Research Overview

We ask how people, land, climate, and biodiversity affect each other. We study housing growth and its ecological effects, land cover and land use change, wildlife habitat and biodiversity patterns, and how weather affects them. Much of our research examines broad spatial scales, and common tools include remote sensing, GIS, field datasets, and statistical modeling. We strive to be one of the top research labs in the world that link remote sensing, land use change, and biodiversity.

We collaborate closely with land managers and researchers in organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Audubon Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and The Nature Conservancy so that our research is readily translated into conservation actions.

SILVIS RESEARCH

Legend

All Research Stories

How well can deep learning models explain multiscale hierarchical habitat selection in birds?
September 21, 2023
Performance of novel remotely-sensed variables in maps of bird species distributions in Argentina
September 18, 2023
Arctic waterfowl migration through Eurasian steppe: how to catch short-term environmental conditions and identify key migratory habitats using satellite images
August 28, 2023
Comparing Approaches to Identify Protected Areas for Wildlife across the U.S.
August 23, 2023
Changing fire regimes due to WUI growth in Mediterranean landscapes
August 23, 2023
Quantifying the impact of long-term trends in circumboreal annual growing season severe wildfire weather on burned area (1983-2020)
August 23, 2023
How has half a century of land cover changes altered habitats of ungulates in the biologically diverse Caucasus?
August 22, 2023
The global Wildland-Urban Interface and associated wildfire risk to people
August 22, 2023
Forest phenoclusters for Argentina based on vegetation phenology and climate
August 22, 2023
Spatio-temporal remotely sensed indices identify hotspots of biodiversity conservation concern in Argentina
August 22, 2023
The Benefits of Satellite Data for Wildlife Species Distribution Models Across the US
August 21, 2023
Mapping the human footprint in the forests of Argentina
August 11, 2023
Land cover and land abandonment maps of the Eurasian Steppe for biological research
April 13, 2021
Flying insect abundance in northern Wisconsin depends on lakes, vegetation, and time of the summer
March 11, 2021
Evaluating Trends in Arctic Sea Ice Loss Using the Multi-Decadal SMMR/SMMI Passive Microwave Archive (1979-2020)
February 8, 2021
Developing the Dynamic Habitat Indices from Landsat satellite data to assess bird richness and bird abundance in conterminous U.S.
February 8, 2021
50 years of housing growth in the WUI in California
February 8, 2021
Land cover mapping in the Caucasus for the 1960s from Corona satellite imagery
February 8, 2021
Deriving the Winter Habitat Indices (WHIs) from satellite data for biodiversity and conservation applications around the world
January 28, 2021
Rethinking Peatland Fire: Detecting frequent fire in peatlands of the Great Lakes Region to support its ecological role in management and conservation
January 8, 2021
On leaves, bugs and birds – how topography influences spring phenology, and habitat quality for birds in the Baraboo Hills
February 6, 2019
What is driving land degradation in the Caucasus Mountains?
February 6, 2019
Large land cover and land use change mapping in the Caucasus Mountains since 1987
January 17, 2019
A Tale of Two Birds: Determining the success of Steller’s Jay management and its effect on the conservation of the endangered Marbled Murrelet in coastal old-growth redwood forests
December 17, 2018
Urbanization’s Effects on Avian Predator Occupancy and Citizen Science’s Contribution
December 13, 2018
Using texture analysis of Landsat satellite imagery to map habitat heterogeneity and avian biodiversity across the conterminous U.S.
December 13, 2018
Here to stay: Endangered Kirtland’s warblers call red pine dominated plantations in Wisconsin home
December 13, 2018
A New Frontier for Dynamic Habitat Indices: Predicting Animal Abundance
December 13, 2018
Monitoring the dynamics of abandoned agriculture and fallow with Landsat and Sentinel 2 time series
December 13, 2018
Quantifying the spatial distribution and socio-economic drivers of small holder tree planting in Tanzania
November 14, 2018
Reconstructing the Past to Protect the Future: Understanding the Historic Role of Fire in Shaping and Maintaining Forested Wetlands
November 1, 2018
Sacred Forests in northwest Yunnan, China – a conservation priority?
