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Dr. Diane Styers

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources
Associate Professor of Remote Sensing

 

Office Address: Stillwell 419
Phone: 828.227.3819
Email: dmstyers@wcu.edu

Download Dr. Styers's Curriculum Vitae

Education:

  • Postdoc, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis, University of Washington
  • Ph.D., Forest Ecology, Auburn University
  • M.A., Geography, Georgia State University
  • B.S., Human Development & Family Studies, University of North Carolina-Greensboro

A bit about me:

I use remote sensing and geospatial analysis approaches to analyze patterns of social and ecological processes that drive landscape changes affecting earth's resources. My current research utilizes a human-centered research approach focusing on community engagement and capacity building activities designed to connect science to climate adaptation and resilience challenges and opportunities in communities throughout the globe. This is accomplished by using local knowledge gained through public participatory GIS (PPGIS) processes to incorporate the values, meanings, and uses people have of their local landscapes to improve the resilience of communities affected by climate-related risks.

My areas of expertise include: LiDAR data analysis, object-based image analysis (OBIA), MODIS and Landsat phenology and other time series analysis, multi-sensor integration, forest ecology (structure and function), PPGIS, air pollution effects on forest ecosystems, and dendroecology.

Courses:

ES 480: Independent Study in Environmental Science
ES 495: Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Science
GEOG 150: Environmental Geography
GEOG 221: Introduction to Geospatial Analysis*
GEOG 300: Weather and Climate*
GEOG 324: Introduction to Remote Sensing*
GEOG 491/591: GIS for Mapping and Decision Making
NRM 140: Natural Resource Conservation & Management
NRM 210: Methods in Natural Resource Management (Lab)
NRM 213: GIS for Natural Resource Management*
NRM 440: Integrated Resource Management*
NRM 472: Geospatial Science Applications*
NRM 480: Research in Natural Resource Management*
NRM 480: Sustainability and the Environment - Experience Costa Rica
NRM 493: Post-fire Ecology
* indicates courses taught regularly

Recent Publications (* indicates student author):

Dobbs, G.R. and D.M. Styers. 2024. Using LiDAR to find the Southeast's remnant rivercane, Southeastern Geographer 64(2). doi:10.1353/sgo.0.a913117.

Keyser, T., D.M. Styers, M. Wind*, L. DeWald, B. Collins. 2023. Composition and Structure of Tsuga caroliniana Engelm. Communities in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina, Southeastern Naturalist 22(1):57-77. https://www.eaglehill.us/SENAonline/articles/SENA-22-1/15-Keyser.shtml.

Styers, D.M., J.L. Schafer, M.B. Kolozsvary, S.E. Scanga, K.M. Brubaker, L.J. Anderson, and J.J. Mitchell, and D. Barnett. 2021. Developing a flexible learning activity on biodiversity and spatial scale concepts using open-access vegetation datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Ecology and Evolution 11(9):3657-4992. doi:10.1002/ece3.7385.

Styers, D.M., J.L. Schafer, M.B. Kolozsvary, S.E. Scanga, K.M. Brubaker, L.J. Anderson, and J.J. Mitchell, and D. Barnett. 2021. Developing a flexible learning activity on biodiversity and spatial scale concepts using open-access vegetation datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Ecology and Evolution 11(9):3657-4992. doi:10.1002/ece3.7385

Reiskind, M.H., D.M. Styers, I. Hayes*, S.L. Richards, M. Doyle, E.M.X. Reed, B.W. Hollingsworth, and B.D. Byrd. 2020. Taking the Pulse: Container Aedes spp. (Diptera: Culicidae) Presence and Abundance is Associated with Fine-scale Landscape Factors in North Carolina, USA. Environmental Health Insights 14:1-9. doi:10.1177/1178630220952806.

Gannon, JP, D. Kinner, D.M. Styers, M. Lord. 2020. Diel discharge variations in dormant and growing seasons in a headwater catchment suggest potential sources of an evapotranspiration signal. Hydrological Processes 34(5):1228-1236. doi:10.1002/hyp.13670.

Biedenweg, K., K.A. Williams*, L.K. Cerveny, and D.M. Styers. 2019. Is recreation a landscape value?: Exploring underlying values in Landscape Values Mapping. Landscape and Urban Planning 185:24-27. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.12.005.

Tanner, B.R., M.L. Douglas*, C.H. Greenberg, J.N. Chamberlin*, and D.M. Styers. 2018. A Macroscopic Charcoal and Multiproxy Record From Peat Recovered From Depression Marshes in Longleaf Pine Sandhills, Florida, USA. Quaternary 1(3):25. doi:10.3390/quat1030025.

Styers, D.M., G.R. Dobbs, L. Cerveny, and I. Hayes*. 2018. Geovisualization of Socio-Spatial Data on Outdoor Activities and Values in the Southern Appalachians. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research 9(3):55-80. doi:10.4018/IJAGR.2018070104.

Bates, P.C., J.R. Miller, D.M. Styers, K. Langdon, C. Burda, R. Davis, T. Martin, B. Kloeppel, and S. McFarland. 2018. Natural Resource Condition Assessment for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Natural Resource Report NPS/GRSM/NRR—2018/1626, 478 pp. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://irma.nps.gov/2253044.

Styers, D.M. 2018. Using big data to engage undergraduate students in authentic science. Journal of Geoscience Education, 66(1):12-24. doi:10.1080/10899995.2018.1411699.

 *Google Scholar Citations: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=qpLXwd4AAAAJ

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