Floodplain forests are important features of river systems as they create habitat for a variety of wildlife species as well as influence water quality by sequestering nutrients. The ecological conditions found within forested areas can vary greatly from place to place, contributing to spatial variability in species diversity, animal use of the floodplain, and other ecological functions. For this reason, it is important for managers and researchers to identify and map existing forest conditions for use in restoration practices or research studies.
To support floodplain forest research and management actions on the Upper Mississippi River System, contiguous forested areas (i.e., areas of forest cover that were separated from each other by other land or water cover types) within the floodplain were developed and a wide range of attributes were calculated that define basic ecosystem conditions within these forested areas. Attributes related to contiguous forest area size, shape, landscape position, community composition and physical structure were developed using 2020 land cover data (Upper Mississippi River Restoration, Long Term Resource Monitoring element) as the primary source and supplemented with spatial data describing floodplain inundation and historic land cover. For this study, contiguous forested areas and their associated metrics were developed for those pools that were currently available (navigation pools 4, 8, 13 and 26). The results for individual metrics were subsequently compared from pool to pool and instances of similarity and dissimilarity were identified and discussed. As the 2020 land cover for additional pools becomes available, the ability to compare the values of metrics across a broader area of the UMRS and better understand basic habitat and physical features of forests in this system can occur. In addition, some metrics could be compared over time, both historically, and against future data collection efforts to examine change over time and space.
This data set will provide researchers, managers, and stakeholders the ability to query the current forested landscape within the UMRS to identify forested areas meeting sets of conditions relevant for their species or ecological condition of concern. Additionally, researchers will be able to use this data set to test for associations between species distributions or other ecological conditions and different forest area attributes.
Link to USGS cooperator report - https://umesc.usgs.gov/documents/reports/2023/umrr_ltrm_contiguous_fore…
Link to contiguous forest areas output data sets - https://doi.org/10.5066/P9JM2AYX
- Overview
Floodplain forests are important features of river systems as they create habitat for a variety of wildlife species as well as influence water quality by sequestering nutrients. The ecological conditions found within forested areas can vary greatly from place to place, contributing to spatial variability in species diversity, animal use of the floodplain, and other ecological functions. For this reason, it is important for managers and researchers to identify and map existing forest conditions for use in restoration practices or research studies.
To support floodplain forest research and management actions on the Upper Mississippi River System, contiguous forested areas (i.e., areas of forest cover that were separated from each other by other land or water cover types) within the floodplain were developed and a wide range of attributes were calculated that define basic ecosystem conditions within these forested areas. Attributes related to contiguous forest area size, shape, landscape position, community composition and physical structure were developed using 2020 land cover data (Upper Mississippi River Restoration, Long Term Resource Monitoring element) as the primary source and supplemented with spatial data describing floodplain inundation and historic land cover. For this study, contiguous forested areas and their associated metrics were developed for those pools that were currently available (navigation pools 4, 8, 13 and 26). The results for individual metrics were subsequently compared from pool to pool and instances of similarity and dissimilarity were identified and discussed. As the 2020 land cover for additional pools becomes available, the ability to compare the values of metrics across a broader area of the UMRS and better understand basic habitat and physical features of forests in this system can occur. In addition, some metrics could be compared over time, both historically, and against future data collection efforts to examine change over time and space.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Depiction of contiguous forest area development and metric calculation examples related to core forest models (upper left panel), flood inundation models (upper right panel), adjacent land cover types (lower left panel), and historic land cover classifications (lower right panel). This data set will provide researchers, managers, and stakeholders the ability to query the current forested landscape within the UMRS to identify forested areas meeting sets of conditions relevant for their species or ecological condition of concern. Additionally, researchers will be able to use this data set to test for associations between species distributions or other ecological conditions and different forest area attributes.
Link to USGS cooperator report - https://umesc.usgs.gov/documents/reports/2023/umrr_ltrm_contiguous_fore…
Link to contiguous forest areas output data sets - https://doi.org/10.5066/P9JM2AYX