Landscape characterization is an essential component for determining the status and trends in the condition of ecological resources. The amount and spatial arrangement of land cover types are related to ecological processes and the effect a specific stress(s) may have on the resources in a region. LACRA is a cooperative effort between KARS and EPA Region VII's Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (R-EMAP) that seeks to establish empirical relationships between regional landscapes and fisheries health while developing landscape metrics for use in other regional environmental assessments.

R-EMAP is a key component of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), a research program that focuses on the development and utilization of ecological monitoring as a critical part of environmental management and assessment for regional environmental issues. The EPA Region VII R-EMAP study concentrates on the condition of fisheries resources in the states of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Preliminary evidence from fish tissue studies has suggested that fisheries resources in these states have been adversely impacted by chemical pollutants. The Region VII R-EMAP study focuses on the following questions:

1) What is the status of the health of fisheries in Region VII?

2) What associations exist between selected landscape indicators of natural and anthropogenic stresses and indicators of fisheries health?

LACRA is examining the suitability of existing sources of regional land use/land cover data sets for landscape characterization. These data differ in their age, source data (i.e., aerial or satellite), method of compilation (i.e., manual or digital), attribute resolution, and spatial resolution. It also is looking at the use of vegetation indices (VIs) derived from digital satellite data. Vegetation indices are highly indicative of vegetation properties (e.g., leaf area, green biomass) and work done by KARS has shown VIs better explain variation in stream water chemistry than area statistics for land use/land cover. In addition, a VI time-series using multiple dates of VI imagery over the course of a growing season is being constructed to characterize and assess the dynamic nature of land cover.

LACRA is funded by the U.S EPA Region VII R-EMAP Program.

KARS
Edward A. Martinko, P.I.
Jerry L. Whistler, P.I.
Jerry deNoyelles, P.I.
Jerry Griffith, Graduate Research Assistant
Dana Peterson, Graduate Research Assistant

EPA Region VII
Lyle Cowles, Project Coordinator
Don Miller, Project Statistician
E. William Schweiger

Griffith, J., E. Martinko, J. Whistler, and K. Price. 2002. An analysis of interrelationships among landscapes, NDVI, and stream condition in the U.S. Central Plains. Ecological Applications, 12(6): 1702-1718.

Griffith, J.A., E.A. Martinko, J.L. Whistler, and K.P. Price. 2002. Preliminary comparison of landscape pattern-normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) relationships to central plains stream conditions. Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 846-859.

Whistler, J.L., E.A. Martinko, J.A. Griffith, and D. Peterson. 2002. Landscape Analysis and Characterization for Regional Assessment (LACRA): A Region VII REMAP Project. Poster presented at the EMAP Symposium 2002: The Condition of Our Nation’s Streams and Rivers from the Mountains to the Coast, May 7-9, Kansas City, MO.

Martinko, E.A., J.L. Whistler, F. deNoyelles, Jr., J.A. Griffith, and D. Peterson. 2000. EPA Region VII R-EMAP Project: Landscape Analysis and Characterization to Support Regional Environmental Assessment (LACRA). Final Report to US EPA Region VII, EPA Assistance Agreement #CR825877-01-0, Lawrence, KS, 109 pp.

Griffith, J.A, E.A. Martinko, and J.L. Whistler. 2000. Vegetation phenological metrics and their relation to water quality and biophysical condition in Central Plains streams. Proceedings of the 2000 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Annual Conference, May 23-27, Washington, DC.

Griffith, J., E. Martinko, J. Whistler, F. deNoyelles, and D. Peterson. 1999. Linking Fisheries Health and Stream Condition in the Great Plains with Landscape Pattern and Vegetation Indices. Poster presented at the 5th World Congress of the International Association for Landscape Ecology. July 29-August 3rd, Snowmass Village, CO.

Griffith, J. A. , E. A. Martinko, and K. P. Price. 1999. Analyzing the underlying structure of landscape pattern of Kansas at three resolutions. Pages 637-648. In: Proceedings of the 1999 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Annual Conference. May 17 - 21, 1999, Portland, OR.

Griffith, J., E. Martinko, J. Whistler, F.J. DeNoyelles, and D. Peterson. 1998. Linking Fisheries Health and Stream Condition in the Great Plains with Landscape Pattern and Vegetation Indices: An Assessment Framework. Oral presentation given at the Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountains/great Plains Division of the Association of American Geographers. September 26, Lawrence, KS.

EMAP R-EMAP Overview
EPA Region VII R-EMAP

Ed Martinko or Jerry Whistler