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25th ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY SYSTEMS
Citation:
Sastry, R., H. Kahn, M. S. NASH, AND R. D. LOPEZ. 25th ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY SYSTEMS. In Proceedings, 25th Annual Conference on Managing Environmental Quality Systems, Austin, TX, April 24 - 27, 2006. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1-12, EPA/600/R-06/036 (NTIS PB2007-107218), 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
The primary objectives of this research are to:
Develop methodologies so that landscape indicator values generated from different sensors on different dates (but in the same areas) are comparable; differences in metric values result from landscape changes and not differences in the sensors;
Quantify relationships between landscape metrics generated from wall-to-wall spatial data and (1) specific parameters related to water resource conditions in different environmental settings across the US, including but not limited to nutrients, sediment, and benthic communities, and (2) multi-species habitat suitability;
Develop and validate multivariate models based on quantification studies;
Develop GIS/model assessment protocols and tools to characterize risk of nutrient and sediment TMDL exceedence;
Complete an initial draft (potentially web based) of a national landscape condition assessment.
This research directly supports long-term goals established in ORDs multiyear plans related to GPRA Goal 2 (Water) and GPRA Goal 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems), although funding for this task comes from Goal 4. Relative to the GRPA Goal 2 multiyear plan, this research is intended to "provide tools to assess and diagnose impairment in aquatic systems and the sources of associated stressors." Relative to the Goal 4 Multiyear Plan this research is intended to (1) provide states and tribes with an ability to assess the condition of waterbodies in a scientifically defensible and representative way, while allowing for aggregation and assessment of trends at multiple scales, (2) assist Federal, State and Local managers in diagnosing the probable cause and forecasting future conditions in a scientifically defensible manner to protect and restore ecosystems, and (3) provide Federal, State and Local managers with a scientifically defensible way to assess current and future ecological conditions, and probable causes of impairments, and a way to evaluate alternative future management scenarios.
Description:
The model results may help landscape ecologists produce indicators of surface water condition, such that unique combinations of these indicators can be used to infer the potential cause(s) and origin(s) of non-point pollution, which may lead to eutrophication in aquatic ecosystems, the loss of aquatic ecosystem function, and the injury of humans that consume from (or recreate in) the aquatic resources of the Ozarks. Sensitivity analyses for the above model and the PLS results discussed in this presentation are actively being used to prioritized subwatersheds in the Ozarks for watershed management activities.