Heterogeneous Land Use Research Articles

Analysis of runoff, sediment dynamics and sediment yield of subcatchments in the highly erodible Isábena catchment, Central Pyrenees

The Isabena catchment (445 km2), Spain, features highly diverse spatial heterogeneity in land use, lithology and rainfall. Consequently, the relative contribution in terms of water and sediment yield varies immensely between its subcatchments, and also temporally. This study presents the synthesis of ~2.5 years of monitoring rainfall, discharge and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in the five main subcatchments of the Isabena and its outlet. Continuous discharge at the subcatchment outlets, nine tipping bucket rainfall and automatic SSC samplers (complemented by manual samples), were collected from June 2011 until November 2013. The water stage records were converted to discharge using a rating curve derived with Bayesian regression. For reconstructing sediment yields, the data from the intermittent SSC sampling needed to be interpolated. We employed non-parametric multivariate regression (Quantile Regression Forests, QRF) using the discharge and rainfall data plus different aggregation levels of these as ancillary predictors. The subsequent Monte Carlo simulations allowed the determination of monthly sediment yields and their uncertainty. The stage–discharge rating curves showed wide credibility intervals for the higher stages, with great uncertainties associated with the discharge rates, especially during floods. The water yield of the subcatchments differed considerably. The entire catchment’s output was dominated by the northernmost subcatchment (~360 mm year−1). The smaller, southern subcatchments featured much higher variability and lower runoff rates (55–250 mm year−1). The SSCs exhibited a wide range and can exceed 100 g l−1 for the central subcatchments, where most of the badlands are located. For the reconstruction of the sedigraphs, the QRF method proved suitable with Nash–Sutcliffe indices of 0.50 to 0.84. The specific sediment yield ranges from relatively low (32 t km−2 year−1) in the highly vegetated north to high values (3,651 t km−2 year−1) in areas with many badland formations. The Isabena catchment shows high erosion dynamics with great variability in space and time, with stark contrasts even between adjacent subcatchments. The natural conditions make water and sediment monitoring and instrumentation very challenging; the measurement of discharge is particularly prone to considerable uncertainties. The QRF method employed for reconstructing sedigraphs and monthly yields proved well suited for the task.

Análise socioeconômica de produtores familiares de caprinos e ovinos no semiárido cearense, Brasil

The objective of this study was to characterize and describe the socioeconomic profile of the system production of family farms that use goats and sheeps as components of household in the state of Ceara, Brazil. Data were collected from 120 interviews with family farmers producing goats and sheep during the year 2008, through a questionnaire that had social, economic, environmental and productive. To establish the typology were used multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis by the method of principal component) and then used the non-hierarchical cluster analysis to identify homo-geneous groups and characterization of the sample of family farms. There were four groups (I, II, III and IV) family of small ruminants using as components in their production systems. The families identified in groups II and III were the main source of income activities related to land use and those of groups I and IV showed the external source as a central component of your finances. The average size of the family farms was 47.2 hectares (ha). 75.8 % of respondents considered themselves literate and 93.3 % were involved with some form of association. The production systems used by farmers were diversified in relation to the activities performed by the family in rural areas. The agricultural activities are carried on the properties related to the security of food production for self and family for access to local markets. The heterogeneity in land use resulted in different strategies to suit local circumstances, reflecting the internal dynamics and external to the property, with consequences for social reproduction of the family.

Assessment of a Global Land Cover Classification Allocated Across the Landscape of Georgia (USA)

Aims: To assess the agreement of a globalland covermap to reference imagery when applied to a region (state) of the southern United States and to determine whether different sampling designs or the use of broader land class definitions can overcome problems associated with the inherent heterogeneity of land use in the region . Study Design:We assessed the agreement of theGlob Cover 2009 global, medium resolution land cover assignments within the State of Georgia to USDA NAIP reference imagery. We performed the assessment using two statistically random sampling methods: pixel-based and block-based sampling. We then grouped some land classes according to possibilities of agreementrelationships expressed by others, and assessed the agreement using these systems. Place and Duration of Study:State of Georgia (USA). Imagery and reference data acquired in 2009. Methodology: Sample: We examined 3,930 sample pixels or pixel blocks from 16 land cover classes. Each sample was allocated a land class in the GlobCover 2009 dat abase. Each sample was interpreted as a land class through photo -interpretation of

