Research Assistant Professor Idaho State University 322 E Front St Ste 240 Boise, ID 83702 208-220-6570 Resume: PDF

Specialties:

• Remote sensing of vegetation cover change in Forests, Woodlands, and Rangelands
• GIS and geospatial analysis
• Dendrochronology

Research Interests:

My research focuses on coupled human-environment systems in rangelands.  Specifically, I study spatial patterns of changes in land use and consequent vegetation changes.  I am especially interested in how socio-political regimes determine rangeland management and how management impacts the rates and patterns of vegetation changes at a wide range of time scales.  The ecosystems I have studied include: grassland-forest ecotones, aspen and juniper communities of the intermountain USA, sagebrush steppe in the northern Great Basin and Columbia Plateau, USA, and grassland steppe and Siberian larch forests of northern Mongolia.  These rangelands vary greatly in plant community types and associated management requiring a variety of research approaches and techniques. I study these systems using a combination of field-based measurements and geospatial analysis techniques.  For example, in Idaho I study juniper encroachment into rangelands using dendrochronological data along with Landsat satellite imagery fused with airborne lidar data.

I am currently extending my rangeland research into rangeland carbon dynamics.  In particular, I am interested in quantifying changes in rangeland ecosystem carbon (C) stocks to determine whether changes in rangeland management and climate variables create net C sinks or net C sources.  In particular, I am interested in estimating aboveground biomass of individual trees and shrubs and associated woody C using 3-dimensional, high-resolution lidar data in juniper woodlands and sagebrush steppe.  Furthermore, I am interested in identifying the effects of intensive land treatments such as cutting and burning on the observed changes in ecosystem C stocks.

Education:

• Ph.D, Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, 2005
• MS, Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, 2001
• BA, Foreign Language University, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 1996

Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Sankey, T. and N. Glenn. 2011. Landsat 5 TM and lidar fusion for sub-pixel juniper tree cover estimates. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (In Press)

Sankey, T. 2011. Decadal-scale aspen change detection using Landsat 5TM and lidar data. Applied Vegetation Science Download

Glenn, N., Spaete, L., Sankey, T., Derryberry, D., Hardegree, S., and J. Mitchell. 2011. Errors in LiDAR-derived shrub height and crown area on sloped terrain. Journal of Arid Environments Download

Mitchell, J., Glenn, N., Sankey, T., Derryberry, D., Anderson, M., and R. Hruska. 2011. Small-footprint LiDAR estimations of sagebrush canopy characteristics. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing Download

Sankey, T.T., Glenn, N., Ehinger, S., Boehm, A., and S. Hardegree. 2010. Characterizing western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) expansion via a fusion of Landsat TM5 and LiDAR data. Rangeland Ecology and Management 63: 514-523 Download

Spaete, L., Glenn, N., Derryberry, D., Sankey, T., and S. Hardegree. 2010. Vegetation and slope effects on accuracy of a LiDAR-derived DEM in the sagebrush steppe. Remote Sensing Letters 2 (4): 317-326 Download

Theau, J., Sankey, T., and K. Weber. 2010. Multi-scale analysis of vegetation indices in a semi-arid environment. GIScience and Remote Sensing 42 (2):1-16 Download

Weber, K., Sankey, T., and J. Theau. 2010. Local-scale validation of the surface observation gridding system dataset with in-situ weather observation in a semi-arid environment. International Journal of Remote Sensing 31: 4411-4422 Download

Sankey, T.T., and P. Bond. 2010. LiDAR classifications of sagebrush communities. Rangeland Ecology and Management 64, 92-98.Download

Sankey, T., Sankey, J., Weber, K., and C. Montagne. 2009. Geospatial assessment of grazing regime shifts and socio-political changes in a Mongolian rangeland. Rangeland Ecology and Management 62: 522-530 Download

Sankey, T.T. 2009. Regional assessment of aspen change and spatial variability at decadal time scales. Remote Sensing 1(4): 896-914 Download

Sankey, T., and M. Germino. 2008. Assessment of juniper encroachment with the use of satellite imagery and geospatial data. Rangeland Ecology and Management 61: 412-418. Download

Sankey, T. 2008. Learning from spatial variability: Aspen persistence in the Centennial Valley, Montana. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 1219-1225 Download

Sankey, T., Moffet, C., and K. Weber. 2008. Postfire recovery of sagebrush communities: Assessment using SPOT-5 and Very Large-Scale Aerial Imagery. Rangeland Ecology and Management 61: 598-604. Download

Sankey, T. 2008. Spatial patterns of Douglas-fir and aspen forest expansion. New Forests 35:45-55. Download

Sankey, T. 2007. Woody-herbaceous-livestock species interaction. Annals of Arid Zone 46(2):1-28 Download(275KB)

Sankey, T., Graumlich, L., Montagne, C., Lawrence, R., and J. Nielsen. 2006. Twentieth century forest-grassland ecotone shift in Montana under differing livestock grazing pressure. Forest Ecology and Management 234: 282-292 Download

Sankey, T., Graumlich, L., Montagne, C., Lawrence, R., and J. Nielsen. 2006. Lower forest-grassland ecotones and 20th century livestock herbivory effects in northern Mongolia. Forest Ecology and Management 233: 36-44 Download

Other Publications:

• Sankey, T. 2008. Effects of scale. In Encyclopedia of GIS.
• Sankey, T. Spatial Statistics. In Encyclopedia of GIS.