Cultural skills (knowledge of): spatial attributes of ecological processes - spatial ecology: concepts and applications - GIS: functionality, data model and types of software
Methodological skills (knowing how to perform): practical use of GIS software - retrieval, analysis and interpretation of spatial data - identification and evaluation of ecological spatial patterns
Methodological skills (knowing how to perform): practical use of GIS software - retrieval, analysis and interpretation of spatial data - identification and evaluation of ecological spatial patterns
teacher profile teaching materials
- Intro to spatial ecology and cartography
- GIS: functions, geographical approach and modeling of reality
- Types of GIS software: open source and proprietary software
- Data models: vectorial (points, lines and polygons) and raster (pixel)
- Principles and methods in remote sensing: electromagnetic reflectance, remote sensed image resolution, active and passive sensors, remote sensing platforms
- Species distributions and biodiversity mapping
Practicals (software: QGIS and R)
- Visualization of geographical objects(features) on a map
- Preparation of plant and animal maps
- Preparation and analysis of environmental maps (land use/land cover, habitat maps, photosynthetic activity, etc.) in time and in space
- Principles and methods of cartographic extraction of bio-environmental features
- Introduction to Species Distribution Modeling (SDM)
Software:
QGIS.org, 2022. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Office hours by appointment via email: marta.carboni@uniroma3.it
Programme
Theory- Intro to spatial ecology and cartography
- GIS: functions, geographical approach and modeling of reality
- Types of GIS software: open source and proprietary software
- Data models: vectorial (points, lines and polygons) and raster (pixel)
- Principles and methods in remote sensing: electromagnetic reflectance, remote sensed image resolution, active and passive sensors, remote sensing platforms
- Species distributions and biodiversity mapping
Practicals (software: QGIS and R)
- Visualization of geographical objects(features) on a map
- Preparation of plant and animal maps
- Preparation and analysis of environmental maps (land use/land cover, habitat maps, photosynthetic activity, etc.) in time and in space
- Principles and methods of cartographic extraction of bio-environmental features
- Introduction to Species Distribution Modeling (SDM)
Core Documentation
Materials, PDFs of lecture slides and scripts are made available during the courseSoftware:
QGIS.org, 2022. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Office hours by appointment via email: marta.carboni@uniroma3.it
Reference Bibliography
Materials, PDFs of lecture slides and scripts are made available during the course Software: QGIS.org, 2022. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.Type of delivery of the course
The course will include theoretical lectures and in-class practical sessions with open-source software on personal laptops (QGIS and R)Attendance
recommendedType of evaluation
Evaluation will consist in a final exam with an oral discussion and a practical exam and in a written report based on a GIS project. teacher profile teaching materials
2) Introduction to GIS: Shooting of the basic concepts of GIS software, main objectives of GIS software, organization of data in GIS, data format in GIS (vector data and raster data), extension of the main files in GIS, analysis of the attribute table, visualization of metadata, study of the nominal and numerical scale, basic concepts of reference systems and geographical and cartographic coordinates, basic concepts of geographical projections, list of the main reference systems used within the Italian territory. 3) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS): Introduction of basic concepts to positioning and/or navigation systems for the acquisition of geographical and/or cartographic coordinates during field activities, description of the main GNSS on a global and European scale, description of GNSS components, basic concepts for estimating the coordinates of a point, differences between absolute and relative positioning. 4) Digital Elevation Model (DEM): Introduction and basic concepts of digital elevation models. Difference between Digital Surface Model and Digital Terrain Model. 5) Elements of Landscape Ecology: Basic concepts of landscape ecology, landscape definition, importance of spatial scale in landscape ecology, definition of landscape structure, example of the main landscape metrics, some application examples of the study of landscape ecology (e.g. fragmentation processes). 6) Elements of Photointerpretation: Introduction and basic concepts of photointerpretation. Basic elements of photointerpretation, definition of the minimum cartographable unit, realization of a cartographic product, essential elements of a map, validation of cartographic products through the use of error or confusion matrices. 7) Remote Sensing. Introduction and application cases in Ecology: Introduction to the main instruments, sensors and techniques of remote sensing. Difference between active and passive sensors, properties of remotely sensed images (orthorectification, georeferencing, atmospheric correction), definition of spatial, temporal, spectral and radiometric resolutions of remotely sensed sensors, case studies of remote sensing in ecology. Concept of spectral signature, introduction to the main spectral indices used in ecology. During the cycle of practical exercises the following topics were discussed: 1) Introduction to GIS. Spatial analysis of Triturus carnifex threats: loading, management and analysis of vector data, reprojections of vector data, management of the attribute table, introduction and management of CORINE land cover land use maps. 2) Landscape Ecology – GNSS – DTM. Analysis of dendrometric and altitudinal variations between Fagus sylvatica, Quercus ilex, Quercus pubescens.: loading and management of position data deriving from field activities and their conversion into GIS software extension files. Loading and managing raster data such as DTM. 3) Landscape Ecology – Landscape changes of the metropolitan city of Rome: Multitemporal analysis of landscape changes in the metropolitan city of Rome through the use of use and coverage maps deriving from the CORINE project. 4) Photointerpretation of coastal dune systems and changes over time: Photointerpretation of a coastal dune stretch in the municipality of Montalto di Castro present (2022) and past (2012), observation of changes. Activation of snapping tools in QGIS, detection of topological errors through the topology validator tool in QGIS, validation of the map through the creation of an error/confusion matrix. 5) Automatic classification of Sentinel-2 multispectral images: Registration on the Copernicus Open Access Hub portal and download of Sentinel-2 multispectral images suitable for the exercise, visualization of the metadata of the downloaded image, calculation of the NDVI, BI2, NDWI2 spectral indices, automatic classification using the k-means algorithm. Export of the final product and realization of the land cover map. 6) Data collection in the field. Use of Garmin devices and QField software: Collection of georeferenced data in the field through the use of Garmin devices and QField software. Importing data into QGIS software.
