We examined the distribution of ground-flora species (herbaceous and woody species <1 m tall) across riparian areas of northeastern Wisconsin in an effort to understand how hierarchical landscape properties, such as the physiographic system (ground moraine and outwash plain), valley system (constrained and unconstrained), and valley floor landforms influence distribution patterns of ground-flor...

The Amazon Basin is the world’s largest tropical forest region and one where rapid human changes to land cover have the potential to cause significant changes to hydrological and biogeochemical processes. The Large-Scale BiosphereAtmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multidisciplinary, multinational research program led by Brazil. The goal of LBA is to understand how the Amazon Basin fun...

1. A review is presented of the literature on riparian vegetated buffCT strips (VBS) for use in stream-water-quality restoration and limitations associated with their use are discussed. The results are also presented of recent investigations on the effectiveness of a forested and a grass vegetated buffer strip for reducing shallow subsurface inputs of nutrients from agriculture to a stream in c...

The objective of this paper was to spatially quantify diffuse pollution sources and estimate the potential efficiency of applying riparian buffer zones as a conservation practice for mitigating chemical pollutant losses. This study was conducted using a semi-distributed Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model that underwent extensive calibration and validation in the Sulejów Reservoir catch...

The effects of various timber management histories on the dynamics of riparian forests was analyzed to determine if the length of time since timber harvest and the width of the riparian buffer zone had a measurable effect on variables such as canopy cover, solar radiation, the ratio of hardwood to conifer dominance, and the occurrence of individual species. Ten sites were sampled in the coastal...

Riparian buffer zones are the only measure which has been used extensively in Sweden to reduce phosphorus losses from agricultural land. This paper describes how the FyrisSKZ web tool can be used to evaluate allocation scenarios using data from the Svärta River, an agricultural catchment located in central Sweden. Three scenarios are evaluated: a baseline, a uniform 6-m-wide buffer zone in each...

Natural habitats surrounding agricultural Þelds provide a source of natural enemies to assist in pest control. The boundaries among landscape elements Þlter some organisms attempting to cross them, resulting in differing communities within the landscape elements. Ground beetles are numerous and generally disperse by walking. These qualities make them excellent organisms for the study of boundar...

Healthy riparian ecosystems in arid and semi-arid regions exhibit shifting patterns of vegetation in response to periodic flooding. Their conditions also depend upon the amount of grazing and other human uses. Taking advantage of these system properties, we developed and tested an approach that utilizes historical Landsat data to track changes in the patterns of greenness (Normalized Difference...