BIO

Ayyan Hussain '24 comes from Sanford, Florida. He graduated from Seminole High School with an IB diploma. At Florida State University, Ayyan plans to pursue a major in Biology and Accounting. He works at Mathnasium as tutor for students K-12 and has volunteered at hospitals in Orlando. After graduation, Ayyan plans attend medical school and pursue a career as a cardiologist.

USE OF VERY HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR SAMPLING CARNEGIEA 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, Sattelite Image, grid