Grantee Research Project Results
2000 Progress Report: Regional Ecological Resource Assessment of the Rio Grande Riparian Corridor: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Anthropogenic Effects on Riparian Communities in Semi-arid Environments
EPA Grant Number: R827677Title: Regional Ecological Resource Assessment of the Rio Grande Riparian Corridor: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Anthropogenic Effects on Riparian Communities in Semi-arid Environments
Investigators: Raney, Jay , Neuenschwander, Amy , Judd, Frank , Paull, Gene , Crawford, Melba , Lonard, Robert , Tremblay, Thomas , White, William
Current Investigators: Raney, Jay , Crawford, Melba , Neuenschwander, Amy , Paull, Gene , Judd, Frank , Lonard, Robert , Tremblay, Thomas , White, William , Encheva, Tatiana
Institution: The University of Texas at Austin , The University of Texas at Brownsville , The University of Texas - Pan American
Current Institution: The University of Texas at Austin , The University of Texas - Pan American , The University of Texas at Brownsville
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 1999 through August 31, 2002 (Extended to December 31, 2003)
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 1999 through August 31, 2000
Project Amount: $642,496
RFA: Regional Scale Analysis and Assessment (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Aquatic Ecosystems , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
Riparian ecosystems of the southwestern United States, characterized by high species diversity, are among the most productive ecosystems of North America. The rapid decline of riparian ecosystems throughout the United States, has made riparian conservation a focal issue for the public, Federal and State governments, and private organizations. This multidisciplinary 3-year study of riparian communities along the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico has several objectives, including: (1) acquiring and analyzing high-resolution, remotely sensed data from multiple sensors; (2) integrating existing and new field data and remotely sensed data into a geographic information system (GIS); (3) ascertaining whether the native vegetation communities are maintaining themselves and identifying the topographic, edaphic, and other ecological factors that perpetuate these communities; (4) interpreting spatial variations in riparian habitats, including comparisons of the northern and southern banks of the Rio Grande; (5) analyzing temporal changes at specific locations; and (6) developing a foundation for future analysis of riparian floodplain communities by linking local and remotely sensed regional data using GIS.Progress Summary:
Progress during the first year was primarily in the areas of data acquisition, preparation of GIS layers for modeling and analysis, current land-use and soils mapping, vegetation surveys and ground truthing, and remote data classification. Detailed local-scale ecological transects of dominant riparian vegetation were completed in May?August 2000 for six of eight transects that were initially established and surveyed in the mid 1990s. These local-scale vegetation transects are being correlated with high-resolution remote-sensing data to delineate the spatial extent of the riparian community. This correlation provides ground truth for the classification output from high-resolution (4-7 m) hyperspectral and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Classification output from high-resolution imagery will in turn provide the class mixtures for medium-resolution (20-30 m), satellite multispectral data that cover the entire study area on both sides of the Rio Grande.Current land-use and soils mapping of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and northeast Mexico was begun in January 2000. Phase 1 involved building a soils data base for the Mexico side of the Rio Grande, and Phase 2 involved preparing a current land-use map for the Lower Rio Grande Valley on the basis of both field observation and recent USGS digital orthophotographs. This work is in progress. Data on geology, soils, water quality and hydrology, and topographic information from Topographic Synthetic Aperture Radar (TOPSAR), as well as laser altimetry data acquired for the study, are being investigated. At the same time, additional inputs to the classification process are being used to help explain temporal and spatial changes in ecological resources indicated in the remotely sensed data. Preliminary GIS analysis of the relationship between riparian distribution and soils in one Texas county indicates that although 17 different soil types are associated with riparian vegetation, three soils make up more than 60 percent of the association. GIS-based spatial models and statistical modeling results are being used to predict the expected future effects of landscape change on plant distribution, biodiversity, and functional organization at multiple scales of resolution. The developed methodologies will help to guide future assessments of riparian regions.
Future Activities:
Plans are to continue acquiring needed data, classifying and ground truthing remotely sensed data, completing vegetation transects (including establishing two additional sites to fill in gaps), entering data into our GIS, analyzing and testing the methodology, and presenting results in publications and at conferences.Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 20 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
watersheds, land, sediments, precipitation, ecological effects, ecosystem, habitat, integrated assessment, ecology, modeling, gulf coast., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Southwest, Ecology, Hydrology, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Environmental Chemistry, State, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Regional/Scaling, Ecological Risk Assessment, ecological exposure, EMAP, semi-arid environments, Texas, Riparian ecosystem, floodplain communities, ecological assessment, environmental data, anthropogenic, regional scale impacts, Rio Grande Riparian Corridor, agriculture, GIS, landscape patterns, remotely sensed data, land use, scaling methodsProgress 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.