June 2, 2016
One foot in conservation, one in the Ivory tower: The challenges of doing research AND making a difference
February 2, 2016
Should I stay or should I go? Patterns of building and re-building after wildfires
January 28, 2016
Where and how well are mongooses doing in Puerto Rico?
January 20, 2016
The differential importance of aquatic insect productivity on terrestrial, insectivorous bird guilds
January 7, 2016
Measuring trail use with remote detectors
January 7, 2016
Finding critical habitat for jaguars when potential distributions of species is not enough: Connectivity to the rescue
January 7, 2016
Satellite Classification of Tree Species
January 6, 2016
Working with managers – sharing research results, and getting feedback on research on extreme climate events
January 6, 2016
Understanding the effect of extreme weather events on grasslands birds in the U.S.
June 10, 2015
Habitat connectivity for the Indochinese tiger in Thailand
January 14, 2015
Forest Changes in the Altay
January 14, 2015
Forest birds in the sacred forests of Yunnan, China: what do they need for habitat?
January 14, 2015
Evaluating the influence of conservation plans on land protection actions in Wisconsin
January 14, 2015
Why do some houses burn and others do not when a wildfire hits?
January 1, 2015
The dynamic habitat index and biodiversity in Thailand
April 1, 2014
Where should we burn? Prioritizing prescribed fire in Wisconsin
March 31, 2014
Recreational trails are affecting bird reproduction
March 31, 2014
Change in alpine wetlands of Southwest China and its implications for wintering Black-necked Cranes
March 31, 2014
Using Land Use Change Projections to Estimate Threats to Freshwater Ecoystems
March 10, 2014
Pay attention to the man behind the curtain: David Helmers and the servers that keep SILVIS going!
January 30, 2014
The role of ecosystem services in park-people relationships: The case of Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve in southwest China
January 28, 2014
The power of maps and the beauty of old ones
January 16, 2014
The potential effects of extreme weather events on bird reproductive output
January 16, 2014
The importance of riparian forests to conservation and landscape connectivity in temperate Chile
January 16, 2014
People’s attitudes toward protected areas matter – but at what scale?
January 16, 2014
It is getting weirder – extreme events in satellite records
January 16, 2014
Forest degradation in Mexico and spectral mixture analysis
January 16, 2014
Birds that Love Insects that Love Lakes: How Insect Populations and Lake Characteristics Impact Avian Aerial Insectivores in Northern Wisconsin
January 16, 2014
Using Bayesian statistics to predict housing growth in the U.S.
January 15, 2014
If you can’t stand when it gets dry, fly north: Dickcissels reliably track extreme weather events in the Midwestern United States
January 15, 2014
Do birds track climate or weather?
January 15, 2014
Always on the bright side of life: removing clouds and their shadows in satellite imagery
April 2, 2013
Helping to train the next generation of conservation scientists: running the IGERT on biodiversity conservation in novel ecosystems
February 28, 2013
Where will novel ecosystems in the United States exist in the future?
February 26, 2013
Future land use changes and their potential impact on the Nation’s areas of biodiversity significance
February 26, 2013
Vegetation structure and bird populations across the U.S.
February 25, 2013
Conservation conflicts: Housing growth in conservation priority areas in Wisconsin
February 25, 2013
Importance is important: Using more reliable but less common methods for determining the importance of ecological variables
February 4, 2013
Assessing landscape suitability for reintroduction of American marten (Martes americana) using an agent-based model
February 4, 2013
Where do fires destroy homes in the United States?
January 28, 2013
Oases along the flyway: Identifying stopover sites for migratory birds in the southeastern U.S.
January 28, 2013
Massaging the U.S. Census to look at the WUI and at housing growth trends
January 28, 2013
It’s all a game – Land Use and Conservation in everyone’s hands
January 28, 2013
How are birds breeding in New England affected by the weather?
January 28, 2013
Housing development is eroding the value of protected lands
January 28, 2013
Hot moments for biodiversity conservation – Social and political transitions as opportunities for conservation
January 28, 2013
The extinction of the Caucasian bison to the creation of a new subspecies
