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In 1982-1983, a 70 ha energy forest project was established in an arable landscape in southern Sweden. Many aspects of the energy forest system were investigated. This paper reports mainly on the aesthetic impacts of the project at a landscape level. One effect is an increasing variation in the views and the aesthetic values of the arable land. The Salix crops introduce new colours into the arable landscape. The green colour of the Salix fields lasts longer in the autumn. Also, from year to year a spatial Variation appears. The increasing wildlife shelter seems to make the fauna richer. Viewed as an energy crop only, the commercial competitiveness of energy forests is often low. However. if the benefits of energy...
Summary Analysis of historical streamflow trends and their relationship to landscape characteristics is essential for understanding geographic differences in runoff within the Great Lakes basin and for distinguishing temporal trends from temporal variance. Factor analysis of streamflow records (1956–1988) from 32 US Geological Survey gauging stations within the Great Lakes basin revealed distinct spatio-temporal patterns of stream runoff within five different regions of the basin. Streams represented by the first annual factor occurred in southern Wisconsin and the lower peninsula of Michigan, and exhibited a linear increase in mean annual streamflow over the 33 year period caused by increased autumn and winter...
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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...
Restoration of ecological processes is key to restoring the capacity of ecosystems to support social, economic, cultural and aesthetic values. The sustainability of the restored system also depends on processes associated with carbon, nutrient and hydrologic cycles, yet most restoration monitoring is limited to plant community composition. Our research has shown that short-term plant composition monitoring is a necessary but insufficient predictor of long-term restoration success. Long-term (up to 75 years) studies in the western United States show that short-term monitoring of plant community composition alone incorrectly predicted the failure of treatments that were ultimately successful, and the success of treatments...
Of the 3 major factors (habitat loss, poisoning, and disease) that limit abundance of prairie dogs today, sylvatic plague caused by Yersinia pestis is the I factor that is beyond human control. Plague epizootics frequently kill > 99% of prairie dogs in infected colonies. Although epizootics of sylvatic plague occur throughout most of the range of prairie dogs in the United States and are well described, long-term maintenance of plague in enzootic rodent species is not well documented or understood. We review dynamics of plague in white-tailed (Cynomys leucurus), Gunnison's (C gunnisoni), and black-tailed (C ludovicianus) prairie dogs, and their rodent and flea associates. We use epidemiologic concepts to support...
The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) was launched in 2007 in response to concerns about threats to the State s world class wildlife resources, especially the threat posed by rapidly increasing energy development in southwest Wyoming. The overriding purpose of the WLCI is to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale, while facilitating responsible energy and other types of development. The WLCI includes partners from Federal, State, and local agencies, with participation from public and private entities, industry, and landowners. As a principal WLCI partner, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides multidisciplinary scientific and technical support to inform decisionmaking...
The condition of landscapes and the ecological communities within them is strongly related to levels of human activity. Human-dominated land uses and especially the intensity of the uses can affect adjacent ecological communities through direct, secondary, and cumulative impacts. Using land use data and a development-intensity measure derived from energy use per unit area, an index of Landscape Development Intensity (LDI) can be calculated for watersheds of varying sizes to estimate the potential impacts from human-dominated activities that are experienced by ecological systems within those watersheds. The intended use of the LDI is as an index of the human disturbance gradient (the level of human induced impacts...
The southwestern willow flycatcher (SWFL; Empidonax traillii extimus) is an endangered songbird whose habitat has declined dramatically over the last century. Understanding habitat selection patterns and the ability to identify potential breeding areas for the SWFL is crucial to the management and conservation of this species. We developed a multiscaled model of SWFL breeding habitat with a Geographic Information System (GIS), survey data, GIS variables, and multiple logistic regressions. We obtained presence and absence survey data from a riverine ecosystem and a reservoir delta in south-central Arizona, USA, in 1999. We extracted the GIS variables from satellite imagery and digital elevation models to characterize...
There may be no more conspicuous example of a conflict between society and technology than a wind energy landscape. The fastest growing renewable energy resource in the world, wind energy has evoked a cool public response. Through the use of interviews, the published literature, governing legislation, and personal experience, this article examines this conflict near Palm Springs, California. Its purpose is to summarize and explain the opposition that developed there from the earliest days, what has been done to mitigate it, and how the local experience is reflected in similar developments elsewhere. This particular conflict between society and technology has the potential, with proper guidance, controls, and sensitivity,...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation. This dataset represents the local conductance index, which is a measure of the total potential amount of movement of plants and animals (ecological flow) through a cell from neighboring cells as a function of the ecological similarity between the focal cell and neighboring cells at the scale of one...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation. This dataset depicts the potential capability of the landscape throughout the CT River Watershed to provide habitat for American black bear based on environmental conditions existing in approximately 2010. All locations are scored on a scale from 0 to 1, with a value of 0 indicating no capacity to...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation.This dataset represents the sea level rise metric based on a model developed by Rob Theiler and associates at USGS Woods Hole, which is a measure of the probability of a focal cell being unable to adapt to predicted inundation by sea level rise. Specifically, whether a site gets inundated by salt water...
