Research Methods: Sampling and Vegetation (PowerPoint)

 For a class on research methods in geography.

My Prodigy

Dylan has taken interest in every single country on this glorious Earth.  Even small ones like Kiribati and Kosovo have tingled his imagination.  But how do I explain to a five-year-old the tumultuous history of a place like Kosovo that led to its formation?  Some countries don't even recognize its existence, as if it were still part of Serbia.  As if the struggle for independence, the attempted genocide of Albanian Muslims never even happened.  He wants to know what the people there are like, what happened in this little country to distinguish it from the others.  I don't know, I told him. 

The whole Balkan region is a geographical mess.  He is used to the way things are on his globe and World Game, where boundaries are in order and never change.  Where people appear to be content with their nationalities.  Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.  Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.  Croatia, Albania, and the rest; all fragments of a shattered Yugoslavia that failed on its promise to integrate the land of the Slavs.  Nationalism, the overblown fountain of pride, raising animosity in disparate peoples, has thankfully never entered his conscience.  Countries like these may as well have no boundaries.

Which would do well for me against him in the World Game.  I tried 100% to beat him yesterday, and he still pulled it off.  He is smarter than a Jew teaching quantum mechanics.  My prodigy will be far better at geography than I ever was.

King vs Trump: The Court's Legacy Decision

Once the dust has settled on our country and it is long gone, the ideology that marked its legacy will weigh heaviest on a scale of justice.  The two strongest ideologies in our country are racially based, whether we recognize it or not.  We fought the Civil War over racial justice, the result echoing through to today.  There has never been an extended military conflict on our soil that didn't involve race.  It runs through our blood, like the pathogen of a incurable disease.

Martin Luther King Jr. would have been a prophet in Biblical times.  He stood up for the oppressed, gave up his life for the opportunity to change society, and preached for equality like none before him.  He was crucified by tyrants of oppression, like the religious zealots of antiquity.  He charged his sermons with so much racial activism that it disrupted the established order.  Being imprisoned 29 times didn't phase him.  Many times he willingly turned himself in, to make the power of civil disobience stronger.  The effect made his followers all the more adamant that they were right, that the law didn't apply to them, that nothing could stop them, for they were sanctioned by God.

Fast forward to today and we have a similar public figure who is fanatically lauded for his determination and charisma, but for the opposite ideology.  Trump's positions on race and immigration are the reverse of King's principles of inclusion.  Misinformation and ignorance are given a pass for the sake of staying consolidated.  A poorly handled pandemic and attempted insurrection didn't change people's minds.  Anything he says and does is applauded by mobs of people, as if he were the same caliber preacher King was, albeit a corrupt one.  Perhaps the most amazing parallel is that his recent legal proceedings are perceived in the same manner King's was: unfair prosecution that is politically motivated in an attempt to silence an enlightened and dangerous person, someone who threatens the perceived order of establishment.

King was given a holiday and canonized by the Holy Orthodox Church.  If Trump is victorious in changing society, imagine the accolades he will receive.  He may be far removed from sainthood, but Evangelicals are the most vociferous of his advocates.  Trump is a hero in the eyes of many religious fanatics, having populated the Supreme Court with justices that overturned Roe v Wade.  And what would the court say after America turns to ash, when the ideologies of King v Trump clash for the final determination of our legacy by historians?  The 5-4 vote will have to favor someone.  

Progress is sometimes a bumpy road.  It will depend on whether the next bump lasts longer than America's death.

Majolica

  It was the finest city in the world. People came for miles to witness its beauty. The buildings were glazed mandalas of innumerable color, shapened by architects and artisans that sang hallelujah to the heavens. Kama sutra poses were sculpted in relief on tanned temples between ceramic towers. Majolica the blessed, Majolica the naked, landlocked jewel in the Vanilla Mountains. The people were free, inequality was low, education was permanent, war abolished. It was ruled by women.

 Until one day the men came, and it was destroyed. Glass shattered in malachite shards, beauty parlors obliviated by violence. They pillaged, they raped, they overthrew the matriarchs. Majolica the flayed, Majolica the defiled, sunken ship of broken treasures in a sea of sorrow. All that survived were words, a single book unearthed from the rubble. It spoke of a utopia that nobody believed could exist, that gradually spread to the corners of the world fringed by the old order. It was the story of her existence, that lost city which honored truth, and therefore beauty. Her tendrils crawled out of the crypt of history, wrapped around every modern city, choked the engineered throat, rose from the dead. Emancipated by words, they were her victory march. 