Software:
QGIS.org, 2022. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Office hours by appointment via email: flavio.marzialetti@uniroma3.it
Programme
Introduction to cartography: definition of a map, history of cartography, outline of modern cartography, history of spatial analysis on cartographic data, introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and basic concepts from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), examples of GIS software currently available.2) Introduction to GIS: Shooting of the basic concepts of GIS software, main objectives of GIS software, organization of data in GIS, data format in GIS (vector data and raster data), extension of the main files in GIS, analysis of the attribute table, visualization of metadata, study of the nominal and numerical scale, basic concepts of reference systems and geographical and cartographic coordinates, basic concepts of geographical projections, list of the main reference systems used within the Italian territory. 3) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS): Introduction of basic concepts to positioning and/or navigation systems for the acquisition of geographical and/or cartographic coordinates during field activities, description of the main GNSS on a global and European scale, description of GNSS components, basic concepts for estimating the coordinates of a point, differences between absolute and relative positioning. 4) Digital Elevation Model (DEM): Introduction and basic concepts of digital elevation models. Difference between Digital Surface Model and Digital Terrain Model. 5) Elements of Landscape Ecology: Basic concepts of landscape ecology, landscape definition, importance of spatial scale in landscape ecology, definition of landscape structure, example of the main landscape metrics, some application examples of the study of landscape ecology (e.g. fragmentation processes). 6) Elements of Photointerpretation: Introduction and basic concepts of photointerpretation. Basic elements of photointerpretation, definition of the minimum cartographable unit, realization of a cartographic product, essential elements of a map, validation of cartographic products through the use of error or confusion matrices. 7) Remote Sensing. Introduction and application cases in Ecology: Introduction to the main instruments, sensors and techniques of remote sensing. Difference between active and passive sensors, properties of remotely sensed images (orthorectification, georeferencing, atmospheric correction), definition of spatial, temporal, spectral and radiometric resolutions of remotely sensed sensors, case studies of remote sensing in ecology. Concept of spectral signature, introduction to the main spectral indices used in ecology. During the cycle of practical exercises the following topics were discussed: 1) Introduction to GIS. Spatial analysis of Triturus carnifex threats: loading, management and analysis of vector data, reprojections of vector data, management of the attribute table, introduction and management of CORINE land cover land use maps. 2) Landscape Ecology – GNSS – DTM. Analysis of dendrometric and altitudinal variations between Fagus sylvatica, Quercus ilex, Quercus pubescens.: loading and management of position data deriving from field activities and their conversion into GIS software extension files. Loading and managing raster data such as DTM. 3) Landscape Ecology – Landscape changes of the metropolitan city of Rome: Multitemporal analysis of landscape changes in the metropolitan city of Rome through the use of use and coverage maps deriving from the CORINE project. 4) Photointerpretation of coastal dune systems and changes over time: Photointerpretation of a coastal dune stretch in the municipality of Montalto di Castro present (2022) and past (2012), observation of changes. Activation of snapping tools in QGIS, detection of topological errors through the topology validator tool in QGIS, validation of the map through the creation of an error/confusion matrix. 5) Automatic classification of Sentinel-2 multispectral images: Registration on the Copernicus Open Access Hub portal and download of Sentinel-2 multispectral images suitable for the exercise, visualization of the metadata of the downloaded image, calculation of the NDVI, BI2, NDWI2 spectral indices, automatic classification using the k-means algorithm. Export of the final product and realization of the land cover map. 6) Data collection in the field. Use of Garmin devices and QField software: Collection of georeferenced data in the field through the use of Garmin devices and QField software. Importing data into QGIS software.
Core Documentation
Materials, PDFs of lecture slides and scripts are made available during the courseSoftware:
QGIS.org, 2022. QGIS Geographic Information System. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Office hours by appointment via email: flavio.marzialetti@uniroma3.it
Type of delivery of the course
The course will take place in presence in the traditional way.Type of evaluation
The exam will take place as an oral exam.