Geospatial informatics for management of Sudden Oak Death

Kelly, M., K. A. Tuxen, and F. R. Kearns. 2004. Geospatial informatics for management of a new forest disease: Sudden Oak Death. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 70(9): 1001-1004 

For a geographer viewing the early days of the SOD epidemic, there were several intriguing spatial aspects on which a monitoring system could be built, including: 1) disease impact was clearly visible at multiple spatial scales, making remote sensing useful in the monitoring process; 2) disease spread and consequent mortality were patchy at landscape scales, making spatial analysis useful; 3) the disease appeared to be spatially regulated, making accurate spatial data collected using GPS and maintained and mapped using GIS critical; and 4) public awareness and concern about the disease were high, and public participation was needed in the monitoring/tracking process, making webGIS and cartography immediately useful tools for information distribution and management assistance. Pdf download.