 You can't kill an idea. You can't learn more from victory than defeat.

Small Black Holes Causing Dark Matter

  What we know of as dark matter could merely be a sea of miniature black holes that surround the galaxys in their halos. The rotational velocity could be so slow that they don't contract and sink into each other, creating bigger ones. And if they did, satellite galaxys that are smaller than their parent may develop, which could be the process in our Milky Way.

 Black holes can be small enough for this to happen. If you shrink the mass of the sun into the size of a mountain, a black hole would be there, a fairly weak at that. If you did the same with the Earth, it would be the size of an inch, and proportionally weaker. Add up all the potential matter and black holes surrounding the galaxy, and you have a good recipe for dark matter.

 I haven't the faintest idea how this mechanism would have started. An analogy with starbirth may be appropriate. It seems that in the early universe, countless black holes could have developed as matter began pooling. Only the ones that developed in the center of galaxiess would have grown to supermassive sizes.

 This is similar to the way a planet forms; all the pieces that combine to form it come together at different stages, like black holes combining at the center of a galaxy. Outside our solar system, there are billions of lost planetary fragments that never combine due to their distance from the center. The same thing could have happened far from the center of our galaxy, where a halo if black holes may be orbiting it.

Star Factory

  Ovulation of cosmogenesis the clock balloon manufacturers, inflating wisps of ionic-amniotic fluid, magnetized aflame, burning to forge creation, the proteins swarming as toolbits, constructing a ladder to the rainbow. Fetal smiles that shine over the gaseous garden like angels in bondage, dancing in time lapse as the embryos take shape, goldenrod fingers probing the distance, softly gathering momentum for a birthday in heaven. Swirling they tune in spherical distortion the angular collapse of energy, planting bones in the disks, seeds of cadency aloft taking root, where harmony becomes inaudible. They fuse, they explode, they see the light, bursting through the continuum on wings of pain, the core erupting, the mother screaming, the elements convalescing, assembling order from disaster. She holds them, her planets in blankets, caressing them to orbit in a gravity of love, forever caring, forever smiling, the nebula parting for their home, a place in a basket, a warm place.

Article Review: Habitats of Biological Communities on the Korean Peninsula

Introduction

            Landscapes are often classified to monitor biodiversity levels in a region.  As they are constantly being reformed over time through geological processes like erosion, weathering, and sedimentation (Kim et al 2021, 2), so are the distributions of organisms that live there.  In this study, the Korean Peninsula was topologically monitored using various techniques to classify its landscapes, mainly involving remote sensing techniques.  Biological habitats were classified using satellite imagery, a digital elevation model (DEM), weather data, and biological survey data (ibid. 2).  The findings could potentially apply to the conservation of land and biodiversity on the Korean Peninsula.

 

Literature Review

            Research on the Korean Peninsula is necessary to establish biogeographic regions that would promote land conservation (ibid. 2).  Damage to landforms caused by anthropogenic use and climate change need to be considered when delineating these regions, since both are encroaching on ecosystems around the world (ibid. 2).  There are many ways humans and climate change impact ecosystems, including contamination of water, land, and air, and the destruction or reduction of habitat.  Thus, the investigation of microclimates associated with bioregional communities should be recorded for government evaluation.

 

Background and Geographical Context

The Korean Peninsula is in East Asia along the Pacific Coast, at a mid-latitude location (ibid. 2).  Because of its proximity to the ocean, it experiences “simultaneous influences of continental and maritime climates” (ibid. 2).  High altitude locations are on the north and east of the peninsula, while the south contains more soil-rich environments (ibid. 2).  There are many forests on the peninsula, mainly in the lowlands but also in subalpine areas (ibid. 2-3), with many varieties of deciduous and coniferous trees.  The variety of these attributes suggests a broad range of bioregions in the area.

