Abstract

Merging Citizen Science and Satellite Data for Buffelgrass Management
Track: Environmental Management
Authors: Caroline Patrick-Birdwell, Cynthia Wallace

Our research detects when and where invasive buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is photosynthetically active in the Tucson Arizona region, to alert land managers so they can implement condition-based management and treat the buffelgrass during optimal conditions. We used ground observations of buffelgrass phenology collected by citizen scientists and integrated these data with climate information and MODIS imagery to understand dynamics, relationships and resonance between these variables.