Land Cover Gradient Research Articles

Net Heterotrophy in Small Danish Lakes: A Widespread Feature Over Gradients in Trophic Status and Land Cover

Nineteen small lakes located in open landscapes or deciduous forests in nutrient-rich calcareous moraines in North Zealand, Denmark, were all net heterotrophic having negative net ecosystem production and predominant CO2 supersaturation and O2 undersaturation of lake waters. Forest lakes were poorer in nutrients, phytoplankton, and primary production, but richer in dissolved organic matter and CO2 than open lakes with more light available. The modeled annual balance between gross primary production and community respiration (GPP/RCOM) averaged 0.60 in forest lakes and 0.76 in open lakes and the ratio increased significantly with phosphorus concentration and phytoplankton biomass but decreased with colored dissolved organic matter. The negative daily rates of ecosystem production resembled estimates of oxygen uptake from the atmosphere to the lakes, whereas estimates of CO2 emission were 7.2-fold higher. Although CO2-rich groundwater and anaerobic respiration support greater molar release of CO2 than uptake of O2, we suggest CO2 emission is overestimated. Possible explanations include CO2 enrichment of the air film above small wind-sheltered lakes. The observed metabolism and gas exchange show that exogenous organic matter is an important supplementary energy source to community respiration in these small lakes and that forest lakes, in addition, experience pronounced light attenuation from trees and dissolved colored organic matter constraining primary production.

Identifying regional differences in threshold responses of aquatic invertebrates to land cover gradients

Abstract Conversion of land from natural to urban or agricultural cover degrades stream ecosystems and results in loss of biodiversity. We compared cumulative frequency distributions to measure responses to land use gradients for aquatic invertebrate taxa to agricultural, urban, and impervious surface cover gradients across the state of Maryland, USA. The technique identifies the upper limit threshold above which taxa cease to occur as well as a lower limit of detection of effect for negatively affected taxa. Urban development and impervious surface cover negatively affected the distributions of 44–56% of the 180 taxa tested, depending on region. Across similar taxa, negative responses occurred at lower levels of urban land covers in the Piedmont compared to the Coastal Plain physiographic province, which suggests that Piedmont aquatic biodiversity may be more vulnerable to urbanization. Most taxa were capable of tolerating high levels of agricultural development, although a number of common taxa in the Coastal Plain and Highlands regions were found to be agriculture-sensitive. Some taxa traditionally used as indicators were tolerant of very high levels of human-altered land uses, suggesting that such taxa require examination prior to use as indicators of landscape stressors. Our analysis method appears to be sufficiently flexible and sensitive to be used for a variety of taxa and systems for stressor detection, ecosystem monitoring, and spatially explicit forecasts of taxa loss as watershed land cover changes.

Field and laboratory performance characteristics of a new protocol for sampling riverine macroinvertebrate assemblages

AbstractMeasurement and estimation of performance characteristics (i.e. precision, bias, performance range, interferences and sensitivity) are often neglected in the development and use of biological sampling methods. However, knowledge of this information is critical in enabling potential users to assess data quality and make comparisons among different sampling methods. In this study, the performance characteristics were evaluated for both the field and laboratory components of a new large river macroinvertebrate bioassessment protocol (mLR‐BP) for non‐wadeable streams. We sampled 19 sites across two depth classes, collecting three replicate samples at each site and sorting three 300‐organism subsamples from each sample. The replicate samples provided data for estimates of precision in the laboratory and field, and abiotic variables allowed for measurements of overall sensitivity. Precision and performance range differed between shallow and deep sites, particularly for the field component. As compared with precision measured in other studies of bioassessment methods, the field component of the mLR‐BP performed similarly, particularly in shallow sites. Based on the measures of combined field and laboratory sensitivity, this protocol should be able to detect differences of approximately 20–25% in the metrics evaluated in this study, if used for bioassessment in similar types of rivers. With all sites and the field and laboratory components combined, metrics were most responsive to a gradient of urban land cover but also showed some relationship with agricultural land cover. However, metric responsiveness does not necessarily correlate with precision, and metric selection can influence the performance characteristics of the method. Overall, the sampling protocol shows great utility for bioassessment and monitoring of non‐wadeable rivers, as well as for measuring the success of restoration efforts. In addition, the design of this study provides a template for estimating performance characteristics in other non‐wadeable systems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Snake species distributions and temperate grasslands: A case study from the American tallgrass prairie

