Biography
I was born in Pelham, in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario. My undergraduate
training in Biology and Geography was obtained at Brock University (B.Sc.
(Hons) –1983, BEd – 1986) and my graduate degrees were acquired
at the University of Waterloo (M.A. – 1986, PhD – 1997). From
1989-1995, I was a research scientist in the Earth Observations Laboratory
at the University of Waterloo. In 1995 I accepted an academic position
in the Department of Geography and Faculty of Environmental Studies at
York University in Toronto. I moved to Kingston with my wife and two children
in 1999 to accept a faculty position with the Department of Geography
at Queen’s University. While at Queen’s, I have served the
Department as Graduate Chair (2002-2006), Acting Head (2007-2008), and
Associate Head (2008-2009).
Teaching Interests
As part of my graduate training, I was a teaching assistant for courses
in physical geography and remote sensing. Through this experience, I found
that I really enjoyed teaching and working with undergraduate students.
This led to my pursuit of a B.Ed. degree. I spent a year (1986-87) in
Fenelon Falls, Ontario, teaching high school geography and then two years
(1987-89) at the School of Natural Resources, Sir Sandford Fleming College,
Lindsay, Ontario teaching remote sensing. However, the desire to pursue
research activities and bring those experiences to the classroom eventually
directed me back to school to pursue my PhD. Since arriving at Queen’s,
I have developed a suite of remote sensing and digital image processing
courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My graduate students
pursue a range of remote sensing related interests. These research activities
tend to revolve around the application of high spatial and spectral (i.e.,
hyperspectral) remote sensing data to characterize boreal forest and arctic
ecosystems. I have supervised students whose research and field work has
extended from the Canadian High Arctic to the equator (Indonesia).
Research
My research focus, and that of my students is on the application of remote
sensing data for estimating biophysical variables (e.g., percent cover,
aboveground biomass, leaf area index (LAI), fPAR) of arctic and boreal
ecosystems. These biophysical variables are linked to many ecosystem processes.
For example, biomass information plays a significant role in assessing
carbon stocks; is an important element in global change and productivity
models; and is a measure of vegetation community structure which influences
biodiversity. Current research projects include the examination of tolerant
hardwood and boreal forests using LiDAR data to characterize forest stand
structure and estimate biophysical/physiological variables. In addition,
we are examining satellite remote sensing data and spectral derivatives
to classify arctic vegetation communities and estimate biophysical/ecosystem
variables with the purpose of linking these to carbon dioxide exchange
at study sites on Boothia Peninsula and Melville Island, Nunavut. Further,
we are also examining the utility of RADARSAT synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) data to model soil moisture across Arctic watersheds. Central to
these studies, and our research, is the influence of spatial resolution
on the estimation of these ecosystem/biophsyical variables.
Research Projects:
Principal Investigator
• Remote Sensing of Environmental Change across Northern Terrestrial
Ecosystems (NSERC Discovery Grant)
• Spectral Analysis of Vegetation Communities for Estimating Biophysical
Variables of Northern Ecosystems (NSERC Equipment Grant)
• Evaluation and Development of Lidar Data Acquisition Standards
for Forest Inventory Applications and Predictive Forest Ecosite Classification
(Ontario Centres of Excellence for Earth and Environmental Technologies
– OCEEET)
• Modelling Forest Ecosystem Structure using Light Detection and
Ranging (Lidar) (Premier’s Research Excellence Award)
Co-Investigator
• Optimizing Ontario-based Wood Pellet Production for Co-firing
and Market Development and Penetration Atikokan Bioenergy Research Centre
(Ontario Centre of Excellence for Energy – OCEE)
• Climate Change and Permafrost Impacts on High Arctic Watershed
Fluxes: Cape Bounty, Melville Island Experimental Watershed Observatory
(Government of Canada Program for International Polar Year IPY)
To support this research, I have developed the Laboratory for Remote Sensing
of Earth and Environmental Systems (LARSEES - http://www.geog.queensu.ca/larsees/).
Please visit this website to see more about my research and that of my
students.
Publications
Recent Refereed Publications:
Thomas, V., J.H. McCaughey, P. Treitz D.A. Finch, T.
Noland, and L. Rich, 2008. Spatial modeling of photosynthesis for a boreal
mixedwood forest by integrating micrometeorological, lidar and hyperspectral
remote sensing data, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology, (in press).
Chasmer, L., A. Barr, C. Hopkinson, H. McCaughey, P.
Treitz, A. Black, and A. Shashkov, 2009. Scaling and assessment of GPP
from MODIS using a combination of airborne lidar and eddy covariance measurements
over jack pine forests. Remote Sensing of Environment, 113: 82-93.
Chasmer, L., C. Hopkinson, P. Treitz, H. McCaughey,
A. Barr, and A. Black. 2008. A lidar-based hierarchical approach for assessing
MODIS fPAR. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112:4344-4357.
Woods, M., K. Lim, and P. Treitz. 2008. Predicting forest stand variables
from LiDAR data in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Forest of Ontario, Forestry
Chronicle, 84(6): 827-839.
