Nikki Sacha NRS 509 Restoration Ecology There were several ways that GIS was incorporated into restoration ecology that was repeated in the eight articles that I reviewed. The first was that it served as a way to help prioritize which lands should be restored and protected. Usually the best areas to focus on were determined when several layers of data were overlaid; where the overlaps occurred was the area of highest priority. This is especially valuable because this enables lawmakers and planners to make educated and informed decisions about what lands to protect and restore. Effective restoration ensures that taxpayer money will not go to waste by protecting an area that has no significant habitat value. The journal article by Harveson et al. (2004) was an excellent example of this there was a necessity to determine a habitat restoration plan to help bolster the ocelot population in Texas due to the drastic ocelot decline in response to habitat destruction and degradation from urbanization. By combining eight years worth of ocelot radiotelemetry data, soil type and canopy density data, GIS was able to determine the type of lands favored by ocelots as habitat. The analysis revealed that they preferred three soil types and always preferred areas with dense canopies. Now researchers knew the best type of lands to restore and protect. The same use of GIS in restoration ecology was echoed by Palik et al. (2000). This work developed an approach to prioritize which ecosystem types should be restored first by creating an index that integrates historical and current ecosystem rarity, geomorphology, soil type and disturbance levels of individual polygons using GIS technology. A similar technique using GIS layer overlap was conducted by Tie et al. (2007) in which a nature reserve sought to determine which areas were best to restore so that the critically endangered China Cedar could expand its range. The software revealed a yellow soil type to be an excellent substrate to support cedar growth. Yet another excellent example of using GIS to determine the best types of lands to restore for habitat creation was provided by Rotenberry et al. (2006) and the journal s discussion of niche modeling and GIS. This type of modeling examines the minimum amount of different habitat requirements needed for a species to live in a certain area. GIS allows for elevation, slope, aspect, precipitation, temperature, soil type, land use and vegetation type to be incorporated into the niche model as well, making it more in depth. In fact, it is so much more in depth that the authors predict that this model could be used in areas where nothing is known about species occurrence. The second main GIS use theme that I identified from some of these papers was that the GIS could clearly run models for different scenarios very quickly, and this in turn could directly assist decision makers to choose the best, most effective course of action. DeAngelis et
al. (1998) illustrates this perfectly. In order to determine the effects on species habitat based on different man made hydrological changes in the Florida everglades. There were many different proposed water management plans. Using GIS, the researchers closely examined the study area s topography and vegetation, as well the ranges of several key species like the Cape Sable seaside sparrow that has a very limited range and panthers, which tend to have a broader range. The species ranges were then modeled and paired with hydrologic models using GIS. They even worked in other layers of habitat ranges of the prey species that the key species rely on for survival. Although none of these models have been tested against historical data, the researchers feel that this approach would be very useful with everglades restoration because it provides a very detailed approach determining how changes in hydrology can affect different species. This type of modeling process could help decision makers decide which water management plan would best restore the everglades while protecting the species that live there. Another theme that I came across was how GIS can use historical data to make implications about present day land restoration. In McCauley and Jenkins (2005), researchers searched for ways to best restore wetlands. Although the landscape had drastically changed from agriculture and urbanization, by examining hydric soil locations and depressional areas, the researchers were able to use GIS to determine the historical locations and ranges of wetlands using raster graphics. They experimented with different raster types such as Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs), Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Orthophotography Quarter Quadrangles (DOQs) to find the most accurate representation of historical wetlands (DEMs and DRGs provided a liberal to conservative range and DOQs did not give an accurate result). This study implies a method that can be used by decision makers and conservationists who may be trying to restore wetland areas. If this method became widely accepted, it would not be difficult to replicate. Many areas of land have old aerial photographs that could be digitized and georeferenced. Pairing that with current soil data and elevation data could provide a very clear image of previous wetland spread and areas that are suitable for wetland restoration. The use of historical data in GIS to make informed restoration decisions was also used in Shanmugan and Barnsley (2012). The researchers investigated the increase in bare open sand and the reduction of dune slacks, which is the depression between dunes, often an area that supports key vegetation species for dune ecosystem stability. In order to determine the actual extent of change, maps from the early sixties to present day were digitized and georeferenced so that they could be utilized by GIS software. This way the reduction in dune slacks and the increase in open bare sand could be quantified and the extent of vulnerability of the ecosystem could be estimated. GIS was also used to identify the areas of the dunes that could be restored with native vegetation.
