ABSTRACT
Ecological variables (e.g., vegetation, soil, and hydrologic conditions) and environmental characteristics measured in the ƒeld are important elements for modeling the ƒne-scale variability within landscape characteristics. These variables also help to produce reliable full-coverage thematic maps of the landscape. Gown et al. (1994) stated that many spatial data sets (i.e., remotely sensed data) provide reliable information for macroscale ecological monitoring, but they fall short in providing the precision required by more reƒned ecosystem resource models. Spatial statistics provide a means to develop spatial models that can be used to correlate coarse scale geographical data (i.e., remotely sensed imagery, topographic variables) with ƒeld measurements of biotic variables, such as those measured in a depressional wetland. If a satellite image is geographically referenced to a base map, one can overlay the location of ƒeld plots on the image to obtain re˜ectance values associated with each of the ƒeld plots. Then, if the ƒeld data are spatially correlated with re˜ectance from the remotely sensed image, it is possible to develop a model describing this spatial continuity (Cliff and Ord 1981).
