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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #219251
Title: Remote Wetland Assessment for Missouri Coteau Prairie Glacial Basins

Author
item Phillips, Beckie
item BEERI, OFER - UNIV OF ND,GRAND FORKS,ND
item DEKEYSER, E - NDSU, FARGO, ND

Submitted to: Wetlands
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2005
Publication Date: 6/1/2005
Citation: Phillips, R.L., Beeri, O., DeKeyser, E.S. 2005. Remote Wetland Assessment for Missouri Coteau Prairie Glacial Basins. Wetlands 25:335-349.

Interpretive Summary: Thousands of wetlands populate the Missouri Coteau ecoregion, which comprises over 7 million hectares of land area. These waters may be impacted by surrounding land use, but data are lacking to adequately inventory such a large number of small pools. Water quality problems are associated with wetlands that are not surrounded by perennial vegetation. We used field and satellite-based spectral data to delineate wetland vegetation and surrounding land use for an 1800 km2 area of interest located in central North Dakota. Results were used to identify waters that were not “buffered” by perennial vegetation. We found the majority (79%) of the wetland basins within our area of interest were buffered by at least 30 m of perennial vegetation. However, 6% of the wetlands surveyed were surrounded by very little perennial vegetation (<25% of the water border). This mapping system provides a vehicle for targeting potential water quality problems by isolating those waters that are most vulnerable.

Technical Abstract: Missouri Coteau prairie glacial wetlands are subject to numerous anthropogenic disturbances, such as cultivation, construction, and chemical inputs from upland land-use practices. High wetland density and temporal variability among these ecosystems necessitate synoptic tools for watershed-scale wetlands assessment and comprehensive monitoring. We developed a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) classification system for Missouri Coteau prairie glacial wetlands in North Dakota, USA and derived two indices that provide data salient to landscape-scale wetland assessment and monitoring. One, the Basin Buffer Index (BBI), delineates areas of natural vegetation that buffer waters from anthropogenic disturbance. The second, the Hydric Vegetation Index (HVI), delineates areas of hydric vegetation communities essential to prairie glacial wetland function. The model was developed by spectrally characterizing structural attributes common to glacial basins, such as hydroperiod, canopy architecture, and plant life-form and evaluating the potential for spectral detection of the natural vegetation buffers that surround these wetlands. Spectral separation among community zones in the green, red, and mid-infrared regions were evident in hyperspectral data and were convolved to fit multi-spectral satellite sensors. Model application using Landsat ETM_ and SPOT 5 satellite data over the central North Dakota study area produced classifications for buffer delineation and hydric community detection with 89 and 85% accuracy, respectively. By integrating remote sensing technology with those structural factors fundamental to wetland quality (i.e., land-use and natural vegetation buffers surrounding water bodies), we illustrate a method for evaluating wetland condition at a landscape scale.