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Synopsis: This article outlines how wetlands can significantly reduce flooding in the Upper Mississippi watershed. The authors first provide a historical context by estimating the original and lost wetland storage capacities of the Upper Mississippi and Missouri River Basins. Historically, about 10% of the basin would have been classified as wetland in 1780. By 1980, wetland acreage had been reduced to only 4% of the basin, representing about 26 million acres of wetlands eliminated since 1780. The area of wetland restoration required to reduce the risk of future flooding adequately was estimated based on the total amount of excess floodwater beyond bank-full discharge that passed through the City of St. Louis during...
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Synopsis: The purpose of this model is to indicate potential habitat for olive-backed pocket mice (Perohnathus fasciatus) within the Milk River Basin. As this is a landscape level model with course variaqbles, it may not be directly applicable to other areas for site-specific analysis. Conclusions: Olive-backed pocket mice require high proportions of grassland habitat and low proportions of shrub cover. Sites with low densities of shrubs are preferred because they provide cover from large and aerial predators, such as owls. A threshold of below 40% shrub coverage represents ideal shrub cover proportions.
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Conclusions: In fragmented watersheds, macrohabitat attributes measured at the patch scale were far more effective in predicting trout translocation success than measurements taken at the landscape scale Thresholds/Learnings: As a course filter indicator of cutthroat trout translocation success, the study found that translocations have a greater than 50% chance of fruitful establishment in watersheds >14.7km2 in area. Synopsis: This study aimed to identify stream-scale and basin-scale macrohabitat attributes limiting successful translocation and persistence of native cutthroat trout populations in fragmented landscapes along the Rio Grande. The study developed models of habitat attributes measured at two scales...
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Synopsis: Using multi-scale seasonal models, this study explored how broad scale landscape context and local resource heterogeneity influenced local resource selection among threatened forest-dwelling woodland caribou in southern Quebec. Caribou consistently avoided roads, however researchers identified thresholds in road proximity effects. The threshold distance at which caribou avoid roads is 1.25 km for active roads and 0.75 km from derelict roads. Open lichen woodlands were an important cover type for caribou during winter and spring, whereas deciduous forests, wetlands, and even young disturbed stands became important during calving and summer. Landscape cover type and amount explained more variation in habitat...
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Synopsis: This study analyzed the effects of vegetation change on hydrological fluctuations in the Columbia River basin over the last century using two land cover scenarios. The first scenario was a reconstruction of historical land cover vegetation, c. 1900. The second scenario was more recent land cover as estimated from remote sensing data for 1990. The results show that, hydrologically, the most important vegetation-related change has been a general tendency towards decreased vegetation maturity in the forested areas of the basin. This general trend represents a balance between the effects of logging and fire suppression. In those areas where forest maturity has been reduced as a result of logging, wintertime...
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Synopsis: Prior to European settlement, the Northern Mixed-grass Prairie was a mosaic of wetland, grassland and grass-shrub habitats, with riparian and floodplain forests along major drainages. Even today, the physiographic area can be characterized as being one of the largest still relatively intact grassland landscapes that persist in North America. It is the continent’s most important production area for waterfowl and is the heart of the breeding range for some of North America’s rarest species of grassland birds. A comparison of relative abundance estimates among physiographic areas sampled by the North American Breeding Bird Survey indicates that more than 40% of the world’s population of Baird’s Sparrows,...
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Conclusions: Report presents a framework for assessing the condition of Southern Alberta’s natural assets and their ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. Measurable indicators of ecosystem services, including broad and fine scale landscape indicators, were also distilled from a literature review. Thresholds/Learnings: Wetland cover should be maintained at >15% for watersheds with high potential for phosphorus loading & eutrophication. Impervious cover should be maintained at or below 25% in heavily urbanizing watersheds. Synopsis: This report develops a framework for assessing the condition of Southern Alberta’s natural assets and their resulting ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. The...
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Synopsis: Wind erosion control is typically needed in areas with low and variable precipitation and frequent droughts, and where high winds, high temperature and consequent high evaporation are common conditions, such as in southern Alberta. Potential average annual erosion rates from wind erosion are predicted using the wind erosion equation E= f(I, K, C, L, V) where I is the soil erodibility index, K is the soil-ridge-roughness factor, C is the climactic factor, L is the unsheltered, weighted travel distance of the wind across a field and V is the equivalent vegetated cover. Wind erosion can be controlled with one or more of the following five basic principles of wind erosion control: · Reduce field widths...