Predicting Downward Longwave Radiation for Various Land Use in All-Sky Condition: Northeast Florida

Accurate estimate of the surface longwave radiation is important for the surface radiation budget, which in turn controls evaporation and sensible heat fluxes. Regional land use changes can impact local weather conditions; for example, heterogeneous land use patterns and temporal changes in atmospheric circulation patterns would affect air temperature and water vapor pressure, which are more commonly used as inputs in existing models for estimating downward longwave radiation (LWd). In this study, first, we analyzed the cloud cover and land use covers impacts onLWd. Next,LWdon all-sky conditions were developed by using the existing land use-adapted model and cloud cover data from the region of Saint Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), FL. The results show that factors, such as, seasonal effects, cloud cover, and land use, are of importance in the estimation ofLWdand they cannot be ignored when developing a model forLWdprediction. The all-sky land use-adapted model with all factors taken into account performs better than other existing models statistically. The results of the statistical analyses indicated that the BIAS, RMSE, MAE, and PMRE are −0.18 Wm−2, 10.81 Wm−2, 8.00 Wm−2, and 2.30%; −2.61 Wm−2, 14.45 Wm−2, 10.64 Wm−2, and 3.19%; −0.07 Wm−2, 10.53 Wm−2, 8.03 Wm−2, and 2.27%; and −0.62 Wm−2, 13.97 Wm−2, 9.76 Wm−2, and 2.87% for urban, rangeland, agricultural, and wetland areas, respectively.

Modelling farming system dynamics in High Nature Value Farmland under policy change

Understanding the factors driving changes in farm management is needed for designing policies and subsidy schemes to protect High Nature Value Farmland (HNVF). We describe farming system dynamics in HNVF of southern Portugal, between 2000–2002 and 2008–2010, encompassing a period of major policy transformations introduced by the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union in 2003. We also assess how farming system dynamics was modulated by structural, biophysical and policy factors constraining agricultural options. Farming systems changed in about 40% of the farmed area during the period of study. Overall, there was a marked transition from arable systems to either specialized livestock or permanent crop systems, involving major declines in the traditional system of dry cereal rotations and sheep grazing. Transitions were influenced by farm size, soil quality and coverage by open oak woodlands, while there was little effect of agri-environment schemes and legal regulations specifically targeted to support the traditional farming system. Despite these changes, agricultural intensity remained essentially stable, though there was a marked decline in land-use heterogeneity with likely negative impacts on biodiversity. Observed changes agree with ex-ante impact assessments of the CAP reform in Iberian cereal steppes, which suggested that decoupling of payments from production could promote shifts from the traditional cereal–fallow–sheep system towards specialized livestock grazing systems. Effectively protecting HNFV may thus require a better integration of horizontal policies and agri-environment schemes.

A comparison of selected classification algorithms for mapping bamboo patches in lower Gangetic plains using very high resolution WorldView 2 imagery

Bamboo is used by different communities in India to develop indigenous products, maintain livelihood and sustain life. Indian National Bamboo Mission focuses on evaluation, monitoring and development of bamboo as an important plant resource. Knowledge of spatial distribution of bamboo therefore becomes necessary in this context. The present study attempts to map bamboo patches using very high resolution (VHR) WorldView 2 (WV 2) imagery in parts of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India using both pixel and object-based approaches. A combined layer of pan-sharpened multi-spectral (MS) bands, first 3 principal components (PC) of these bands and seven second order texture measures based Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrices (GLCM) of first three PC were used as input variables. For pixel-based image analysis (PBIA), recursive feature elimination (RFE) based feature selection was carried out to identify the most important input variables. Results of the feature selection indicate that the 10 most important variables include PC 1, PC 2 and their GLCM mean along with 6 MS bands. Three different sets of predictor variables (5 and 10 most important variables and all 32 variables) were classified with Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) algorithms. Producer accuracy of bamboo was found to be highest when 10 most important variables selected from RFE were classified with SVM (82%). However object-based image analysis (OBIA) achieved higher classification accuracy than PBIA using the same 32 variables, but with less number of training samples. Using object-based SVM classifier, the producer accuracy of bamboo reached 94%. The significance of this study is that the present framework is capable of accurately identifying bamboo patches as well as detecting other tree species in a tropical region with heterogeneous land use land cover (LULC), which could further aid the mandate of National Bamboo Mission and related programs.

