Across much of the globe, fire is a major disturbance agent of forest and grassland communities. The removal of fire from previously fire-maintained ecosystems, which has occurred in many areas, changes species composition, favoring later less fire tolerant species over fire-adapted ones. A recent measured increase in the rate of hybridization between the fire-adapted shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and less fire-adapted loblolly pine (P. taeda) suggests that introgression may be an emerging threat to shortleaf pine as a genetically distinct species.

Super resolution mapping is a continuously growing area of remote sensing. Satellite images coupled with a very high spectral resolution, and are suitable for detection and classification of surfaces and different elements in the observed image. The main problem with high resolution data for these applications is the (relatively) low spatial resolution, which can vary from a few to tens of meters.

Increasing land utilization through diverse forms of human activities, such as agriculture, forestry, urban growth, and industrial development, has led to negative impacts on the water quality of rivers. To find out how catchment attributes, such as land use, hydrologic soil groups, and lithology, can affect water quality variables (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Cl⁻, HCO₃⁻, pH, TDS, EC, SAR), a spatio-statistical approach was applied to 23 catchments in southern basins of the Caspian Sea.