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Conclusions: Habitat changes resulting from timber harvest have altered the predator–prey balance leading to asymmetric predation affecting the survivial rates of endangered mountain caribou Thresholds/Learnings: As young forest stands increase in proportion to old forests, caribou population densities and survival rates decline as they become increasingly vulnerable to predation and extripation. Synopsis: Timber harvesting in areas of Mountain Caribou habitat have created landscapes of early seral forests. Such habitat changes have altered the predator–prey balance resulting in asymmetric predation in which predators are maintained by alternative prey (i.e. apparent competition). This study estimates survival...
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Synopsis: Reviews information on grassland bird habitat requirements including a focus on the importance of grassland cover, size of contiguous patches, and other landscape factors. Some species require large blocks of unbroken grassland habitat for nesting. In general, where large blocks of undisturbed grassland occur, grassland birds are able to fulfill most of their requirements during the nesting season. For many bird species, these habitats provide winter and migration cover as well. The more grassland available in an area, particularly in large unbroken blocks, the greater the number of area-sensitive grassland birds the area is able to support. Pastures and crop fields also often provide attractive cover...
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Synopsis: Remotely sensed data and GIS were used to compare the effects of clear-cutting and road-building on the landscape pattern of the Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming. Landscape patterns were quantified for each of 12 watersheds on a series of four maps that differed only in the degree of clear-cutting and road density. Researchers analyzed several landscape pattern metrics for the landscape as a whole and for the lodgepole pine and spruce/fir cover classes across the four maps to determine the relative effects of clear-cutting and road building on the pattern of each watershed. At both the landscape and cover class scales, clear-cutting and road building resulted in increased fragmentation as represented...
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Synopsis: Recent reports clearly indicate that odor emitted from concentrated livestock production facilities in the Midwest of the US is a significant social problem that negatively impacts rural and state economies, human health, and the quality of rural life. A potential incremental approach to dealing with livestock odor is the use of shelterbelts arranged in strategic designs near and within livestock facilities. This review outlines the various ways that shelterbelts can be effective technology which biophysically mitigates odor thereby reducing social conflict from odor nuisance. The biophysical potential of shelterbelts to mitigate livestock odor arises from the tree/shrub impacts on the central characteristics...
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Conclusions: Caribou subpopulation persistence and landscape occupancy depends highly on the degree of forest cover, cover type, and distance from human presence. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study evaluates factors influencing the persistence and landscape occupancy of caribou subpopulations in southern British Columbia. Data from 235 radio-collared caribou across 13 subpopulations were used to derive a landscape occupancy index. The index was analyzed against 33 landscape variables including, land cover, terrain, climate, and human influence. At the metapopulation level, the persistence of subpopulations correlated with the extent of wet climate conditions and the distribution of old forests and alpine...
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Synopsis: Researchers measured the effects of grassland amount and fragmentation on upland and wetland songbird and duck densities and nest success across 16 landscapes in southern Alberta. By comparing these landscape-level effects with local-scale responses, including distance to various edges and vegetation characteristics, the study demonstrated that few species were in fact influenced by grassland amount or fragmentation. In contrast, distance to edge and local vegetation characteristics had significant effects on densities and nest success of many species. Landscape level effects were much less apparent when local characteristics were included in the models. Therefore, researchers concluded that local habitat...
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Conclusions: Elevation, slope and the percentages of bogs and fens in a landscape influence the degree to which mid-boreal lakes are sensitive to acidic deposition orignating from nearby mining operations. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study evaluates the acid sensitivity of lakes in Saskatchewan within ~300km of Fort McMurray. The study area is downwind of atmospheric emissions sources from regional oil sands mining operations and there is concern that the lakes may be threatened by acidification. A helicopter sampling program was implemented in late September 2007 and 2008 to measure 16 chemical variables (e.g., Ca, Mg, Na, pH) and 15 environmental variables (e.g., latitude, elevation, slope, percent bog,...
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Synopsis: This study investigates the relationships of landscape disturbance, altered prey resources, and rattlesnake populations in the Upper Snake River Plain of southeastern. Researchers used radio telemetry to track rattlesnakes while concurrently conducting habitat sampling and small mammal trapping in areas used by snakes and in random locations. Disturbed areas (by grazing and/or burning) were characterized by lower biological crust cover, shrub cover, shrub height, and shrub dispersion, as well as higher grass and bare soil cover. Disturbed areas were also characterized by lower proportions of small animal biomass, abundance, and large prey species (such as chipmunks), while the proportions Conclusions:...
