, 1992, 2003, and 2007) in order to provide a measure of validation for the woody vegetation maps.\&nbsp; The results of this research were used to determine the applicability of this mapping technique and to draw preliminary conclusions about the landscape-level factors associated with woody encroachment.</p>},
	keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Flint Hills, Geographic information science and geodesy, Geography, Object-based image analysis, tallgrass prairie, woody encroachment},
	url = {https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/24182},
	author = {Shanko, A.R.}
}
