Greg Norris
PhD Candidate
Remote and Wood Sensing Laboratory
University of New Brunswick
Supervisors :
Brigitte Leblon, University of New Brunswick
Myriam Barbeau, University of New Brunswick
Monitoring vegetation succession during salt marsh restoration using multispectral imagery
Greg’s PhD research focuses on developing, testing, and applying methods of monitoring salt marsh restoration using drone and satellite multispectral imagery. Salt marshes can be difficult to survey on foot and using aerial drones and satellites can increase monitoring efficiency. Equipping remote sensing platforms with multispectral sensors enables discrimination of plant species, density, leaf-area index, biomass, and state from the imagery. Mapping vegetation characteristics in salt marshes can provide information on the quality of ecosystem services provided and the restoration trajectory during such projects. Techniques must be developed and tested to properly use these technologies for monitoring salt marshes. There are many salt marsh restoration projects ongoing in Maritime Canada that will be monitored during this PhD, which is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Université de Sherbrooke, and the University of New Brunswick.