Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
To better understand environmental change greater monitoring is required; sensors have the potential to scale environmental monitoring. Multiple projects in this area are possible. Projects can involve the construction and programming or sensors networks; sensor data capture, management and analysis; and ecological validation of sensor data through ground truthing. Projects suit IT students with an interest in ecology or ecologists with an interest in IT. Example project include using sensors to monitor particular species or multiple species. We hypothesis that multimedia and other sensors can be used to spatially and temporally scale ecological monitoring, that sensors allow the collection of otherwise uncollectable ecological data and that this data can be used to make valid ecological inferences.
Approaches: QUT's Samford Ecological Research Facility (SERF) will be used as a testing ground for the sensors. Sensors will be researched, designed and trialled at SERF. Example sensors include: weather stations, acoustic sensors and cameras. Data may be collected both automatically and manually for comparisons to be made. From an IT perspective projects may investigate sensor, server, analysis and visualisation software necessary to support environmental monitoring.
References:
- Understanding the Rainforest Ecosystem http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/rainforest-051910.aspx
- Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring http://www.teamnetwork.org/en/
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
- Please contact the supervisor.
Professor Paul Roe
Dr Ian Williamson
