Research Symposium

BIO

Greetings! I am Carina Edwards, a first-year Clinical Professions Major at Florida State University. Throughout my education in the Broward County Public School System, i was presented with many opportunities to succeed, and as an individual with pertinent interests in research, i knew that it would play an integral role in my college experience. Being multi-faceted has been a blessing and a curse, because i tend to have several interests. Even though i am pursuing a career in medicine, i have always had a passion for environmental science and ecology. Participating in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program has been a tremendous experience and it has allowed me the chance to participate in a research atmosphere.

Use of Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery for Sampling Carnegia Gigantea (Magnoliopsida: Cactaceae

Abstract

Saguaro is a species of cacti specific to southwest Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Population studies on the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) have been limited to small plots of land, due to the harsh climate of the area, therefore large areas of saguaro have not been studied. We used high-resolution satellite images and a Geographic Information System (e.g. QGIS) to identify saguaro and their shadows in a large area. We used a grid to systematize the search and facilitate the replication of sampling in subsequent years. In order to mark the individuals, we obtained several geo-referenced polygon layers where different rectangles allow us to identify the shadows and the individuals. These layers will be used to train a deep-learning algorithm which is useful to automatically identify saguaros from satellite image data. The automatic identification of biodiversity will be essential to keep public online databases up to date.

Keywords: Saguaro, QGIS, satellite, geography department, imaging