The last theme that I gathered from these papers was using GIS to examine physical attributes about a species and using that data to determine the best areas to restore and protect in order to bolster that species reproductive success. In the journal paper by Weiss and Weiss (1998), the researchers used GIS to map the phenology of butterfly species in the San Francisco Bay region of California. Phenology is the study of an organism s life cycle. The researchers combined the knowledge that butterfly phenology is different across topoclimatic gradients and growing seasons and turned that information into working models in GIS. The models help us to understand the effects that weather, topography, and population history have on population dynamics of butterfly species. Emergence phenology is very important in understanding reproductive success. Therefore, the areas that best support a butterfly s emergence should be first priority for land restoration efforts. However, it is important to remember that if certain butterflies require other areas for their continued survival after emergence, these lands should be as much of a priority for restoration. The incorporation of GIS in restoration ecology efforts found in these papers reflect four main themes: using GIS to help determine which areas should be first priority for restoration based on data layer overlay, the use of GIS to run proposed plans as models (such as water management plans) to determine which plan is most effect and each plans consequences, the use of historical data in GIS to determine the best areas for restoration, and GIS analysis of a species physical attributes to determine areas to restore. As anyone can see, these themes can overlap in many ways and some are similar to each other. However, in all cases, GIS provides a very in depth analysis due to the availability of so many data sets. This can greatly improve restoration efforts since the analyses are very thorough and extensive. There is great potential for future use of GIS in restoration ecology. Most of these peer reviewed projects imply how the methodology used in the papers could be used in future projects headed by decision and policy makers. Some of the more ground breaking papers were old and used early versions of GIS software. Given how far GIS has come in the past few years, the software could provide even more value to such studies.
Annotated Bibliography DeAngelis, D. L., L. J. Gross, M. A. Huston, W. F. Wolff, D. M. Fleming, E. J. Comiskey, and S. M. Sylvester. 1998. Landscape modeling for everglades ecosystem restoration. Ecosystems 1: 64 75. This paper talked about how new restoration techniques are being investigated for the Florida Everglades that maintain ecological processes for in situ species. The authors of this paper used a GIS based software called Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) to model and predict how certain higher trophic level species would respond to certain changes in everglade hydrology. This GIS technology allowed the researchers to estimate the depths of water over time across the landscape of southern Florida, creating a pseudotophography. They were very interested in seeing how these alterations affect prey and habitat availability for these species. The best thing about this paper is that it showed how one could take different proposed water management strategies and model its affects. This is especially important when trying to determine the best course of restoration action. The researchers found significant differences in outcomes between different models. Harveson, P. M., M. E. Tewes, G. L. Anderson, and L. L. Laack. 2004. Habitat use by ocelots in South Texas: implications for restoration. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32: 948 954. This paper used GIS to map eight years worth of data of ocelot radiotelemetry locations paired with what types of soil types they seemed to prefer for habitat. Ocelot populations are declining in response to a drastic increase in urbanization. This paper is important because it uses GIS technology to help determine areas that should be restored and preserved in order to bolster ocelot populations. The mapping also revealed that not only do the ocelots prefer certain soil types, they also prefer areas with dense canopies. The paper provides maps showing the different overlays of preferred soil types with dense canopy areas. This paper has important implications for restoration ecology because it shows that a greater influence can be made preserving a species when preferred habitat is studied and modeled, rather than blindly restoring an area that is avoided by the species of study. McCauley, L. A., and D. G. Jenkins. 2005. GIS based estimates of former and current depressional wetlands in an agricultural landscape. Ecological Implications 15: 1199 1208. This paper approached future possible wetland restoration techniques by using GIS to model and analyze the historical number and distribution of wetlands that was destroyed for agricultural and urban land uses. Such an analysis used GIS to estimate the spatial extent, density, pattern, and sizes of former and existing depressional wetlands. The study used hydric soils to create models that used Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs), 30 m Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Orthophotography Quadrangles (DOQs). These different models yielded