Many snake species are declining globally, yet data unavailability in temperate grasslands hinders snake conservation in one of the world’s most endangered biomes. To encourage and inform the conservation of snakes in these regions, I examined snake species diversity and abundance during 2 years of a mark-recapture study at 22 sites located in six American tallgrass prairie preserves in northern Illinois, USA. I emphasized landscape-scale relationships after accounting for covariance with environmental factors at both finer (microhabitat) and broader (regional) scales. A total of 120 snakes representing seven species was captured using drift fence arrays associated with funnel traps and sheet metal cover. The low numbers and diversity of snakes captured, when compared to historic evidence, indicate that since the 1930s Midwestern snake populations have declined. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and Mantel tests demonstrate that differences in snake species composition in remnant and degraded prairies are discernable along gradients of urban and agricultural land cover. However, different patterns of abundance for individual snake species indicate that the relative importance of specific landscape factors differ among species, which has significant conservation implications. Here, I recommend that conservationists use a species-specific approach to manage snake populations. I also stress the need for thorough inventory of snake populations and studies of snake–habitat relationships to advance our understanding of snake ecology and conservation within the little studied temperate grassland habitats of South America and eastern Eurasia.

Human Impacts on Regional Avian Diversity and Abundance

Patterns of association between humans and biodiversity typically show positive, negative, or negative quadratic relationships and can be described by 3 hypotheses: biologically rich areas that support high human population densities co-occur with areas of high biodiversity (productivity); biodiversity decreases monotonically with increasing human activities (ecosystem stress); and biodiversity peaks at intermediate levels of human influence (intermediate disturbance). To test these hypotheses, we compared anthropogenic land cover and housing units, as indices of human influence, with bird species richness and abundance across the Midwestern United States. We modeled richness of native birds with 12 candidate models of land cover and housing to evaluate the empirical evidence. To assess which species were responsible for observed variation in richness, we repeated our model-selection analysis with relative abundance of each native species as the response and then asked whether natural-history traits were associated with positive, negative, or mixed responses. Native avian richness was highest where anthropogenic land cover was lowest and housing units were intermediate based on model-averaged predictions among a confidence set of candidate models. Eighty-three of 132 species showed some pattern of association with our measures of human influence. Of these species approximately 40% were negatively associated, approximately 6% were positively associated, and approximately 7% showed evidence of an intermediate relationship with human influence measures. Natural-history traits were not closely related to the direction of the relationship between abundance and human influence. Nevertheless, pooling species that exhibited any relationship with human influence and comparing them with unrelated species indicated they were significantly smaller, nested closer to the ground, had shorter incubation and fledging times, and tended to be altricial. Our results support the ecosystem-stress hypothesis for the majority of individual species and for overall species diversity when focusing on anthropogenic land cover. Nevertheless, the great variability in housing units across the land-cover gradient indicates that an intermediate-disturbance relationship is also supported. Our findings suggest preemptive conservation action should be taken, whereby areas with little anthropogenic land cover are given conservation priority. Nevertheless, conservation action should not be limited to pristine landscapes because our results showed that native avian richness and the relative abundance of many species peaked at intermediate housing densities and levels of anthropogenic land cover.

