Opportunities to improve the ecological functioning of agricultural landscapes in the U.S. Midwest exist, and could include the restoration of native plant communities to improve biodiversity or the modification of agricultural production systems to enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services to society. To be most effective in achieving these goals, restoration efforts require knowledge of past conditions and drivers of change. We assessed landscape change in the Clear Creek, Iowa watershed from 1940 to 2002 using five metrics derived from aerial photos: land cover composition and configuration, housing density and spatial pattern, and stream sinuosity. Major cover changes in the watershed included increases in urban (+1743.0 ha) [...]
