Funded Projects

Dr. Zurqani has awarded funding (Total: $511,624$$$) for several exciting projects (#8). Six of these projects are still in progress, while two have been completed. You can find more details about each project by visiting the project's website using the links below. Also, do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to learn more about these projects.

Ongoing Projects (#6)

Using Machine Learning and Google Earth Engine to Develop a High-Resolution (1 m²) Forest Canopy Cover Dataset: A Case Study of Arkansas, USA

This study presents a case study of the first generation of the Forest Canopy Cover (FCC) dataset at a spatial resolution of 1 meter using a high-resolution aerial imagery dataset on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI)

Funds:

Financial support for this project was provided by the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Research Incentive Grant Award (DS77512-UADA-AES-UAMF-RIG). 06/01/2023-05/31/2025, $29,948$$$

Responses of Red Oak Species Differing in Their Flood Tolerance to Extreme Climatic Events

The main objectives of this project are: 1) to generate a vulnerability map in BHF based on the dryness potential using elevation and spectral canopy index, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and 2) to evaluate the impact of past instances of flooding and drought events on the growth and physiological performance of mature trees of red oak species differing in flood tolerance, and relate tree performance to expected future climate.

Project team members: Marco Yáñez (PI) with Hamdi A. Zurqani and Benjamin A. Babst (Co-PIs)

Funds:

Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC), USA. 08/01/2024-07/31/2026, $124,779$$$

Applications in Remote Sensing to Assess the Quality and Quantity of Emergent Marsh for Waterfowl and Other Wetland Bird Species in the Arkansas Delta

This project aims to provide a remote sensing integrated approach that can substantially improve the resolution and accuracy of the classifications of emergent marsh within the study area and will demonstrate the energetic value of emergent marsh wetlands for waterfowl.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI) with Osborne Douglas and Ryan Askren (Co-PIs)

Funds:

This project is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (F23AC02581-00-UADA-AES-UAMF-USFWS). 08/02/2023-08/01/2025, $51,153$$$

Characterization of FOAgREC soils and development of fine-scale soil properties maps

This research project involves sampling and analyzing soils from green-tree reservoirs in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, followed by modeling using various digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques to develop a robust approach capable of estimating soil properties at unsampled locations.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI) with Robert Ficklin and Osborne C. Douglas (Co-PIs)

Funds:

This project is funded by the Five Oaks Agriculture Research and Education Center (DS18849-UADA-AES-UAMF-Five Oaks) in partnership with the University of Arkansas at Monticello (College of Forestry Agriculture and Natural Resources). The project is scheduled to run from 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2024 with a total fund of ($114,304$$$) from FoAgREC. Besides, the UAM-CFANR is contributing ($180,000$$$), which includes funding for two graduate assistants and one program technician. This brings the total funding amount to ($294,304$$$).

Monitoring the response of waterbirds and vegetation to the drawdown of Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge

This project aims to help the National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) staff better understand the effects of the drawdown and inform the timing and frequency of this practice in the future.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI) with Douglas C. Osborne (Co-PI)

Funds:

This project is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (F22AC03106-UADA-AES-UAMF-FWA). 08/15/2022-12/31/2024, $24,000$$$

Validating a Remotely Sensed Vegetation Classification Model to Mathews Brake National Wildlife Refuge to Enable Operational Monitoring

The aim of this project is to help NWR staff better understand the effects of the drawdown to support adaptive management using new technology, partnerships, and leverage.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI) with Douglas C. Osborne (Co-PI)

Funds:

This project is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (F23AC02581-00-UADA-AES-UAMF-USFWS). 08/15/2023-12/31/2024, $32,000$$$

Completed Projects (#2)

Mapping and monitoring the spatial and temporal variation of agricultural and meteorological drought in Arkansas, USA

This study aims to use remote sensing indices to assess the relationship between drought and vegetation in Arkansas, USA. The primary goal of this study is to develop Google Earth Engine (GEE)-based datasets, tools, and maps that can evaluate the impact of drought on vegetation cover in Arkansas over the past decades and make them publicly available on the geospatial web to support the development of sustainable water management in Arkansas.

Project team members: Hamdi A. Zurqani (PI) with Don White Jr. (Co-PI)

Funds:

This project is funded by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 104B Grant Program from the Arkansas Water Resources Center (USGS-G21AP10581-01) and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM-Forestry Agriculture and Natural Resources-Graduate Assistants). 09/01/2022-08/31/2023, $25,440$$$

Mallard use of southern bottomland hardwoods: using GPS-accelerometers to assess fine-scale habitat selection and time budgets

The purpose of this research is to fill knowledge gaps in our understanding of how environmental and anthropogenic stressors directly impact mallard movement and behaviors in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Project team members: Douglas C. Osborne (PI) with Hamdi A. Zurqani and Ryan Askren (Co-PIs)

Funds:

This project is funded by Five Oaks Agriculture Research, Arkansas, USA. 05/15/2021-05/14/2024, $110,000$$$