January 24, 2013
Small-versus large-scale farming in Eastern Europe
January 24, 2013
Monitoring of deforestation and forest degradation in Mexico
January 24, 2013
When a tree falls in the woods, can a satellite image tell you why?
January 17, 2013
Park-people relationships: are we using a glass half empty approach?
January 17, 2013
Monitoring forest disturbance and re-growth from dense time series of satellite imagery stacks in the Carpathians
January 17, 2013
Forest Songbirds and Extreme Weather: How do Drought, Heat Waves, and Cold Snaps Affect Birds?
January 17, 2013
Understanding where we’ve been: implications of land-use legacies in the Carpathians for future conservation and planning initiatives
January 16, 2013
Necessity spawns plasticity: Siberian Cranes abandon specialist foraging behaviors after an extreme flood event
August 9, 2011
Why and where do fires start (in the Huron National Forest)?
August 3, 2011
Why and where did farmers abandon their fields in the Ukraine?
August 3, 2011
Magic inspires science: documenting forest pattern change in Mexico’s Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve and what it means for its biodiversity and its people
August 3, 2011
Do we help birds when we help butterflies? Effects of oak savanna restoration for Karner blue butterfly on savanna bird communities
August 3, 2011
Habitat connectivity of European Bison in the Carpathians- bringing together subpopulations of an almost extinct species in the wild
August 2, 2011
Going, going, going – gone! The loss of alpine meadows in Yunnan
August 2, 2011
Predicting Broad-scale Patterns of Avian Biodiversity with Landsat Image Texture
July 28, 2011
Housing Growth, Conservation Corridors, and the United States National Wildlife Refuge System
July 28, 2011
Change in and near Kavkaskzy Nature Reserve in the Caucasus Mountains
July 28, 2011
How are fires in western Mexico affecting hummingbirds?
July 27, 2011
Deforestation patterns in Mexico, and the effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services programs
July 27, 2011
Conservation planning for two of Wisconsin’s most treasured landscapes: the Baraboo Hills and the Northwest pine barrens
November 15, 2010
Weaving the conservation landscape: habitat connectivity and the future of the National Wildlife Refuge System
November 10, 2010
New multi-scale landscape indices for spatial pattern analysis
September 28, 2010
Land-cover change, people and jaguars – remote sensing or close sensing?
September 15, 2010
The potential of image texture for measuring vertical vegetation structure
August 9, 2010
The Collapse of Socialism and the Rise of Fire in Kalmykia
August 9, 2010
Something hit me: Moose movement and vehicle collisions in northern Sweden
August 9, 2010
Patterns and processes of agricultural abandonment in Eastern Europe
August 9, 2010
Modeling habitat use patterns of critically endangered Siberian Cranes and other wintering waterbirds in Poyang Lake, People’s Republic of China
August 9, 2010
Land use scenarios and effects on bird habitat in Northern Wisconsin
August 9, 2010
It’s getting hot – heatwave and drought effects on birds
August 9, 2010
Institutional change and logging in post-Soviet Russia
August 9, 2010
If you build it, they will come – but can you still conserve biodiversity?
August 9, 2010
Simulating future land use across the United States
July 30, 2010
Zoning has heterogeneous effects on housing growth, but in most cases is not strong enough to affect ecosystem functions
July 15, 2010
Things aren’t as they used to be: forest disturbance, birds, and the shifting baseline syndrome
July 15, 2010
Patterns of logging in the last two decades in temperate forests of Russia
July 15, 2010
Of lasers, forests, birds, and collaboration: using LiDAR to predict forest structure and songbird species richness
July 15, 2010
Housing growth and road density in and near Park Service holdings in the Midwest
July 15, 2010
Optimizing fuel treatment locations in the WUI
July 14, 2010
Studying Intertwined Networks of Human-Natural Relationships in Northwest Yunnan, China
March 4, 2010
Urban Sprawl Supports Rapid Invasions By Non-Native Plant Species
February 1, 2010
Post-USSR Land Cover Change in Eastern Europe – Socioeconomic Forcings, Effects on Biodiversity, and Future Scenarios
January 28, 2010
Mapping Large Areas: New Possibilities Opened by Chain Classification
January 28, 2010
Can Wisconsin’s Wood Warblers Cope With the Loss of Oaks?
January 28, 2010
The Legacy of Past Housing Patterns is Important to Explain Today’s Plant Invasions
January 27, 2010