DETECTING AND MAPPING WESTERN PINE-BEETLE INFESTATIONS WITH AIRBORNE VIDEOGRAPHY, GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES

Aerial color-infrared digital videography was used with global positio ning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies for detecting and mapping western pine beetle, Dendroctonus brevicomi s LeConte, infestations in ponderosa pines, Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laud., in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. Ponderosa pines infested with western pine beetles could be detected in the CIR video imagery d ue to their pinkish-white or yellowish-gray image responses. The integ ration of the GPS with the video imagery permitted latitude-longitude coordinates of pine beetle infestations to be recorded on each image. The GPS latitude-longitude coordinates were entered into a GIS to map western pine beetle infestations in a 8 x 10km study area.