 

Methods Used

 Remote sensing was the main resource used for the study.  According to Gomez and Jones (2010, 56), remote sensing involves collecting data on the earth’s surface that isn’t through direct contact.  Rather, indirect contact is used through data collected by sensors on satellite or airborne instruments, which transmit information about the earth’s surface in a variety of ways, including light detection (Lidar), infrared, and photogrammetry.  The researcher can extract this data by downloading it from a public domain server (ibid. 158) that is typically offered by a government organization.  Processing the data is a key step in the process, as a lot of it comes from raw information that is meaningless without referencing.  For instance, geometric correction and geo-referencing are required (ibid. 162) because images are inherently distorted due to variations in terrain and sensor imperfections.  This geoprocessing is typically done through a GIS package, inevitably being convenient because the images can be mapped on it as well.

In the North Korean study, a variety of data was downloaded from public domain websites to create a landscape hierarchy with the assistance of remote sensing.  The DEM was downloaded from USGS.gov to map elevation of the terrain (Kim et al 2021, 3).  A DEM is a representation of the ground that excludes surface objects (USGS, n.d.), deriving from either a topographic map, radar from satellites, or Lidar.  Because the DEM did not cover every land classification, other remote sensing tools were needed.  A digital topographic map (DTM) was downloaded from the Korea National Geographic Information Institute to be used for the classification of small habitats (ibid. 4).  The DTM provides a digital model of terrain for precision measurements and optimal planning (Innoter, n.d.).  Sentinel 2 satellite images were also used to evaluate areas in which the DTM could not be used (ibid. 4), providing data on vegetation cover to help determine classification boundaries. 

These maps and images were compiled to be indexed on a classification map that was based on the DEM.  A diversity index was calculated for each grid cell on the output raster (ibid. 5), while relief analysis was used to classify major landform elements (ibid. 5).  Relief analysis is an evaluation of the distance between highest and lowest points on a landform.  Spatial information for watersheds, a key bioregional indicator, “was extracted from the DEM using the hydrological modeling tool in ArcGIS” (ibid. 6).  The hydrological modeling tool allows a GIS user to determine flow direction and delineate watersheds based on a DEM raster (ESRI, n.d.).  All these elements were normalized for the raster map, which the researchers found most useful to classify habitats.

 

Analysis and Discussion

            62 main habitat types and 437 sub-habitat types were found on the Korean Peninsula using these methods (ibid. 18).  Landforms were categorized into mountain types, plains, alluvial landforms, coast landforms, Baekdudaegan, and the demilitarized zone (ibid 18).  A factor analysis of the classifications found that aspect, slope, landform, and biodiversity had the greatest effect on biological communities (ibid. 11).  Factor analysis is a way of simplifying a broad range of variables by reducing them to fewer numbers of factors (Statistics Solutions, n.d.).  Because remote sensing can uncover so many attributes, the researchers were able to use multiple sources to classify areas based on this factor analysis.  

A drawback is that remote sensing can be elaborate and complicated, especially when so many variables are involved.  For instance, this study had many components that a lay person wouldn’t understand, but a seasoned geographer would.  Measurement uncertainty and resolution errors can also pose a problem.

 

Conclusion

             Remote sensing was a valuable tool in the study because it allowed the researchers to classify numerous landforms without having to directly observe them.  It was also a convenient way to retrieve information on the ecosystems of the Korean Peninsula.  Though there were resolution issues, the researchers corrected them by normalizing the data.  The study is beneficial for conservation efforts on the peninsula because it clearly delineates the boundaries where indicator species flourish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

E.S.R.I. “Hydrology Analysis Sample Applications”. Accessed March 5, 2024. https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/spatial-analyst/hydrologic-analysis-sample-applications.htm

Gomez, Basil, and John Paul Jones III. Research Methods in Geography. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2010.

Innoter.  “Digital Topographic Maps.”  Accessed March 5, 2024. https://innoter.com/en/services/kartografiya/digital-topographic-maps/

Kim Nam Shin, Jin Yeol Cha and Chi Hong Lim. Hierarchical Landform Delineation for the Habitats of Biological Communities on the Korean Peninsula. Plos One 16, no. 11 (2021): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259651

Statistics Solutions.  “Factor Analysis”.  Complete Dissertation.  Accessed March 3, 2024. https://www.statisticssolutions.com/free-resources/directory-of-statistical-analyses/factor-analysis/

U.S.G.S.  “What is a Digital Elevation Model?”.  Accessed March 5, 2024.  https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-digital-elevation-model-dem