공간 자기상관성을 고려한 산불피해지 경계 형성과 경관특성변수들과의 관계

가장자리는 산불 피해 후 산림생태계 변화 및 회복과정에 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구는 산불피해지의 공간 자기상관성을 고려하여 산불피해지 가장자리 형성과 경관특성변수들과의 관계 분석에 목적을 두고 수행되었다. 연구대상지로는 2000년도에 발생한 삼척 산불피해지를 선정하였으며, 대상지내 경관특성변수 측정을 위하여 산불피해지 전 지역을 포함하도록 500 <TEX>$m^2$</TEX> 격자를 생성하였다. 연구에 사용된 경관 특성 변수들로는 표고, 경사, TWI(Topographic Wetness Index), SRI(Solar Radiation Index)을 사용하였고, 연료유형변수와 토지피복 변수를 포함시켰다. 격자들은 산불피해지 경계선과 교차하는 격자는 가장자리로 그 외의 격자들은 내부지역으로 설정하였다. 공간자기 상관을 보정하기 위하여 경관 변형된 t-검정과 상관분석을 실시하였다. 분석 결과 산불피해지 경계 형성과 양의 관계를 보이는 변수는 TWI, SRI, 물, 전, 답, 개발지, 나대지이며, 음의 관계를 보이는 경관특성변수는 경사, 표고, 그리고 모든 연료 유형 변수들이었다. 특히 TWI은 r=0.437로 경계형성과 강한 양의 관계를 보였다. 따라서 산불 피해지의 경계는 산림과 이질적인 토지피복 혹은 토지이용이 존재하는 경우와 경사가 완만하고 표고는 낮으며, 토양 및 지표면의 상대습도가 높은 지형에서 형성될 가능성이 높은 것으로 나타났다. It has been known that edges of forest fire areas play significant roles in post-fire change of forest ecosystem and recovery process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships between edge formation of burned forests and landscape characteristics with consideration on spatial autocorrelation. Samcheok fire site burned in 2000 was selected as the study area. Seven hundred fifty three of 500 <TEX>$m^2$</TEX> grid cells were generated for measuring landscape characteristics. This study used the topographic variables including slop, elevation, topographic wetness index, solar radiation index and proportions of fuel and land use types. In delineating landscape characteristics correlation analysis with modified t-test were performed for exploring the relationships between edge formation and landscape characteristics. The results indicated that edge formation of burned forests was positively correlated with most variables including TWI, SRI, water, paddy, developed, farm, grass, bare soil, and negatively related with elevation, slope and all fuel types. Especially TWI (r=0.437) showed a strong positive correlation with edge formation. According to the results, edge of burned forests were likely formed when proportions of heterogeneous land use types were high with mild slope and low elevation.

Links between observed micro-meteorological variability and land-use patterns in the highveld priority area of South Africa

Links between spatial and temporal variability of Planetary Boundary Layer meteorological quantities and existing land-use patterns are still poorly understood due to the non-linearity of air–land interaction processes. This study describes the results of a statistical analysis of meteorological observations collected by a network of ten Automatic Weather Stations. The stations were in operation in the highveld priority area of the Republic of South Africa during 2008–2010. The analysis revealed localization, enhancement and homogenization in the inter-station variability of observed meteorological quantities (temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) over diurnal and seasonal cycles. Enhancement of the meteorological spatial variability was found on a broad range of scales from 20 to 50 km during morning hours and in the dry winter season. These spatial scales are comparable to scales of observed land-use heterogeneity, which suggests links between atmospheric variability and land-use patterns through excitation of horizontal meso-scale circulations. Convective motions homogenized and synchronized meteorological variability during afternoon hours in the winter seasons, and during large parts of the day during the moist summer season. The analysis also revealed that turbulent convection overwhelms horizontal meso-scale circulations in the study area during extensive parts of the annual cycle.

