Miguel Villarreal

PhD Student, Arizona Remote Sensing Center, Sonoran Institute/NPS Sonoran Desert Network

Major and Minor: Geography & Regional Development and Remote Sensing

M.A., 2003, Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona

E-mail: miguel@email.arizona.edu

Harvill Building, Box #2
Tucson, AZ 85721-0076
USA

Personal home page

Research

I am currently involved in several research projects that explore potentials for geospatial techniques to characterize and analyze landscapes impacted by human and natural disturbances. I use Remote Sensing technology to model these landscape-level processes in and around protected areas of Southern Arizona. I am currently investigating uses of high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery to produce formation/community level vegetation data sets. Using these data I plan to examine critically some popular patch metrics and modify them to better describe landscape-level dynamics and processes specific to Sonoran desert ecosystems.

Project Involvement

• Long-term Monitoring of Land Cover Patterns and Processes around Sonoran Desert National Parks
• A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach to Monitoring Impacts of Migration and Border Policing Activities in Border Parks
• Modeling Spatial Patterns of Encinal Communities in Fire Suppressed Areas