Effectiveness of best management practices in improving stream ecosystem quality

Implementation of best management practices (BMPs), such as improved manure storage, buffer strips, and grassed waterways, through government funded conservation programs is a common approach for mitigation of the impacts agricultural activities have on the surrounding environment. In this study, we tested the ability of these practices to meet the environmental goal of improved stream quality at a “micro-basin” scale in the Upper Thames River Watershed, southern Ontario, Canada. Micro-basins were first and second order basins, averaging 400 ha in area, representing gradients of land cover, geomorphology, and participation in conservation programs. At the outflow of each micro-basin the benthic macro-invertebrate community was sampled, water chemistry measurements completed, and habitat quality assessed. Results showed micro-basins with relatively high levels of BMP implementation consistently demonstrated improved stream ecosystem quality over the majority of micro-basins with low or no implementation. Streams in the Upper Thames River basin appeared to exhibit a threshold effect, where with several BMPs in the same basin an improvement in stream ecosystem quality is visible. In addition to the BMPs implemented through government funded conservation programs, the observed ecosystem improvements are probably due to increased environmental awareness and improved management by farmers.

Spatial relationships between intensive land cover and residual plant species diversity in temperate farmed landscapes

Summary In temperate farmed landscapes conservation policies increasingly emphasize large‐scale reductions in land‐use intensity. Yet despite a managed reversion to more favourable abiotic conditions, depleted regional species pools may prevent the re‐assembly of target communities. Using national‐scale survey data recorded across Great Britain in 1998, we investigated the extent to which grassland indicator plant species persisted on potential refuge habitats across a spatial gradient of intensive land cover in lowland 1‐km squares. These habitats comprised road verges, field boundaries, watercourse banks and small biotope fragments. Intensive land cover comprised built land, arable and improved grassland. The rate of reduction in indicator species richness across the intensive land cover gradient was significantly lower in all potential refuge features than in surrounding fields and larger areas of habitat. The best refuge locations were watercourse banks and small biotopes. In both cases, indicator species richness was higher than adjacent fields at the lowest intensive land cover and stayed higher as intensive land cover increased. However, as intensive land cover increased, plant traits associated with higher nutrient availability were more prominently represented among indicator species. Although richer assemblages of indicator species persisted on refuge features, population sizes are likely to be small, because of species–area effects, and also vulnerable to nutrient surpluses and reduced or inappropriate disturbance. Synthesis and applications. Across the British lowlands, linear landscape features and small habitat fragments can provide limited safe havens for unimproved grassland plant species. However, the identity of refuge features and their species richness and composition are likely to vary with local conditions. Three activities are therefore paramount in assessing their role in larger scale extensification schemes: (i) development of rapid ways of assessing the plant diversity and distribution of refuge features in local areas; (ii) quantification of the risks posed to the viability of residual source populations through implementation of different options for incorporating them into extensification schemes; (iii) maximization of scheme performance by targeting landscapes with sufficient residual diversity to enable increases in population size of the target species in the medium term.

Hydrologic variation with land use across the contiguous United States: Geomorphic and ecological consequences for stream ecosystems

