**The Meteorological Sciences**

**II**

**Section 3**

**Section 4**

*by Alfred Cal*

LiDAR nDSM and Aerial Photos

to the Landscape

Biological Sciences **113**

**Chapter 6 115**

**Chapter 7 143**

Landscape Sciences **161**

**Chapter 8 163**

Spatial and Temporal Variability Regarding Forest: From Tree

Ecological and Social Impacts of Aquacultural Introduction to Philippines Waters of Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp *Penaeus vannamei*

*by Marlon S. Alejos, Augusto E. Serrano, Jr., Yashier U. Jumah, Rey dela Calzada, Cyril Tom B. Ranara and Jumari C. Fernandez*

High-Resolution Object-Based Building Extraction Using PCA of

*by João Carvalho, Manuela Magalhães and Selma Pena*

Our first chapter, "Coherent Doppler Lidar for Wind Sensing" is by Sameh Abdelazim, David Santoro, Mark F. Arend, Fred Moshary, and Sam Ahmed. In it, the authors detail the design, operation, and testing of a new technology, coherent Doppler lidar to monitor wind. The need to assess wind direction, speed, and trajectory is vital to safely interacting with the atmosphere in many ways. The application of this new device could be used to detect and track dangerous changes in wind speeds and wind directions. It may improve safety for flying and structural engineering. It may also enable earlier warning to communities regarding the development of dangerous tornadic and cyclonic storm conditions. They demonstrate an approach to discerning the spatial variability of wind.

The atmosphere can generate other hazardous conditions like the problem of differential urban heating, which may yield dangerous thermal conditions for vulnerable populations. The second chapter, "Low-key Stationary and Mobile Tools for Probing the Atmospheric UHI Effect" by Kristen Koch, Gunnar W. Schade, Anthony M. Filippi, Garrison Goessler, and Burak Güneralp, describes a study that the authors designed to track and monitor urban heat islands, a phenomenon related to modification of natural light-reflecting and scattering land covers to enhance thermal absorbance and reradiation of heat, urban activities that generate particulates and other heat-absorbing pollutants, and conversion of land uses to extend the size of the urban footprint. The authors detail the design and operation of a spatially transferable research activity that can be adapted to meet the dual value of educational instruction (of undergraduate and graduate students) and meaningful data acquisition and analysis. Their research involves field work, remote sensing analysis, and data analysis of local and regional atmospheric monitoring records. They demonstrate an approach to discerning the spatial variability of thermal energy in the boundary layer of the atmosphere.

In the third chapter, Rosa María Cerón Bretón, Julia Griselda Cerón Bretón, Reyna del Carmen Lara Severino, Marcela Rangel Marrón, María de la Luz Espinosa Fuentes, Simón Eduardo Carranco Lozada, and Lizbeth Cisneros Rosique present a study of "Mapping and Estimation of Nitrogen and Sulfur Atmospheric Deposition Fluxes in Central Region of the Mexican Bajio." Monitoring the ramifications of human activities, particularly burning fossil fuels and other industrial activities, is important not only for human health and welfare, but also for the security and safety of the ecological systems upon which we depend. Sulfur and nitrogen are two components of the atmospheric pollution regime that can have both human and ecological effects that are often determined by the molecular forms they take, but are also a function of concentrations, timing, and spatial distributions that effect exposure to harmful (if not toxic) levels of contamination. The authors study the phenomenon of deposition of these elements in the city of León, Mexico. They describe the methods used to compile and analyze data from regional monitoring networks and samplers. The implications of these contaminants for local and regional flora and ecosystem health is discussed. They demonstrate an approach to discerning the spatial variability of pollution in the lower atmosphere.

by location. They demonstrate approaches to assessments of the spatial variable of the

The eighth and final chapter takes us into the built environment and the concern with spatial variation in the landscape. Mapping of the engineered, or "built" landscape, is another important component of the ability to map and understand the spatial patterns of the human environment and their implications for humans' interactions with nature. "High-resolution Object-based Building Extraction Using PCA of LiDAR nDSM and Aerial Photos" by Alfred Cal presents a methodology by which LiDAR nDSM and aerial photos can be analyzed with principal components analysis (PCA) to generate a highly successful and highly accurate extraction of building footprints. The author demonstrates the manipulations that are needed to map human structures in a regional rural to semi-rural landscape in Belize. He demonstrates an approach that improves our capacity to assess the spatial variability of land cover and land uses

It is our hope that these chapters provide interesting reading for students who are compelled by questions of spatial variability (or Geography) in the realms of diverse

> **John P. Tiefenbacher** Texas State University,

University of Naples Federico II,

USA

Italy

**Davod Poreh**

In chapter 7, "Ecological and Social Impacts of Aquacultural Introduction to Philippines Waters of Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp Penaeus vannamei" by Marlon S. Alejos, Augusto E. Serrano Jr., Yashier U. Jumah, Rey dela Calzada, Cyril Tom B. Ranara, and Jumari C. Fernandez, we learn of the implications of introduced species for a region's ecosystems. The problem of introduced (i.e., non-native) species for indigenous ecologies and their human communities is a well-known matter. In this study, however, the authors review the evidence of ramifications from aquacultural farming of a species of shrimp from the other side of the ocean, a process of introduction that began more than 50 years ago. They examine the consequences of accidental releases of shrimp into the region's environments: the likelihood of survival and reproduction of escapees, the impacts to native shrimp, the impacts on other biota, the consequences of ecosystems, and human communities in the region. Their analysis of the evidence showed that much remains unknown about the matter, but that "no evidence" does not mean "no impact." They demonstrate the importance of the spatial variability of economic activities tied to disturbance

health and sustainability of forests.

of native species and ecosystems.

**Landscape Sciences**

in our natural environments.

environments of our planet.
