{"id":570,"date":"2024-05-30T14:33:21","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T21:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/?page_id=570"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:57:41","slug":"detecting-insect-disturbance-using-high-resolution-satellite-data","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/projects\/detecting-insect-disturbance-using-high-resolution-satellite-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Detecting Insect Disturbance Using High Resolution Satellite Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Detecting multiple insect disturbance types across the western US using very high-resolution satellite data<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"Damage<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Project Description<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Insects, such as bark beetles, can cause widespread and severe tree mortality events. In the western USA, the primary means of monitoring yearly insect-caused tree mortality on a wide spatial extent is through aerial detection surveys (ADS) conducted by the US Forest Service. Although analyses of ADS have previously led to impactful results (Meddens et al., 2012<\/a>), ADS have various limitations and barriers to long-term time series analyses. By investigating the efficacy of high-resolution satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV; e.g., drone) imagery to detect insect disturbance, we aim to offer an alternative to ADS which allows for time series analyses over wide spatial extents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UAV imagery allowed for a 3-dimensional point cloud for a stand of conifers impacted by insect disturbance (Shrestha et al. 2024<\/a>). Using field observations of healthy vs. damaged trees, damage severity class, and % canopy mortality (or top-kill), we trained algorithms using multispectral indices and bands for the point cloud. The algorithms yielded predictions of insect disturbance throughout the study area. Furthermore, by incorporating 3-dimensional data and predicting % top-kill and damage severity class, this approach could potentially allow us to attribute disturbance to specific insect species (i.e., different species cause different patterns of top-kill and different damage severities). This novel approach may be limited in applicability to a wider study area, due to challenges gathering data that offers 3-dimensional information and\/or sub-meter resolution multispectral data. However, it points towards a link between high-resolution multispectral imagery and insect disturbance. We further investigated this link by comparing field data of insect disturbance to satellite imagery; however, satellite data \u2013 even high-resolution satellite data \u2013 showcased mixed capabilities to detect healthy vs. damaged trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on promising results using UAV imagery, we plan on continuing to investigate the potential of both UAV and high-resolution satellite imagery to identify patterns of insect-caused mortality and damage on conifer trees.<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n \n
\r\n\t\n\n

Personnel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Principal Investigator<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Arjan Meddens<\/strong> (School of the Environment, WSU)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Co-Investigators<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Andrew Hudak<\/strong> (US Forest Service)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Jeffrey Hicke<\/strong> (University of Idaho)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Benjamin Bright<\/strong> (US Forest Service)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Researchers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Abhinav Shrestha<\/strong> (University of Idaho)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Jason Karl <\/strong>(University of Idaho)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Amanda Stahl<\/strong> (Washington State University)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Collaborators<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Robert Kennedy <\/strong>(Oregon State University)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Joel Egan <\/strong>(US Forest Service)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Ryan Hanavan <\/strong>(US Forest Service)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Carl Jorgensen <\/strong>(US Forest Service)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Karen Hutten <\/strong>(US Forest Service)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n
          \r\n\t\n\n

          Funding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          This project was funded by NASA as a Commercial SmallSat Data Analysis<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Detecting multiple insect disturbance types across the western US using very high-resolution satellite data Project Description Insects, such as bark beetles, can cause widespread and severe tree mortality events. In the western USA, the primary means of monitoring yearly insect-caused tree mortality on a wide spatial extent is through aerial detection surveys (ADS) conducted by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38066,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38066"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions\/661"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/meddenslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}