Grantee Research Project Results
1999 Progress Report: Characterization of Ecological Integrity of Commercially Grazed Rangelands Using Remote Sensing-based Ecological Indicators
EPA Grant Number: R826112Title: Characterization of Ecological Integrity of Commercially Grazed Rangelands Using Remote Sensing-based Ecological Indicators
Investigators: West, Neil E. , Washington-Allen, Robert , Ramsey, R. Douglas
Institution: Utah State University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: November 1, 1997 through September 30, 1999
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 1998 through September 30, 1999
Project Amount: $340,617
RFA: Ecosystem Indicators (1997) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Aquatic Ecosystems
Objective:
To test the applicability of several synoptic indicators of ecological change on a large ranch in northern Utah.
Progress Summary:
A geographic information system with 33 layers of biophysical and management information has been built for the study area. Two Landsat images have been analyzed per year (one for the dry season, one for the wet season) from 1972 to 1998 to calculate changes in the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) at the whole ranch, eastern half, various ownership categories (private, state, federal), pasture, ecological site, and piospheric scales. Although large spatial and temporal differences in the time course of SAVI were found, none of the larger scale trends could be attributed to classes of ownership, classes of grazers, or changes in their management. Variation in climate is by far the major driver of trends observed in this index: the system behavior is best characterized as an unstable limit cycle. The previously reported thresholds in SAVI response were due to procedural changes in processing imagery at the Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Data Center, not to any changes in how the land has been managed.
Future Activities:
Testing the use of the soil surface index and the 12 landscape metrics as further means of discriminating change at the various scales at which we quantified the SAVI is the final step needed to complete the project.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 28 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
ecological health, condition, trend, landscape metrics, geographic information systems, monitoring, satellite imagery., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water & Watershed, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, State, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Environmental Monitoring, Ecology and Ecosystems, Watersheds, Ecological Indicators, agricultural watershed, ecosystem integrity, Midwestern Watersheds, Utah (UT), ecosystem indicators, terrestrial, commercial rangeland, aquatic ecosystems, GIS, synoptic monitoring, water quality, multiscale assessment, agriculture ecosystemsRelevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.