results of different detail. For example, they found the DRG model to be conservative because it showed fewer wetlands than the DEM model. The DOQ model was not even considered. The researchers discovered that the vast majority of historical wetland loss was depressional wetland in type. The GIS modeling of historical wetlands is an invaluable tool to wetland conservation and restoration techniques, and offered insight into which raster database should be used in future or similar studies. It would be interesting if the authors duplicated this study today since GIS has come so far just in the past few years. Palik, B. J., P. C. Goebel, L. K. Kirkman, and L. West. (2000) Using landscape hierarchies to guide restoration of disturbed ecosystems. Ecological Implications. 10: 189 202. This paper focused on the reestablishing of plant communities as an important focus of ecosystem restoration. Successful restoration technique should focus on which efforts should be prioritized, especially if resources are limited. Therefore, this paper created an approach to prioritize which ecosystem types should be restored first by creating an index that integrates historical and current ecosystem rarity, geomorphology, soil type and disturbance levels of individual polygons using GIS technology. This is the method they propose to prioritize restoration efforts. This paper would be very important to town planners and law makers who are trying to figure out what ecosystems should be given priority when determining which lands to restore. Tie, W., L. Mei, and W. Naiang. 2007. Protecting China Cedar (Cryptomeria fortunei) habitat using GIS based simulation, modeling of existence probability and function zoning. Mountain Research and Development 27: 352 358. The China Cedar is a profoundly endangered tree species found only in the Tianmu Mountain National Nature Reserve. The protection of this species and the restoration of its habitat are a high priority; a zoning project in the reserve is set to be underway. Using GIS and remote sensing, a nature reserve geographic information system was developed of Tianmu. Three dimensional simulations of the reserve were created using the slope direction, soil types and annual precipitation that affect the cedars. The researchers determined that a yellow soil type was more suitable for the tree s growth. This information allowed scientists to determine what areas should be restored for suitable cedar habitat. Besides helping to determine potential areas for restoration and reintroduction of the tree, the researchers also talked about how GIS was key in monitoring both this species and for overall general management of the entire reserve. Rotenberry, J. T., K. L. Preston, and S. T. Knick. 2006. GIS based niche modeling for mapping species habitat. Ecology 87: 1458 1464.
This paper focused on the importance of niche modeling as an excellent method in identifying and mapping suitable habitat for species on a large scale. The niche modeling approach figures out a minimum set of basic habitat requirements for a species. Advances in GIS technology have allowed for better digital environmental layers that can incorporate the determined habitat requirements of the species of study. In addition to these requirements, GIS allows for elevation, slope, aspect, precipitation, temperature, soil type, land use and vegetation type to be incorporated into the niche model as well, making it more in depth. The researchers point out that GIS based niche modeling has huge implications in conservation and ecological restoration. Such modeling can help determine how much of an influence a variable has on the species distribution. It also creates a very precise and detailed assessment of what kind of habitat suitability. The authors also note that since this model is so detailed, it may also be applied to areas where there is no information about the occurrence of species. By thoroughly examining what type of habitat best supports different species, a better system for land restoration and preservation can be developed. Shanmugam, S. and M. Barnsley. 2002. Quantifying landscape ecological succession in a coastal dune system using sequential aerial photography and GIS. Journal of Coastal Conservation 8: 61 68. This paper examines habitat and vegetation succession in a coastal dune ecosystem using GIS and remote sensing. A recent decline in dune slacks, which is the trough area between dunes that supports the majority of vegetation, has led to dune instability, thus weakening the overall ecosystem since it is not supporting the same diversity of plant and animal species. Aerial photographs from 1962 to present day were digitized and then analyzed using GIS. The resulting maps clearly portrayed the drastic reduction in open sand and slacks over time, looking at different degrees of vegetation of the slacks and dunes. It also showed the takeover of invasive species in other areas. The GIS analysis also revealed the vulnerability of the landscape and how it is likely for more invasives to move in over time due to the dry slacks. These results revealed that much of the vulnerable or compromised slack area can be restored. Weiss, S. B., and A. D. Weiss. 1998. Landscape level phenology of a threatened butterfly: a GIS based modeling approach. Ecosystems 1: 299 309. Butterfly phenology varies across growing seasons and topoclimatic gradients. By combining both of these variables, one can predict patterns of phenology based on landscape level and how that affects population dynamics. GIS was used to do just that. In plain English, using GIS with different models, the phenology of rare or endangered butterfly species can be predicted across complex terrain types and variable weather conditions. The models help us to understand the effects that weather, topography, and population history have on population dynamics of butterfly species. Emergence phenology is very important in understanding
reproductive success. Therefore, understanding how terrain and time of year can affect phenology is very important when determining species conservation and habitat restoration.