Poster Abstracts

Snowpack Coverage from November 2022 to April 2023

Marlee Carlin, Stanislaus State

I will be looking at snowpack coverage from November 2022 to April 2023 at Yosemite National Park. I found images and used NDSI to examine the snowpack for November 22, January 23, and April 23. The results show a large snowpack.

Rising Nitrate Levels on the Stanislaus State Campus 

Matthew Livingston, Stanislaus State

Water quality standards are a critical part of the health of the ecosystem. Stanislaus State water quality of campus lakes can affect a number of different plant and animal species. Animals such as ducks and turtles, along with different plant species, live in and around these lakes on campus. It is important that various parameters such as pH, O2 levels, and nitrate concentration are closely monitored on campus. The research done by prior students in 2019 compared to the data gathered in 2023 shows stark contrasts, particularly in nitrate levels. Nearly all campus lakes showed increases in nitrate levels. These results show that something either changed in the way the water was treated by the school's staff or that campus wildlife activity has changed. Overall, the waste and excrement from the campus waterfowl a potential cause of the high nitrate levels in the ponds across the CSU Stanislaus campus.

2023 Maui Fires: Environmental Impact

Alyssa Trovao, Stanislaus State

This study examined the extent of environmental and vegetation damage in Maui after the fires in August 2023 using remote sensing. I employed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images as well as True Color images to analyze the impact of the Maui fires. I gathered the July and September images of from the USGS Earth Explorer and used ERDAS Imagine software to calculate the NDVI of these images. With these new NDVI images, I created presentable maps in ArcGIS Pro 3.2. By comparing pre and post-fire NDVI data, I assessed vegetation health and the extent of environmental damage done in this region. When comparing them to a map of the fire hotspots, I found that from July to September the areas that were impacted by the fires did decrease in their NDVI values. These decreasing values indicated there was damage to the vegetation as a result of the fires. 

A Visual Representation of the Creek Fire Damage: The Habitat Change That it Caused

Steven Vasquez, Stanislaus State

Wildfires are a large topic of discussion in California. This temporal study uses False Color Infrared Sentinel-2 images, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) color images, and Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) analysis of Landsat-8 images to provide a visual representation of the habitat damage and recovery after the 2020 Creek Fire on the Sierra National Forest. It also briefly discusses the amount of habitat lost and the issues this has caused for the wildlife on the Sierra National Forest.