URISA Alberta is please to present the winners of the URISA Alberta Scholarship showcasing their winning submissions.
Nooshin Mashhadi is an environmental scientist specializing in ecological remote sensing, GIS, and forest structural complexity analysis. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Science at the University of Alberta, where her research focused on developing novel entropy-based indices for assessing forest biodiversity and complexity using full-waveform LiDAR data. Nooshin has extensive experience in interdisciplinary projects involving GEDI, UAVs, and system dynamics modeling. Her work has been published in top-tier remote sensing journals, and she has been presented at international conferences. She is also an experienced educator who taught GIS and remote sensing courses at the University of Alberta and King’s University. Passionate about advancing ecosystem monitoring, Nooshin continues to contribute to environmental research, while fostering collaboration across disciplines.
Her presentation is titled Modeling Entropy in Tropical Forests.
Abstract
This study introduces an Entropy-based index: the Lorenz-entropy (LE) index, which we have developed by integrating Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), econometrics, and forest ecology. The main goal of the LE is to bridge the gap between theoretical entropy concepts and their practical applications in monitoring vertical structural complexity of tropical forest ecosystems. The LE index quantifies entropy by analyzing Relative Height (RH) metrics (representing a one-dimensional (1D) canopy structure metric) distributions from full-waveform LiDAR across successional stages in a tropical dry forest (TDF) and a tropical rainforest. To validate the LE trends derived from LiDAR, we extended the analysis using inventory-based two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) metrics, specifically basal area and biomass. The consistency of trends between the 1D LiDAR-derived LE and the inventory-based 2D and 3D metrics reinforces the LE’s ability to capture and monitor structural complexity reliably across different measurement dimensions.
Our findings demonstrated that LE captures the changes in entropy as a function of successional stages, reflecting how canopy structure evolves toward homogeneity and complexity.
Amanda Belanger is a marine mammal biologist who is passionate about ecological and cetacean research. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology at Dalhousie University where she studied Amazonian River dolphins for her honours project. She obtained her Master of Science at the University of Manitoba where her thesis focused on beluga whales. Her first chapter studied the distribution and abundance of Cumberland Sound beluga whales using satellite imagery. In her second chapter, she focused on lipid dynamics of Hudson Bay beluga whale blubber, to identify their primary feeding season. She is an avid traveler and has observed whales in the Arctic and Antarctic. Post-graduation, she is now working for Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Rimouski, QC as part of the marine mammal team. She is studying entanglement and collision risk of the endangered North Atlantic right whale and other large whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Her presentation is titled Studying Cumberland Sound Beluga Whales from Space
Abstract
Limiting disturbance in critical habitats is an important part of ensuring the well-being and sustainability of populations at risk, such as Cumberland Sound beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). Using non-disruptive Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, an emerging tool in cetacean monitoring, we aimed to estimate summer abundance and identify critical habitat for Cumberland Sound beluga whales. Satellite images of the Beluga Whale’s summer area were collected in 2020 and 2021, at 30 cm resolution, and in 2022 at 50 cm resolution. We evaluated beluga whale distribution with GIS programs and Kernel density estimates. Using 50% (core range) and 95% (home range) isopleths we identified critical habitats as areas consistently part of the beluga whale core distribution across years. The only critical habitat identified within the summer distribution was in Clearwater Fiord, in or near the estuary freshwater plume and in a bay to the west of the plume. Within Clearwater Fiord, the abundance estimates differed between years. Abundance estimates were corrected for whales that were too deep to be identified in the images. We also calculated a 2021 abundance estimate for all of Cumberland Sound, which was similar to the 2017 aerial survey abundance estimate. The identified critical habitats should be areas of consideration in the continued discussion on the protection and sustainability of the Cumberland Sound beluga whale population.