The condition of landscapes and the ecological communities within them is strongly related to levels of human activity. Human-dominated land uses and especially the intensity of the uses can affect adjacent ecological communities through direct, secondary, and cumulative impacts. Using land use data and a development-intensity measure derived from energy use per unit area, an index of Landscape Development Intensity (LDI) can be calculated for watersheds of varying sizes to estimate the potential impacts from human-dominated activities that are experienced by ecological systems within those watersheds. The intended use of the LDI is as an index of the human disturbance gradient (the level of human induced impacts...
The history of hydrocarbon generation, expulsion and migration from the Upper Devonian Bakken and Mississippian Lodgepole source rocks in the Williston Basin has been successfully replicated by a 330-km long TEMISPACK model, running from the centre of Williston Basin to the Wapella oilfield in Saskatchewan. The model shows that oil generation is the cause of overpressures in the Bakken Fm., where shale vertical permeabilities must be as low as 10-2-10 -3 nD when overpressures are around 15 MPa. Hydraulic fracturing threshold was not commonly reached. Yet, our model suggests that expulsion efficiencies are as high as 0.85. Observed very low Bakken shale porosities (0.03) are entirely consistent with this result....
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Conclusions: Summarizes findings from a review of literature intended to identify critical thresholds for conservation based in empirical studies of landscape fragmentation. Presents a conceptual overview of landscape fragmentation and habitat loss, as well as guidelines and thresholds relating to landscape indicators such as patch size, habitat amount, edge effects, riparian buffers, and habitat connectivity. Thresholds/Learnings: Many. See Kennedy et al. 2003. Synopsis: This report summarizes findings from a review of literature intended to identify critical thresholds for conservation based in empirical studies of landscape fragmentation. In presenting a conceptual overview of landscape fragmentation and habitat...
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Oil development in the Bakken shale region has increased rapidly as a result of new technologies and strongdemand for fossil fuel. This region also supports a particularly high density and diversity of grassland bird species,which are declining across North America. We examined grassland bird response to unconventional oilextraction sites (i.e. developed with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques) and associatedroads in North Dakota. Our goal was to quantify the amount of habitat that was indirectly degraded by oil development,as evidenced by patterns of avoidance by birds. Grassland birds avoided areas within 150 m of roads(95% CI: 87–214 m), 267 m of single-bore well pads (95% CI: 157–378 m),...
Climate change is a global phenomenon, but natural selection occurs within landscapes. Many global analyses predict how climate change will shape behavior and physiology, but few incorporate information from the landscape scales at which animals actually respond to selective pressure. We compared cold-water fish (redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii) from neighboring habitats in a naturally warm, recently fragmented basin to understand how different responses to warming may arise from landscape constraints. Trout in warm, hydrologically connected Upper Klamath Lake fled summer temperatures and sought refuge in cool tributaries, while trout in an equally warm but fragmented reach of the Klamath River endured...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation. This dataset identifies large and medium rivers within the Connecticut River watershed that provide habitat for five anadromous fish species: American shad, blueback herring, shortnose sturgeon, alewife, and sea lamprey. Habitat includes the mainstem and major tributaries of the Connecticut River...
A regularly raised concern for wind farms is the number of species and rate of bird and bat collisions with turbines. Australian regulators require, at some operating wind farms, the monitoring of bird and bat collisions. Although monitoring is becoming more commonplace, the area recommended for searching beneath turbines is inconsistent, with many guidelines both in Australia and overseas being based on conjecture rather than empirical evidence. This has the potential to bias survey results, reduce confidence in the data collected, and preclude meaningful comparisons between sites. By having a measure of the range of the fall zone of a bird or bat, a survey can be designed that ensures that an adequate area is...
map background search result map search result map Conservation Thresholds for Land Use Planners Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Sea Level Rise, CT River Watershed Anadromous Fish Index, CT River Watershed Local Conductance, CT River Watershed Landscape Capability for Black Bear, CT River Watershed Avoidance of unconventional oil wells and roads exacerbates habitat loss for grassland birds in the North American great plains Avoidance of unconventional oil wells and roads exacerbates habitat loss for grassland birds in the North American great plains Anadromous Fish Index, CT River Watershed Local Conductance, CT River Watershed Sea Level Rise, CT River Watershed Landscape Capability for Black Bear, CT River Watershed Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Conservation Thresholds for Land Use Planners