Chasmer, L., N. Kljun, A. Barr, A. Black, C. Hopkinson,
H. McCaughey, and P. Treitz. 2008. Influences of vegetation structure
and elevation on CO2 uptake in a mature jack pine forest in Saskatchewan,
Canada, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 38: 2746-2761.
Lim, K., C. Hopkinson, and P. Treitz. 2008. Examining the effects of sampling
point densities on laser canopy height and density metrics for forest
studies at the plot level, Forestry Chronicle, 84(6): 876-885.
Chasmer, L., A. Barr, A. Black, H. McCaughey, A. Shashkov,
and P. Treitz, 2008. Investigating light use efficiency (LUE) across a
jack pine chronosequence during dry and wet years. Tree Physiology, 28(9):1395-1406.
Laidler, G., P. Treitz, and D. Atkinson,
2008. Estimating Percent-Vegetation Cover in the Canadian Arctic: The
utility of multi-resolution remote sensing data and vegetation indices,
Arctic, 61(1):1-13.
Thomas, V., P. Treitz, J.H. McCaughey, T. Noland, and
L. Rich, 2008. Canopy chlorophyll concentration estimation using hyperspectral
and lidar data for a boreal mixedwood forest in northern Ontario, Canada.
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29(4):1029-1052.
Thomas, V., D. Finch, J.H. McCaughey, T. Noland, L.
Rich, and P. Treitz, 2006. Spatial modelling of the fraction of photosynthetically
active radiation absorbed by a boreal mixedwood forest using a lidar-hyperspectral
approach, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology, 140:287-307.
Lamoureux, S.F., D.M. McDonald, J.M.H. Cockburn, M. Lafrenière,
D. Atkinson, and P. Treitz 2006. An incidence of multi-year
sediment storage on channel snowpack in the Canadian High Arctic, Arctic,
59(4):381-390.
Chasmer, L., C. Hopkinson, B. Smith,
and P. Treitz, 2006. Examining the influence of changing laser pulse repetition
frequencies on conifer forest canopy returns, Photogrammetric Engineering
and Remote Sensing, 72(12): 1359-1367.
Thomas, V., P. Treitz, J.H. McCaughey, and I. Morrison,
2006. Mapping stand-level forest biophysical variables for a mixedwood
boreal forest using LiDAR: an examination of scanning density, Canadian
Journal of Forest Research, 36:34-47.
Chasmer, L., C. Hopkinson, and P.
Treitz, 2006. Investigating laser pulse penetration through a conifer
canopy by integrating airborne and terrestrial lidar, Canadian Journal
of Remote Sensing, 32(2):116-125.
Prenzel, B., and P. Treitz, 2006. Spectral and spatial
filtering for enhanced thematic change analysis of remotely sensed data,
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 27(5):835-854.
Hopkinson, C., L. Chasmer, K.
Lim, P. Treitz, and I. Creed, 2006. Towards a universal lidar
canopy height indicator, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 32(2):139-152.
Hopkinson, C., L. Chasmer, G. Sass,
I. Creed, M. Sitar, W. Kalbfleisch, and P. Treitz, 2005. Assessing vegetation
height and canopy volume in a Boreal wetland complex using airborne scanning
LiDAR, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 31(2):191-206.
Prenzel, B., and P. Treitz, 2005. Comparison of function-
and structure-based schemes for classification of remotely sensed data,
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26(3):543-561.
Lim, K., and P. Treitz, 2004. Estimation of aboveground
forest biomass from airborne discrete return laser scanner data using
canopy-based quantile estimators, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research,
19:558-570.
Hopkinson, C., L. Chasmer, C. Young-Pow,
and P. Treitz, 2004. Assessing Forest Metrics with a Ground-based Scanning
LiDAR, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 34:573-583.
Treitz, P.M., (Guest Editor), 2004. Remote Sensing for Mapping and Monitoring
Land-Cover and Land-Use Change, Progress in Planning, 61(3): 261-384.
Treitz, P.M., and J. Rogan, 2004. Remote Sensing for Mapping and Monitoring
Land-Cover and Land-Use Change – An Introduction, In Remote Sensing
for Mapping Land Cover and Land Use Change, Ed., P.M. Treitz, Progress
in Planning 61(3): 269-279.
Prenzel, B., and P. Treitz, 2004. Remote Sensing of
Land-Cover and Land-Use Change for a Complex Tropical Watershed in North
Sulawesi, Indonesia, In Remote Sensing for Mapping Land-Cover and Land-Use
Change, Ed., P.M. Treitz, Progress in Planning 61(3): 349-363.
Hopkinson, C., M. Sitar, L. Chasmer,
P. Treitz, 2004. Mapping Snowpack Depth beneath Forest Canopies Using
Airborne LiDAR, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 70(3):323-330.
* Names in bold indicate graduate students and Post Doctoral Fellows.
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Dr.
Paul M. Treitz
Biography