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Synopsis: Recognizing that natural and human disturbances cause significant changes to landscape composition and ecosystem function, this report aims to identify and describe key indicators of environmental sustainability, categorized by vegetation, biodiversity, and watershed characteristics. Measurable indicators of environmental sustainability, including landscape indicators summarized in the vegetation indicators category, were distilled from a wide-ranging literature review. These indicators are intended to serve as metrics of environmental quality that assist land use planners in determining if management goals have been reached. As such, the report provides an overview, assessment, and recommended uses for...
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Synopsis: This report evaluates habitat requirements of the American badger according to parameters of soil texture, graminoid cover, slope, and proximity to roads. Badgers tend to prefer sandy loam and silty loam, medium and moderately coarse textured soils. In terms of graminoid coverage, badgers generally prefer open grassland habitat, but can also be found in agriculturally dominated landscapes containing isolated pockets of Richardson 's ground squirrel colonies. Graminoid coverage of 23% was chosen as the minimum requirement for suitable badger habitat. As slope increases, habitat suitability decreases to a point at which the likelihood of badgers existing there (i.e. cliffs and badlands) is extremely low...
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Synopsis: Agricultural intensification and expansion are major present and future causes of global ecosystem disruption. Natural and semi-natural reserve areas in agroecosystems are thought to be important for preservation of essential ecosystem services such as pollination, but data about land use patterns and pollinator abundance are lacking. We assessed wild bee populations in canola fields in an agriculturally intense area where virtually all land was either tilled agricultural fields or semi-natural grazed pasturelands, with the expectation that mosaics of land use types may better support ecosystem services than homogenous crop areas. Fields were chosen in two categories, five with little or no pastureland...
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Synopsis: The goal of this study was to examine contaminant loadings associated with stormwater runoff from recently burned areas in urban fringe areas of southern California, to derive regional patterns of runoff and contaminant loadings in this context. Postfire stormwater runoff was sampled from five wildfires that each burned between 115 and 658 km2 of natural open space between 2003 and 2009. The area is characterized by classic Mediterranean climate conditions of relatively mild to cool wet winter and warm to hot dry summers. Between two and five storm events were sampled per site over the first one to two years following the fires for basic constituents, metals, nutrients, total suspended solids, and polycyclic...
map background search result map search result map Chemical characteristics and acid sensitivity of boreal headwater lakes in northwest Saskatchewan. Factors influencing the dispersion and fragmentation of endangered mountain caribou populations Changes in landscape composition influence the decline of a threatened woodland caribou population Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Ecosystem Goods and Services Southern Alberta Assessment of Natural Asset Condition Flood reduction through wetand restoration: the Upper Mississippi River Basin as a case history. Effects of land cover change on streamflow in the interior Columbia River Basin (USA and Canada). Assessing the influence of resource co-variates at multiple spatial scales: an application to forest-dwelling caribou faced with intensive human activity. Grassland Birds Linking landscape disturbance to the population ecology of Great Basin rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus lutosus) in the Upper Snake River Plain Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment Watershed analysis of forest fragmentation by clearcuts and roads in a Wyoming forest Can pastureland increase wild bee abundance in agriculturally intense areas? Olive-backed Pocket Mouse. Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Basic principles of wind erosion control Mitigating swine odor with strategically designed shelterbelt systems: a review. A multi-scale analysis of avian response to habitat amount and fragmentation in the Canadian dry mixed-grass prairie. American Badger. Assessing the influence of resource co-variates at multiple spatial scales: an application to forest-dwelling caribou faced with intensive human activity. Olive-backed Pocket Mouse. A multi-scale analysis of avian response to habitat amount and fragmentation in the Canadian dry mixed-grass prairie. Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Chemical characteristics and acid sensitivity of boreal headwater lakes in northwest Saskatchewan. Watershed analysis of forest fragmentation by clearcuts and roads in a Wyoming forest Factors influencing the dispersion and fragmentation of endangered mountain caribou populations Changes in landscape composition influence the decline of a threatened woodland caribou population Ecosystem Goods and Services Southern Alberta Assessment of Natural Asset Condition Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment Linking landscape disturbance to the population ecology of Great Basin rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus lutosus) in the Upper Snake River Plain Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Flood reduction through wetand restoration: the Upper Mississippi River Basin as a case history. Effects of land cover change on streamflow in the interior Columbia River Basin (USA and Canada). Grassland Birds Basic principles of wind erosion control Mitigating swine odor with strategically designed shelterbelt systems: a review.