Environmental Modelling in QGIS

ENVT4411

Lecturer: Alex Saunders Tutors: Vidushi Patel, Dan Dixon, Giles Knight

Geographic Information

Systems

Second Assignment

Environmental Modelling in QGIS

Datasets (10 layers + 1 table)

Dataset Description Data type Source

Boundary Tasmania – State

Far North – Region

Hunter River – Catchment

Polygon ABS &

data.gov.au

Native species To be downloaded from ALA website. Table (.csv) The Atlas of

Living Australia

Elevation Altitude height (meter) Raster Geoscience

Australia

Land use 18 land use types Raster ABARES

Land cover Varies by region Raster TERN

Native vegetation Areas of native vegetation Polygon Dep. of

Environment &

Energy

Temperature Annual maximum temperature (°C) Raster BOM

Wind speed Annual mean wind speed (m/s) Raster Global Wind Atlas

State roads State road network Line Geoscience

Australia

Fire stations

proximity

Distance to fire stations (meter) Raster data.gov.au

Water hydrants

proximity

Distance to water hydrants (meter) Raster data.gov.au

Method and Spatial Analysis

• Display XY points: create the native species points from the delimited .csv file

using ESPG:4283 – GDA 94. Then Reproject the layer using ESPG:3577 –

GDA94/Australian Albers.

• Heatmap: create Kernel density distribution of the native species

• Hexagon grids: create hex grids (12 km) to summarise species counts

• Identify the core territory and total home ranges of the native species

• Cost surface: use ruggedness, proximity to native vegetation and state roads, and

appropriate land uses construct a standardised cost surface.

• Least cost path: use the cost surface and centroid points of core territory range to

generate only one habitat corridor.

• Fire hazard: use elevation, slope, aspect, land cover, temperature and wind speed

to reclassify and generate a weighted spatial distribution of potential fire hazard.

• Adaptive capacity: determine the potential fire emergency response by calculating

a weighted spatial distribution combining road, fire station and hydrant proximities.

• Exposure: calculate the population exposure for your native species, and then the

vulnerability of this species by weighting with the adaptive capacity.

• Risk: use weights generate the spatial distribution of fire risk through combining

your hazard and vulnerability outputs to determine the overall fire risk to the native

species.

Three maps

1. Species interactions - Brief summary of data, methods and rationale

- Map layout 1: To include maps of species

raster density, home range and wildlife corridor

- Describe your results and interpret findings

2. Wildfire hazard - Brief summary of data, methods and rationale

- Map layout 2: To include maps of raster fire

hazard and contributing factors

- Describe your results and interpret findings

3. Environmental risk - Brief summary of data, methods and rationale

- Map layout 3: To include maps of hex grid fire

hazard, vulnerability, and overall risk

- Describe your results and interpret findings

**Refer to the assignment 2 instruction**

Select only one region

1

Tasmania Species to be downloaded

from ALA website

3

Hunter River Catchment Species to be downloaded

from ALA website

2 Far North Region Species to be downloaded

from ALA website

Labs

Southwest Region Western Quoll

Try different KDE search radius

1

Tasmania KDE search radius = ?

Hex grid = 12 km

3 Hunter River Catchment KDE search radius = ?

Hex grid = 12 km

2

Far North Region KDE search radius = ?

Hex grid = 12 km

Labs

Southwest Region Western Quoll

KDE search radius = 12 km Hex grid = 12 km

Raster grid cell size

is 1,000 m (1 km) *KDE = kernel density estimate You may need to vary your search radius depending on your species. Try KDE search radius = 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 km

Try to run the kernel density heatmap using a different search radius until you find reasonable pockets (polygons) of core territory and home ranges.

KDE Variation for Quolls

In the case of Western Quolls a KDE radius of 12km gives us a reasonable representation of a contiguous area of habitation based on the original point data.

When we build our home range for Western Quolls a 12km KDE gives us a few reasonable pockets (polygons) of core territory and home ranges.

You may need to try a few different KDE options for your chosen species.

Home range

12km hexagon grids

- In the labs, we calculate the core territory range areas and identify the smallest area of core territory range. For example, the smallest area is 10 km2.

- We then quantify the native vegetation layer that the ideal habitat for a potential corridor must be at least 10 km2 of the native vegetation.

Creating the new native vegetation