Source: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY submitted to
HIERARCHICAL ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE PROCESSES RESULTING FROM MULITPLE LAND USE ACTIVITIES IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID ECOSYSTEMS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0211193
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
TEX09175
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 25, 2007
Project End Date
Jun 24, 2012
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Perotto, H. L.
Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001
Performing Department
UVALDE-TAMU AGR RES &EXT CNTR
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of the landscape ecology program is to integrate the different land use processes, at the local and regional scales, that aim at increase water conservation, water use efficiency, and agricultural and livestock productivity; while minimizing their impact on rangelands and wildlife diversity and sustainability.
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
45%
Applied
45%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1110799107010%
1111499107010%
1113399107010%
1120799107010%
1120899107010%
1210799107010%
1210899107010%
1213399107010%
3070799107010%
3070899107010%
Goals / Objectives
To develop geospatial models that provides better understanding of the relationships between vegetation pattern and hydrologic processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales; to quantify from a spatial perspective the relationship between domestic and wild herbivores and vegetation structure and pattern in brush dominated landscapes; and to investigate subfield -and field-scale spatial variability of soil characteristics and nutrient dynamics and explore spatial explicit approaches to increase crop productivity and reduce environmental impact in precision agriculture systems.
Project Methods
GIS and remote sensing tools will be used to develop multiple-scale models for brush control and management.Landscape metrics to describe spatial pattern, structure, and connectivity will be used to quantify the amount and spatial distribution of potential water yield and wildlife management areas. Using geospatial technologies, livestock and wildlife species movement and behavior, and interactions will be analyzed to determine habitat use, habitat preference, and home range in semi-arid and arid landscapes ecosystems. Spatial variability in nutrient dynamics at the sub-field and field scale in precision agriculture systems will be analyzed using a variety of geostatistical tools. One of the goals in this area is to understand the multi-scale spatial relationships between soil characteristics and water and nutrients, particularly nitrogen availability, use, and movement at the soil-plant level within a crop field in water restricted areas.

Progress 06/25/07 to 06/24/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Two projects have been conducted to provide better understanding of the relationships between vegetation patterns at multiple scales. The land use, land cover, and climate change project is in progress. Over 4200 grid files (maps) of monthly temperature and precipitation, for the last 100 years, have been downloaded and processed for the Edwards Plateau and the South Texas Plains to study large scale climatic changes in these ecoregions. The data has been reprojected and temporal analysis is pending. The spatial distribution of depression forest in Mona Island has been finished. The manuscript has been accepted in Biodiversity and Conservation. In the area of animal movement, a collaboration to understand animal-animal and animal-landscape interactions has been completed. We are conducting analysis to understand the role of time intervals in data collections for statistical purposes and data analysis to study bull-bull interactions in semi-arid rangelands. Collaboration with Andres Cibils and his research group has resulted in a manuscript submitted to Rangeland Ecology and Management and is under currently under review. PARTICIPANTS: Texas AgriLife Research (SM Cooper), Texas A&M University (XB Wu,), Univeristy of Puerto Rico (E Melendez-Ackerman) The Smithsonian Institute (P Leimgruber, C. Christen), New Mexico State University (A Cibils), and the Department of Natural Resources in Puerto Rico (MA Garcia). TARGET AUDIENCES: The audiences were undergraduate and graduates students who will be entering the workforce in natural resources at the local and regional levels. Training and knowledge dissemination was conducted to provide new information generated at Texas AgriLife research during 2008. Future projects will target also ranch owners and manager, and stakeholders in coordination with extension faculty. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No project modifications have been done in 2008

Impacts
During 2008, the two publications submitted in 2007 have been accepted. The first publication is related to the dynamics of depression forests in Mona Island and the issue of scale and connectivity for endangered species. The second publication is a study that provides new information on the distribution and interaction of white-tailed deer and cattle in a semi-arid grazing system. Additionally, this manuscript has been used as the basis for the development of a training program in the use and analysis of GPS collar data. During 2008, 3 guest speaker presentations were conducted in Texas and 4 presentations in professional meetings.

