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USING REMORE SENSING AND LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY TO ASSESS THE CONDITION OF GREAT LAKES WETLANDS
Citation:
LOPEZ, R. D. USING REMORE SENSING AND LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY TO ASSESS THE CONDITION OF GREAT LAKES WETLANDS. Presented at Region 7 Meetings, Kansas City, KS, July 10 - 14, 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:
Geospatial modeling approaches are being used to locate and assess the condition of natural resources (particularly wetland ecosystems) in the Great Lakes Basin. These assessments involve measuring landscape characteristics at multiple scales, primarily focusing
on surface water quality, hydrologic connectivity I and biological diversity. Wetland ecosystems in the Great Lakes present special challenges to landscape ecologists because they are a transitional ecosystem, containing a mixture of aquatic and upland biophysical characteristics. Although the response of ecosystems to landscape conditions has been generally postulated and tested for decades at a fine-scale, broad-scale applications are lacking, particularly for wetlands. Hyperspectral and multispectral remote sensing techniques are both being used to address these challenges in order to increase capabilities for protecting and restoring wetlands. These techniques are leading to a forecasting method for
understanding the influence of landscape structure and pattern on wetland ecosystems, and the Great Lakes Basin as a whole. Results from wetland detection and mapping; opportunistic plant species detection and mapping; and the broad-scale assessment of landscape condition will
be presented.