Citation:

Kepner, W G., P. Comer, D. Osborne, D J. Semmens, AND K. Gergely. THE SOUTHWEST REGIONAL GAP PROJECT: A DATABASE MODEL FOR REGIONAL LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT, RESOURCE PLANNING, AND VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS. Presented at 19th Annual Symposium of the International Association of Landscape Ecology, Las Vegas, NV, March 30-April 4, 2004.

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 Gap Analysis Program (GAP) is a national interagency program that maps the distribution of plant communities and selected animal species and compares these distributions with land stewardship to identify biotic elements at potential risk of endangerment. Acquisition of primary data and database development are an initial feature of any landscape indicator and assessment project, including conservation mapping. The Southwest Regional GAP spatial data have been developed for the purpose of creating a regional tool for assessing biodiversity protection. One intent of the project is to make the database available in a format that can be used by other researchers, public agencies, resource managers, non-governmental organizations, decision-makers, and user groups. Additionally, the information can be utilized for resource management planning actions and other geographic initiatives to characterize relative vulnerability of natural resources within the 5-state area. It is the premise of this project that landscape composition and pattern measures are diagnostic of environmental and hydrological condition and can be quantitatively measured using GIS and remote sensing-based technologies. Acquisition of primary data is the first step of any research process to develop regional, state, and watershed scale environmental assessment and to predict future environmental risk to include other socially relevant end- points in addition to biodiversity .

Record Details: