Investigating grizzly bear responses to spring snow dynamics through the generation of fine spatial and temporal scale snow cover imagery in Alberta, Canada ...

• Main Author: Berman, Ethan
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2019
• Subjects: Ursus arctos
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0376216; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0376216

Snow dynamics influence seasonal behaviors of wildlife, such as denning patterns and habitat selection related to the availability of food resources. Under a changing climate, characteristics of the temporal and spatial patterns of snow are predicted to change, and as a result, there is a need to better understand how species interact with snow. Through the generation of fine-scale snow cover data, this thesis examines grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) spring habitat selection and use in the Yellowhead Bear Management Area, Alberta, Canada. First, a new approach was developed to create a daily time-series of 30-m resolution snow cover observations (called SNOWARP). SNOWARP was derived from daily Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data to capture the temporal dynamics of snow cover and Dynamic Time Warping to re-order historical Landsat observations to account for inter-annual variability. The SNOWARP product was produced for 2000-2018 and calibrated against a network of time-lapse cameras and ...