Using daily discharge data from the USGS, we analyzed how hydrologic regimes vary with land use in four large hydrologic regions that span a gradient of natural land cover and precipitation across the continental United States. In each region we identified small streams (contributing area < 282 km 2) that have continuous daily streamflow data. Using a national database, we characterized the composition of land cover of the watersheds in terms of aggregate measures of agriculture, urbanization, and least disturbed (“natural”). We calculated hydrologic alteration using 10 ecologically-relevant hydrologic metrics that describe magnitude, frequency, and duration of flow for 158 watersheds within the Southeast (SE), Central (CE), Pacific Northwest (NW), and Southwest (SW) hydrologic regions of the United States. Within each watershed, we calculated percent cover for agriculture, urbanized land, and least disturbed land to elucidate how components of the natural flow regime inherent to a hydrologic region is modified by different types and proportions of land cover. We also evaluated how dams in these regions altered the hydrologic regimes of the 43 streams that have pre- and post-dam daily streamflow data. In an analysis of flow alteration along gradients of increasing proportion of the three land cover types, we found many regional differences in hydrologic responses. In response to increasing urban land cover, peak flows increased (SE and CE), minimum flows increased (CE) or decreased (NW), duration of near-bankfull flows declined (SE, NW) and flow variability increased (SE, CE, and NW). Responses to increasing agricultural land cover were less pronounced, as minimum flows decreased (CE), near-bankfull flow durations increased (SE and SW), and flow variability declined (CE). In a second analysis, for three of the regions, we compared the difference between least disturbed watersheds and those having either > 15% urban and > 25% agricultural land cover. Relative to natural land cover in each region, urbanization either increased (SE and NW) or decreased (SW) peak flows, decreased minimum flows (SE, NW, and SW), decreased durations of near-bankfull flows (SE, NW, and SW), and increased flow variability (SE, NW, and SW). Agriculture had similar effects except in the SE, where near-bankfull flow durations increased. Overall, urbanization appeared to induce greater hydrologic responses than similar proportions of agricultural land cover in watersheds. Finally, the effects of dams on hydrologic variation were largely consistent across regions, with a decrease in peak flows, an increase in minimum flows, an increase in near-bankfull flow durations, and a decrease in flow variability. We use this analysis to evaluate the relative degree to which land use has altered flow regimes across regions in the US with naturally varying climate and natural land cover, and we discuss the geomorphic and ecological implications of such flow modification. We end with a consideration of what elements will ultimately be required to conduct a more comprehensive national assessment of the hydrologic responses of streams to land cover types and dams. These include improved tools for modeling hydrologic metrics in ungauged watersheds, incorporation of high-resolution geospatial data to map geomorphic and hydrologic drivers of stream response to different types of land cover, and analysis of scale dependence in the distribution of land-use impacts, including mixed land uses. Finally, ecological and geomorphic responses to human alteration of land cover will have to be calibrated to the regional hydroclimatological, geologic, and historical context in which the streams occur, in order to determine the degree to which stream responses are region-specific versus geographically independent and broadly transferable.

Gene Flow in Complex Landscapes: Testing Multiple Hypotheses with Causal Modeling

Predicting population-level effects of landscape change depends on identifying factors that influence population connectivity in complex landscapes. However, most putative movement corridors and barriers have not been based on empirical data. In this study, we identify factors that influence connectivity by comparing patterns of genetic similarity among 146 black bears (Ursus americanus), sampled across a 3,000-km(2) study area in northern Idaho, with 110 landscape-resistance hypotheses. Genetic similarities were based on the pairwise percentage dissimilarity among all individuals based on nine microsatellite loci (average expected heterozygosity=0.79). Landscape-resistance hypotheses describe a range of potential relationships between movement cost and land cover, slope, elevation, roads, Euclidean distance, and a putative movement barrier. These hypotheses were divided into seven organizational models in which the influences of barriers, distance, and landscape features were statistically separated using partial Mantel tests. Only one of the competing organizational models was fully supported: patterns of genetic structure are primarily related to landscape gradients of land cover and elevation. The alternative landscape models, isolation by barriers and isolation by distance, are not supported. In this black bear population, gene flow is facilitated by contiguous forest cover at middle elevations.

URBANIZATION INFLUENCES ON AQUATIC COMMUNITIES IN NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: Biotic indices and sediment trace element concentrations for 43 streams in northeastern Illinois (Chicago area) from the 1980s and 1990s were examined along an agricultural to urban land cover gradient to explore the relations among biotic integrity, sediment chemistry, and urbanization. The Illinois fish Alternative Index of Biotic Integrity (AIBI) ranged from poor to excellent in agricultural/rural streams, but streams with more than 10 percent watershed urban land (about 500 people/mi2) had fair or poor index scores. A macroinvertebrate index (MBI) showed similar trends. A qualitative habitat index (PIBI) did not correlate to either urban indicator. The AIBI and MBI correlated with urban associated sediment trace element concentrations. Elevated copper concentrations in sediment occurred in streams with greater than 40 percent watershed urban land. The number of intolerant fish species and modified index of biotic integrity scores increased in some rural, urbanizing, and urban streams from the 1980s to 1990s, with the largest increases occurring in rural streams with loamy/sandy surficial deposits. However, smaller increases also occurred in urban streams with clayey surficial deposits and over 50 percent watershed urban land. These data illustrate the potentially complex spatial and temporal relations among biotic integrity, sediment chemistry, watershed urban land, population density, and regional and local geologic setting.

