| Affiliations: | |
| Project Leader: | Parveen Chhetri parveenkchhetri@tamu.edu Geography |
| Faculty Mentor: | David Cairns, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Summer 2016 (complete) |
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Team Size:
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5 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Candidates will get chance to advance their GIS and RS skills. Individuals will be acknowledge with co-authorship on regional and national conferences, and resulting publications. |
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Team Needs:
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GIS and Remote sensing skills, statistics, programing. |
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Description:
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The alpine treeline ecotone is an important component of high altitude mountain ecosystems and plays a vital role in the life of indigenous people, conserves natural resources, maintains biological diversity, controls the geo-hydrological cycle, and provides other ecosystem benefits. However, treeline advance would fragment the current continuous expanses of alpine heath, change the distribution pattern of alpine species, increase the risk of species extinction, and change the structure and function of the alpine ecosystem. The Himalaya has one of the highest positioned treelines in the world and recent studies have indicated treeline advance due to recent temperature increases in the region. In the Nepal Himalaya, only a few scientific studies have been carried out at treeline, and there is still a lack of consistent data on treeline position, nature and dynamics. Mapping of the treeline ecotone will help to detect both the current and historical position of the treeline ecotone. It will also help to differentiate climatic, anthropogenic and topographic treeline. We will use Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic information science (GIS) techniques to address the following questions: How has the position of treeline changed in last few decades (1970s – 2010s)? What kind of structural changes have occurred in the treeline ecotone? What are the factors which control treeline position? |