Components of woody plant diversity in semi-arid Chaco forests with heterogeneous land use and disturbance histories

We assessed components of woody plant diversity within and between 16 sites dispersed across the nearly 200,000 ha of the Semi-arid Chaco vegetation of the Copo Conservation Unit, northern Argentina. Argentina's Semi-arid Chaco is an object of international conservation concern, as it is under pressure from conversion to agroindustry supplanting long-standing practices of logging and livestock grazing. We recorded from 16 (shrubby grassland following forest fire) to 27 (selectively logged forest) woody plant species per site and 37 species in total (gamma diversity). Additive partitioning showed that alpha diversity contributed 59% to gamma diversity and beta diversity only 41%. A separate additive partitioning of gamma diversity of the 13 forested sites alone showed that beta diversity attributable to logging history was considerably lower than remaining beta diversity and alpha diversity. Ordination analyses confirmed this finding: species composition of unlogged, selectively logged and intensively logged forest sites was quite similar. Results suggest that (1) woody vegetation, at least, of the Semi-arid Chaco is quite tolerant to traditional modes of land use and that (2) conservation of this vegetation as a whole must include not only “pristine” sites varying in edaphic conditions but also sites varying in land use and management histories.

A review of downscaling methods for remote sensing-based irrigation management: part I

High-resolution daily evapotranspiration (ET) maps would greatly improve irrigation management. Numerous ET mapping algorithms have been developed to make use of thermal remote sensing data acquired by satellite sensors. However, adoption of remote sensing-based ET maps for irrigation management has not been feasible due to inadequate spatial and temporal resolution of ET maps. Data from a coarse spatial resolution image in agricultural fields often cause inaccurate ET estimation because of a high level of spatial heterogeneity in land use. Image downscaling methods have been utilized to overcome spatial and temporal scaling issues in numerous remote sensing applications. In the field of hydrology, the image downscaling method has been used to improve spatial resolution of remote sensing-based ET maps for irrigation scheduling purposes and thus improves estimation of crop water requirements. This paper (part I) reviews downscaling methods to improve spatial resolution of land surface characteristics such as land surface temperature or ET. Each downscaling method was assessed and compared with respect to their capability of downscaling spatial resolutions of images. The companion paper (part II) presents review of image fusion methods that are also designed to increase spatial resolutions of images by integrating multi-spectral and panchromatic images.

Predicting the impact of linear landscape elements on surface runoff, soil erosion, and sedimentation in the Wahnbach catchment, Germany

AbstractModel predictions concerning the endangerment of on‐site and off‐site damages due to runoff, soil erosion and sedimentation under alternative design and operation policies are of particular importance in recent catchment planning and management. By using the raster‐based model approach, linear landscape elements, such as streets and roads, and their impacts on flow paths are often neglected. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the effects of linear landscape elements on patterns of soil erosion, sediment transport and sedimentation. To accomplish this, roads are considered while determining flow paths. Simulations in the well‐investigated catchment of the Wahnbach River (54 km²) in a low mountain range in Germany were carried out using a combination of different models for hydrology and soil erosion. Although the study focuses on the catchment scale of the Wahnbach River, detailed investigations concerning the sub‐catchment scale (21 ha) were also conducted. The simulation results show that these spatial structures mainly affect the pattern of soil erosion and sedimentation. On the sub‐catchment scale, improved identification of active zones for sediment dynamic becomes possible. On the catchment scale, the predicted runoff is about 20% higher, and sediment outputs were four times larger than predicted when roads were considered. Soil erosion increases by 37% whereas sedimentation is reduced by 29%. The model improvement could not be evaluated on the catchment scale because of the high variability and heterogeneity of land use and soils, but road impacts could be explained by simulations on the sub‐catchment scale. It can be concluded that runoff concentration due to rerouted flow paths leads to lower non‐concentrated and higher concentric‐linear surface runoff. Thus, infiltration losses decline and surface runoff and soil erosion increase because sedimentation is reduced. Further, runoff concentration can cause soil erosion hot spots. In the model concept used in this study, buffering of runoff and sediments on the upslope side of roads and in local depressions adjacent to roads cannot be simulated. Flow paths will only be rerouted because of road impacts, but the temporal ponding of water is not simulated. Therefore, the drastic increase of predicted sediment output due to road impact does not seem to be reliable. However, results indicate that the consideration of roads when determining flow paths enabled more detailed simulations of surface runoff, soil erosion and sedimentation. Thus, progress in model‐based decision‐making support for river catchment planning and management can be achieved. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Combining tower mixing ratio and community model data to estimate regional-scale net ecosystem carbon exchange by boundary layer inversion over four flux towers in the United States

