Projects

From Earth-observing space satellites to nuclear microsatellites: Amphibian conservation in the Northern Great Plains

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Conservation biology From Earth-observing space satellites to nuclear microsatellites| Amphibian conservation in the Northern Great Plains NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY Craig Stockwell Mushet, David Michael, Wildlife conservation

Using C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Data to Monitor Forested Wetland Hydrology in Maryland's Coastal Plain, USA

Hydrology (i.e., inundation and soil moisture) is the most important abiotic factor controlling wetland function and extent, and scientists predict that wetland hydrology can be significantly altered over relatively short timescales due to climate change and anthropogenic impact. Whereas broadscale hydrology is difficult to monitor in forested wetlands with ground-based and optical remote sensing methods, C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems have the potential to improve the capability to monitor forested wetland hydrology. In this study, we examined the use of Environmental Satellite Advanced SAR (C-HH and C-VV) data for monitoring levels of inundation and soil moisture throughout the year in a typical...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Water quality and conservation practice effects in the Choptank River watershed

The Choptank River is an estuary, tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, and an ecosystem in decline due partly to excessive nutrient and sediment loads from agriculture. The Conservation Effects Assessment Project for the Choptank River watershed was established to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation practices on water quality within this watershed. Several measurement frameworks are being used to assess conservation practices. Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and herbicides (atrazine and metolachlor) are monitored within 15 small, agricultural subwatersheds and periodically in the lower portions of the river estuary. Initial results indicate that land use within these subwatersheds is a major determinant of...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Influence of land-use and conservation programs on wetland plant communities of the semiarid United States Great Plains

Depressional wetlands are predominant surface hydrological features providing critical societal ecosystem services in the semiarid United States High Plains. Critical wetland properties may be threatened because this 30 million ha short-grass prairie largely was converted from grassland to cropland. Further, the United States Department of Agriculture enrolled marginal cropland into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP reduces topsoil erosion by planting permanent cover on croplands. In the High Plains, introduced tall-grasses primarily were planted in CRP, possibly reducing precipitation runoff, an important hydroperiod driver in wetlands. We assessed land-use influence on important wetland processes (wetland...

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National Standards for the Mapping and Classification of Wetlands: Implementation and Maintenance

The Federal Geographic Data Committee adopted national standards for classifying wetlands in 1996, but added national standards for mapping wetlands in 2009. This update addresses the implementation of these standards, the maintenance review of the classification standard, and how wetlands scientists can participate and provide input.

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Topographic Metrics for Improved Mapping of Forested Wetlands

We investigated the predictive strength of forested wetland maps produced using digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and multiple topographic metrics, including multiple topographic wetness indices (TWIs), a TWI enhanced to incorporate information on water outlets, normalized relief, and hybrid TWI/relief in the Coastal Plain of Maryland. LiDAR DEM based wetland maps were compared to maps of inundation and existing wetland maps. TWIs based on the most distributed FD8 (8 cells) and somewhat distributed D∞ (1–2 cells) flow routing algorithms were better correlated with inundation than a TWI based on a non-distributed D8 (1 cell) flow routing algorithm, but D∞ TWI class...

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Quantifying the environmental benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program on prairie wetlands

Euliss, N. H., Jr. and M. K. Laubhan. 2005. Quantifying the environmental benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program on prairie wetlands: separating acts of nature from acts of Congress. Pages 11-15

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Integrating estimates of ecosystem services from conservation programs and practices into models for decision makers

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Integrated Landscape Modeling Publications

This collection contains publications of the Integrated Landscape Modeling (ILM) initiative.

Summary of Water Quality Trends in the Choptank and its Tributaries and Recommendations for Remediation.

Fisher, T. R. (2010) Summary of Water Quality Trends in the Choptank and its Tributaries and Recommendations for Remediation. pps. 2-4, CREB Conservancy, summer 2010.

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation