Amanda Cooper
PhD Student
Department
Team
Spatial Analysis and Data Science
Specialism
Spatial Analysis, Lidar (Aerial and Terrestrial), UAV, Ecosystem Services, Natural Capital, Survey, Fieldwork, GIS, GPS, Image analysis
I am a PhD student with the London NERC Doctoral Training Program based at Royal Holloway University London and Kew Gardens. My research is focused on developing a better understanding of the effect tree species richness on canopy structure in boreal forests. I aim to characterize and quantify canopy structure using cutting-edge field survey techniques; using UAV’s and terrestrial LiDAR to provide 3D models of forests canopy structure. An additional objective of my research is to exploit canopy structure as a mechanism for three important ecosystem services; understory plant diversity, above-ground biomass storage and edible fruit production. My background is in remote sensing and GIS. I have worked at Kew the last 6 years of my career as a Spatial Information Scientist working on a variety of projects including State of the Worlds Plants and State of the Worlds Fungi, a Google Impact Challenge project looking at the mosquito-plant interactions and mapping the vegetation of Lomas vegetation in coastal Peru. My previous research projects include ground-based LiDAR mapping of tropical canopy structure, mapping selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon and global land cover mapping using MODIS satellite data.
- MA, Geography, Boston University, USA, 2001
- BA, Environmental Science, Boston University, USA 2000
Hawkes, F.M., Manin, B.O., Cooper, A., et al.(2019).
Vector compositions change across forested to deforested ecotones in emerging areas of zoonotic malaria transmission in Malaysia.
Scientific Reports 9: 13312.
Weishampel, J.F., Drake, J.B., Cooper, A., Blair, J.B., Hofton, M., (2007).
Forest canopy recovery from the 1938 hurricane and subsequent salvage damage measured with airborne LiDAR.
Remote Sensing of Environment 109: 142–153.
Asner, G.P., Knapp, D.E., Cooper, A.N., Bustamante, M., Olander, L.P. (2005).
Ecosystem Structure throughout the Brazilian Amazon from Landsat Observations and Automated Spectral Unmixing.
Earth Interactions 9.
Friedl, M.A., McIver, D.K., Hodges, J.C., Zhang, X.Y., Muchoney, D., Strahler, A.H., Woodcock, C.E., Gopal, S., Schneider, A. & Cooper, A. (2002).
Global land cover mapping from MODIS: algorithms and early results.
Remote Sensing of Environment 83: 287–302.