[1] We evaluated an idealized boundary layer (BL) model with simple parameterizations using vertical transport information from community model outputs (NCAR/NCEP Reanalysis and ECMWF Interim Analysis) to estimate regional-scale net CO2 fluxes from 2002 to 2007 at three forest and one grassland flux sites in the United States. The BL modeling approach builds on a mixed-layer model to infer monthly average net CO2 fluxes using high-precision mixing ratio measurements taken on flux towers. We compared BL model net ecosystem exchange (NEE) with estimates from two independent approaches. First, we compared modeled NEE with tower eddy covariance measurements. The second approach (EC-MOD) was a data-driven method that upscaled EC fluxes from towers to regions using MODIS data streams. Comparisons between modeled CO2 and tower NEE fluxes showed that modeled regional CO2 fluxes displayed interannual and intra-annual variations similar to the tower NEE fluxes at the Rannells Prairie and Wind River Forest sites, but model predictions were frequently different from NEE observations at the Harvard Forest and Howland Forest sites. At the Howland Forest site, modeled CO2 fluxes showed a lag in the onset of growing season uptake by 2 months behind that of tower measurements. At the Harvard Forest site, modeled CO2 fluxes agreed with the timing of growing season uptake but underestimated the magnitude of observed NEE seasonal fluctuation. This modeling inconsistency among sites can be partially attributed to the likely misrepresentation of atmospheric transport and/or CO2 gradients between ABL and the free troposphere in the idealized BL model. EC-MOD fluxes showed that spatial heterogeneity in land use and cover very likely explained the majority of the data-model inconsistency. We show a site-dependent atmospheric rectifier effect that appears to have had the largest impact on ABL CO2 inversion in the North American Great Plains. We conclude that a systematic BL modeling approach provided new insights when employed in multiyear, cross-site synthesis studies. These results can be used to develop diagnostic upscaling tools, improving our understanding of the seasonal and interannual variability of surface CO2 fluxes.

Influence of land use on water quality in a tropical landscape: a multi-scale analysis.

There is a pressing need to understand the consequences of human activities, such as land transformations, on watershed ecosystem services. This is a challenging task because different indicators of water quality and yield are expected to vary in their responsiveness to large versus local-scale heterogeneity in land use and land cover (LUC). Here we rely on water quality data collected between 1977 and 2000 from dozens of gauge stations in Puerto Rico together with precipitation data and land cover maps to (1) quantify impacts of spatial heterogeneity in LUC on several water quality indicators; (2) determine the spatial scale at which this heterogeneity influences water quality; and (3) examine how antecedent precipitation modulates these impacts. Our models explained 30-58% of observed variance in water quality metrics. Temporal variation in antecedent precipitation and changes in LUC between measurements periods rather than spatial variation in LUC accounted for the majority of variation in water quality. Urbanization and pasture development generally degraded water quality while agriculture and secondary forest re-growth had mixed impacts. The spatial scale over which LUC influenced water quality differed across indicators. Turbidity and dissolved oxygen (DO) responded to LUC in large-scale watersheds, in-stream nitrogen concentrations to LUC in riparian buffers of large watersheds, and fecal matter content and in-stream phosphorus concentration to LUC at the sub-watershed scale. Stream discharge modulated impacts of LUC on water quality for most of the metrics. Our findings highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales for understanding the impacts of human activities on watershed ecosystem services.