Publications

  • Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Cooper SM, Figueroa-Pagan M, Romo JN. 2008. Too much data? Optimizing GPS collar data Collection schedules. 2008 Joint SRM/AFGC Meeting, Louisville, KY, USA.
  • Cooper SM, Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Meek MG, Figueroa-Pagan M, Owens MK. 2008. Spatial distribution and interaction of white-tailed deer and cattle on South Texas Rangeland. 43rd Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
  • Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Cooper SM, Cibils A. 2008. New challenges to rangeland connectivity in the Southwestern United States. Environmental workshop "Habitat fragmentation and cultural landscapes: The role of connectivity and biological corridors", Baeza, Spain.
  • Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Furlan J, Gutierrez MG. 2008. Human populations, landforms, and landslide Hazard in Guatemala. 92nd Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
  • Cooper SM, Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Owens MK, Meek MG, Figueroa-Pagan M. 2008. Distribution and interaction of white-tailed deer and cattle in a semi-arid grazing system. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 127: 85-92. DOI:10.1016/j.agee.2008.03.004.
  • Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Melendez-Ackerman E, Garcia MA, Leimgruber P, Cooper SM, Martinez A, Calle P, Ramos Gonzales OM, Quinones M, Christen C, Pons G. 2009. Spatial distribution, connectivity, and the influence of scale: habitat availability for the endangered Mona Island Rock Iguana. Biodiversity and Conservation (in press). DOI 10.1007/s10531-008-9520-3.


Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Two projects have been conducted to provide better understanding of the relationships between vegetation patterns at multiple scales. The land use, land cover, and climate change project is in progress. Over 4200 grid files (maps) of monthly temperature and precipitation, for the last 100 years, have been downloaded and processed for the Edwards Plateau and the South Texas Plains to study large scale climatic changes in these ecoregions. The spatial distribution of depression forest in Mona Island has been finished. A manuscript has been submitted to Ecography. In the area of animal movement, a collaboration to understand animal-animal and animal-landscape interactions has been completed. We are conducting analysis to understand the role of time intervals in data collections for statistical purposes and data analysis to study bull-bull interactions in semi-arid rangelands. All of these results have been disseminated in guest speaker lectures throughout the state, and a manuscript currently in review. In the area of precision agriculture, we conducted two projects. The first project was to study the spatial variability of water at the subplot scale in a cotton field. This data will be used as preliminary data for the development of a proposal related to nutrient dynamics in the soil at the subplot scale. Nitrogen cycle in managed pastures and the impact on annual grasses has been finished in September 2007. Preliminary data has been analyzed and a short note is expected for 2008. PARTICIPANTS: The following institutions participated in the project: Texas AgriLife Research (TDA forbes, DI Leskovar, G Piccinni, SM Cooper, J Matocha), Texas A&M University (XB Wu, BP Wilcox, Y Huang), Univerisy of Puerto Rico (E Melendez-Ackerman) The Smithsonian Institute (P Leimgruber, C. Christen), New Mexico State University (A Cibils), and the Department of Natural Resources in Puerto Rico (MA Garcia). One training in the use and analysis of GPS collars was conducted in Dec. 10-11. Six Participants from New Mexico State University, Department of Natural Resources Puerto Rico, and Texas A&M Kingsville attended the training. TARGET AUDIENCES: The audiences were undergraduate and graduates students who will be entering the workforce in natural resources at the local and regional levels. Training and knowledge dissemination was conducted to provide new information generated at Texas AgriLife research during 2007. Future projects will target also ranch owners and manager, and stakeholders in coordination with extension faculty. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No project modifications have been done in 2007

Impacts
During 2007, two publications have been finished and submitted to peer-reviewed journals. The first publication is related to the dynamics of depression forests in Mona Island and the issue of scale and connectivity for endangered species. The second publication is a study that provides new information on the distribution and interaction of white-tailed deer and cattle in a semi-arid grazing system. Additionally, this manuscript has been used as the basis for the development of a training program in the use and analysis of GPS collar data. The first training was successfully conducted in December 2007. During last year, 9 guest speaker presentations were conducted at the Southwest Texas Junior College - Uvalde, University of Texas - San Antonio, Texas A&M University - College Station, and Texas A&M University, Kingsville to present the results of the research conducted in Uvalde.

Publications

  • Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Forbes TDA. 2007. Spatial distribution of cattle manure, pasture use efficiency, and soil properties in irrigated pastures. Annual meeting of the Texas Pasture and Forage workgroup, Overton TX. April 10-11.
  • Wilcox BP, Huang Y, Perotto-Baldivieso HL. 2007. Regional trends in streamflow in Central Texas: reconciling the effects of degradation and woody plant encroachment, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract H44C-03.