Event Category

Exit Seminar

Date

August 12, 2026

Time

11:30 am

Location

Ramsay Wright Laboratories, RW 432

Global change and climate change are reshaping forest ecosystems and the services they provide. To ensure the provisioning of forest ecosystem services, societies require forest- monitoring approaches that capture not only forest change but also how change unfolds across space and time.

Here, using a satellite–derived forest condition metric (Enhanced Vegetation Index), Rodriguez investigates three complementary analytical approaches to monitor forest condition (greenness) in Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada) over 20 years (2003–2022). These approaches address distinct but interconnected dimensions of spatial–temporal forest change.

First, a long–term time series analysis identifies abrupt (breaks) and gradual (trends) changes in forest condition over two
decades. Second, a short–term temporal analysis evaluates forest condition using successive periods. Third, a spatial–temporal polygon–change analysis is employed to move beyond pixel–level trends to examine the generation, persistence, expansion, contraction, and disappearance of greening and browning patches.

This thesis advances remote sensing–based forest monitoring approaches capable of detecting early signals of forest change. Such approaches are increasingly important for informing forest
managers about timely interventions under accelerating planetary change.

Supervisor: Marie-Josée Fortin