Multi-period calibration of a semi-distributed hydrological model based on hydroclimatic clustering

Changing climatic conditions contribute to a time varying nature of hydrological responses over different temporal scales. The temporal dynamics of hydrological systems bring uncertainties into hydrological simulation which are different to uncertainties from spatial heterogeneity of soil and land use. This study develops a new approach to improve the calibration of hydrological based on hydroclimatic similarities. Six climatic indexes are integrated using Principal Component Analysis and Fuzzy C-mean Clustering methods to transform hydrological years into hydroclimatic periods. Parameter sets of SWAT model are calibrated independently for each period and used together to generate continuous simulation for a prairie watershed in southern Canada. Results indicate that the multi-period model exhibits comprehensive advantages over the traditional single-period model under various flow conditions. The simulation ability of the model is improved through using period-specific parameter sets in fitting the observations to compensate for deficiencies in the model structure or input data.

Analyses of the warm season rainfall climatology of the northeastern US using regional climate model simulations and radar rainfall fields

We examine the warm season (April–September) rainfall climatology of the northeastern US through analyses of high-resolution radar rainfall fields from the Hydro-NEXRAD system and regional climate model simulations using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. Analyses center on the 5-year period from 2003 to 2007 and the study area includes the New York–New Jersey metropolitan region covered by radar rainfall fields from the Fort Dix, NJ WSR-88D. The objective of this study is to develop and test tools for examining rainfall climatology, with a special focus on heavy rainfall. An additional emphasis is on rainfall climatology in regions of complex terrain, like the northeastern US, which is characterized by land–water boundaries, large heterogeneity in land use and cover, and mountainous terrain in the western portion of the region. We develop a 5-year record of warm season radar rainfall fields for the study region using the Hydro-NEXRAD system. We perform regional downscaling simulations for the 5-year study period using the WRF model. Radar rainfall fields are used to characterize the interannual, seasonal and diurnal variation of rainfall over the study region and to examine spatial heterogeneity of rainfall. Regional climate model simulations are characterized by a wet bias in the rainfall fields, with the largest bias in the high-elevation regions of the model domain. We show that model simulations capture broad features of the interannual, seasonal, and diurnal variation of rainfall. Model simulations do not capture spatial gradients in radar rainfall fields around the New York metropolitan region and land–water boundaries to the east. The model climatology of convective available potential energy (CAPE) is used to interpret the regional distribution of warm season rainfall and the seasonal and diurnal variability of rainfall. We use hydrologic and meteorological observations from July 2007 to examine the interactions of land surface processes and rainfall from a regional perspective.

Interpreting CO2 Fluxes Over a Suburban Lawn: The Influence of Traffic Emissions

Turf-grass lawns are ubiquitous in the United States. However direct measurements of land–atmosphere fluxes using the eddy-covariance method above lawn ecosystems are challenging due to the typically small dimensions of lawns and the heterogeneity of land use in an urbanised landscape. Given their typically small patch sizes, there is the potential that CO2 fluxes measured above turf-grass lawns may be influenced by nearby CO2 sources such as passing traffic. In this study, we report on two years of eddy-covariance flux measurements above a 1.5 ha turf-grass lawn in which we assess the contribution of nearby traffic emissions to the measured CO2 flux. We use winter data when the vegetation was dormant to develop an empirical estimate of the traffic effect on the measured CO2 fluxes, based on a parametrised version of a three-dimensional Lagrangian footprint model and continuous traffic count data. The CO2 budget of the ecosystem was adjusted by 135gCm−2 in 2007 and by 134gCm−2 in 2008 to determine the natural flux, even though the road crossed the footprint only at its far edge. We show that bottom-up flux estimates based on CO2 emission factors of the passing vehicles, combined with the crosswind-integrated footprint at the distance of the road, agreed very well with the empirical estimate of the traffic contribution that we derived from the eddy-covariance measurements. The approach we developed may be useful for other sites where investigators plan to make eddy-covariance measurements on small patches within heterogeneous landscapes where there are significant contrasts in flux rates. However, we caution that the modelling approach is empirical and will need to be adapted individually to each site.

