The Painted Hills: Exploration of 3D visualization and hologram generation as tools for conservation and ecological analysis

Abstract

The Painted Hills areas of Oregon area home to several endemics species. The landscapes themselves are geologically ephemeral and erode away over the course of 100s of years and some may erode at rates up to several cm a year. In the process, new painted hill zones are exposed potentially providing habitat to the local endemic species. The hills are derived from volcanic ash and become striated by the redox reactions of minerals in the ash layers which have now become paleosols or ancient soils. The hills support a set of seven plant association and the greater areas support prominently western juniper/sagebrush communities. Mapping these associations, understanding why these associations may be related to specific topographic positions on the landscape, and identifying specific niche habitat of the endemic species are current and future goals of the project. This project looked at how using UAV/drone imagery, structure from motion (SfM) data modeling, and visualization tools such as the Microsoft Hololens can aid in better understanding the landscape and these niche habitat for endemic species.