Spatial patterns in land cover of exurbanizing watersheds in southeastern Michigan

Recent research into landscape composition and configuration, or pattern, seeks to identify a core set of metrics and determine whether these describe unique gradients or dimensions of pattern across diverse settings. Prior work generally has examined relatively large units, and it is uncertain whether this approach will prove useful with small (50–100 km 2) landscape units such as the sub-catchment of headwater streams. We estimated 25 pattern variables for the 109 sub-catchment of the Huron and Raisin river basins in southeastern Michigan, which are similar in terrain but represent, respectively, urbanizing and agricultural conditions. Three principal components analyses (PCA) performed on sub-watersheds within the combined area, and for each basin separately, identified five axes that explained ∼80% of the variation in landscape pattern. The first and strongest component described a fragmentation gradient ranging from landscapes dominated by a single land cover type to more diverse, patchy landscapes, and was similar in all three analyses. Variables quantifying variation in patch size were related to the second component in each analysis. Components three through five quantified different gradients in land cover pattern among the analyses, suggesting that gradients of variation in land cover spatial patterns quantified by later components are unique to each landscape. Pattern metrics were correlated with proportion of land in a land cover class, especially for proportion agricultural and proportion urban land, which exhibited the broadest land cover gradients in the study area. Moreover, a number of relationships were non-linear, indicating that the same value for a variable could occur in two different landscapes. Overall, we find that a suite of commonly used landscape metrics typically applied to large landscape units provides a similar basis for the quantitative description of the major gradients of variation in land cover spatial patterns when applied to small landscape units.

Impact of Tissue, Canopy, and Landscape Factors on the Hyperspectral Reflectance Variability of Arid Ecosystems

Changes in vegetation distribution and condition commonly occur in arid ecosystems due to land use and climate variability. Most arid land remote sensing efforts have focused on detecting vegetation change using spectral indices, such as the normalized vegetation index, with limited success. Less attention has focused on using the continuous shortwave spectrum (0.4 μm to 2.5 μm) for studying vegetation in arid environments. Using field measurements and a photon transport model, we quantified the absolute and relative importance of tissue, canopy, and landscape factors that drive pixel-level shortwave reflectance variation along a land-cover gradient in the Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico. Green foliage, wood, standing litter, and bare soil had distinctive spectral properties, often via specific, narrow absorption features and through overall differences in the shape of their shortwave spectra. While the amount of each plant material varied significantly along the land-cover gradient, foliar optical properties remained relatively stable, supporting the hypothesis that resource variation (e.g., water and nutrients) is more strongly resolved at the scale of whole plant canopies (e.g., via allocation and production) than at the leaf level. Significant variation in vegetation type and condition along the gradient resulted in only subtle changes in pixel-level reflectance variability, which could be determined in high spectral resolution Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer data. Most important, the relative impact of tissue, canopy, and landscape factors on pixel-level reflectance shifted with plant composition and phenology. We compared the ability to resolve these vegetation and soil factors using Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, and Landsat Thematic Mapper optical channels and found that few factors could be accounted for unless most of the spectral range was adequately sampled.

Seasonal patterns of spatial differentiation of landcover change in China

Using the 1° × 1° NOAA AVHRR NDVI data set in China, an index on the spatial different gradient of landcover is created. Then based on the index and supported by the geographical information system, it is revealed through principal component and factor analyses methods that there exist four types of seasonal patterns of spatial differentiation of landcover change in China, i. e. November to next March type, June to September type, May or October type and April type.

Organic Matter Budgets for Streams: A Synthesis

Organic Matter Budgets for Streams: A Synthesis