A Comparative Analysis of Small Area Population Estimation Methods

A number of areal interpolation methods have been developed to estimate population for overlapping, discontinuous, or fragmented areas. Previous studies examined the relative accuracy of various methods; this research advances those endeavors by comparing the effectiveness of seven different methods using a national random sample of census block groups and blocks. As the results show, the areal interpolation methods produce good population estimates for nested census blocks except in areas of heterogeneous land use or unusual contexts. In addition, estimation conducted in areas with small populations or low population density was vulnerable to high percentage error. Amongst the different methods, road network allocation and statistical regression (with area and roads as predictors) produced the best population estimates for the sample blocks.

Quality of Life, Physical Activity, and Built Environment Characteristics Among Colombian Adults

Studies assessing the association between health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) with physical activity (PA) and built environment (BE) characteristics are limited. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,334 adults from Bogotá, to assess the associations between HR-QOL with PA and BE characteristics. HR-QOL was measured using the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instruments. PA was measured using the International PA Questionnaire. BE characteristics included the dimensions of density, diversity, design, and access to mass-transit. Analysis included multilevel modeling. Adults who reported meeting PA recommendations and participating in the Ciclovía were more likely to have a high mean score of HR-QOL and were more likely to perceive their health status as good/excellent. Adults who reported biking for transportation were more likely to have a high mean score of HR-QOL. Regarding BE characteristics, land-use heterogeneity was associated with HR-QOL, perceived good health status and being positive about the future. Park density was associated with HR-QOL, perceived health status good/excellent and being positive about the future. Mass-transit stations availability was negatively associated with HR-QOL. This study provides preliminary evidence that HR-QOL is associated with PA and BE characteristics among adults in an urban setting of the developing world.

Cost-effective species conservation in exurban communities: A spatial analysis

Exurban areas have increasingly become zones of conflict as conservation and development compete for the same finite land resources. Conversion of natural areas to land dominated by human use results in loss, degradation, and fragmentation of wildlife habitat which often lead to species endangerment or even extinction. Recently, reserve site selection models have begun to integrate spatial attributes in order to design more compact and connected reserve networks that are thought to improve long-term species persistence. While these models are a good step forward to designing conservation reserve networks, they might not be adequate for use in exurban areas that consist of heterogeneous mosaics of land uses where habitat fragmentation already exists and not all parcels are available for preservation. This paper presents a species conservation framework that expands upon traditional reserve site selection models in three ways. First, because of the focus on exurban areas, the framework used here allows for land conversion within core habitat patches. Second, the framework provides a more robust assessment of connectivity among patches by accounting for land-use heterogeneity in the dispersal matrix. And third, the framework explicitly incorporates species population dynamics. We apply our conservation framework to the case of pond-breeding salamanders in an exurban community in Rhode Island, USA. Comparisons are made between the outcomes for uniform conservation policies and more flexible policies that accommodate ecological and economic heterogeneity. As expected, policies that offer more flexibility in the decision-making process are less costly in terms of foregone development. Conservation planners should consider core habitat patches, dispersal matrix, and spatial scale in their decision making. By not assessing the potential impact of dispersal barriers, reserve site selection models will result in conservation plans that may not protect species over the long term, particularly for species residing in highly fragmented landscapes such as those found in many exurban communities.

An efficient domain decomposition framework for accurate representation of geodata in distributed hydrologic models

Physically‐based, fully‐distributed hydrologic models simulate hydrologic state variables in space and time while using information regarding heterogeneity in climate, land use, topography and hydrogeology. Since fine spatio‐temporal resolution and increased process dimension will have large data requirements, there is a practical need to strike a balance between descriptive detail and computational load for a particular model application. In this paper, we present a flexible domain decomposition strategy for efficient and accurate integration of the physiographic, climatic and hydrographic watershed features. The approach takes advantage of different GIS feature types while generating high‐quality unstructured grids with user‐specified geometrical and physical constraints. The framework is able to anchor the efficient capture of spatially distributed and temporally varying hydrologic interactions and also ingest the physical prototypes effectively and accurately from a geodatabase. The proposed decomposition framework is a critical step in implementing high quality, multiscale, multiresolution, temporally adaptive and nested grids with least computational burden. We also discuss the algorithms for generating the framework using existing GIS feature objects. The framework is successfully being used in a finite volume based integrated hydrologic model. The framework is generic and can be used in other finite element/volume based hydrologic models.