B.S.F. or B.Sc.F. Bachelor of Science in Forestry Bachelor of Science in Forestry: Remote Sensing and GIS in Forestry 2

Question 1

A forester wants to identify all areas within 500 meters of a stream network to define riparian buffer zones in a GIS. Which spatial analysis function should be used?

Accepted Answer

Buffer

Answer

A Buffer operation creates a zone of specified distance around a feature (such as a stream), which is the standard GIS method for delineating riparian protection areas.

Question 2

What is 'ground-truthing' in the context of forest remote sensing?

Accepted Answer

Verifying classified map results with field observations

Answer

Ground-truthing involves visiting sample locations in the field to compare observed conditions with remote sensing classifications, enabling accuracy assessment of the resulting maps.

Question 3

Which unsupervised image classification method groups pixels into clusters based on spectral similarity without requiring prior training samples?

Accepted Answer

K-means clustering

Answer

K-means clustering is an unsupervised algorithm that iteratively groups pixels into a predefined number of spectrally similar clusters without requiring analyst-provided training data.

Question 4

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is used in forestry GIS primarily for which purpose?

Accepted Answer

Deriving terrain attributes such as slope, aspect, and watershed boundaries

Answer

A DEM represents bare-earth elevation and allows foresters to derive slope, aspect, curvature, and watershed boundaries that are critical for hydrology, site classification, and harvest planning.

Question 5

Which spectral index is specifically designed to detect and map burned forest areas following a wildfire?

Accepted Answer

NBR (Normalized Burn Ratio)

Answer

NBR (Normalized Burn Ratio) uses near-infrared and shortwave infrared bands to highlight burned forest areas and assess burn severity, and is the standard index for post-fire mapping.

B.S.F. or B.Sc.F. Bachelor of Science in Forestry Practice Test

B.S.F. or B.Sc.F. Bachelor of Science in Forestry Practice Test

B.S.F. or B.Sc.F. Bachelor of Science in Forestry Bachelor of Science in Forestry: Remote Sensing and GIS in Forestry 2