Class

Article

College

S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources

Faculty Mentor

Karin Kettenring

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Abstract

Great Salt Lake wetland managers are responsible for maintaining the ecosystem services provided by their wetland complexes. Unfortunately, these managers have limited data on synergies and trade-offs in ecosystem services across the landscape yet are tasked with making decisions about how best to manage these services. Ecosystem services are often measured on the landscape via "proxies," which, for this research, are several ecosystem functions (i.e. sediment retention, carbon and nitrogen uptake, seed production, migratory bird habitat) performed by particular wetland vegetation types. In this project, we are quantifying and determining the distributions of ecosystem functions provided by individual vegetation types at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. To do so, we are using object-based imagery assessment to map nine different vegetation types across these sites using eCognition software with the National Agricultural Imagery Program’s 2016 RGB and NIR imagery and the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Land’s 2016 LiDAR data. Distributions of ecosystem functions by vegetation type will be mapped linking the classified imagery covering the study areas with previously collected field measurements of the focal ecosystem functions. We then employ a systematic conservation planning approach using Marxan software to provide an unbiased, optimized management plan that meets set targets of ecosystem functions across the landscape while minimizing costs to managers. Through multiple iterations of varying conservation targets and set costs, we calculate the amount of each ecosystem function that can be conserved on the landscape per U.S. dollar spent by management, allowing managers more control over ecosystem service tradeoffs and synergies that occur within their wetland complexes.

Location

The North Atrium

Start Date

4-12-2018 10:30 AM

End Date

4-12-2018 11:45 AM

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Apr 12th, 10:30 AM Apr 12th, 11:45 AM

Modeling Ecosystem Functions for Ecosystem Service Management of Great Salt Lake Wetlands

The North Atrium

Great Salt Lake wetland managers are responsible for maintaining the ecosystem services provided by their wetland complexes. Unfortunately, these managers have limited data on synergies and trade-offs in ecosystem services across the landscape yet are tasked with making decisions about how best to manage these services. Ecosystem services are often measured on the landscape via "proxies," which, for this research, are several ecosystem functions (i.e. sediment retention, carbon and nitrogen uptake, seed production, migratory bird habitat) performed by particular wetland vegetation types. In this project, we are quantifying and determining the distributions of ecosystem functions provided by individual vegetation types at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. To do so, we are using object-based imagery assessment to map nine different vegetation types across these sites using eCognition software with the National Agricultural Imagery Program’s 2016 RGB and NIR imagery and the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Land’s 2016 LiDAR data. Distributions of ecosystem functions by vegetation type will be mapped linking the classified imagery covering the study areas with previously collected field measurements of the focal ecosystem functions. We then employ a systematic conservation planning approach using Marxan software to provide an unbiased, optimized management plan that meets set targets of ecosystem functions across the landscape while minimizing costs to managers. Through multiple iterations of varying conservation targets and set costs, we calculate the amount of each ecosystem function that can be conserved on the landscape per U.S. dollar spent by management, allowing managers more control over ecosystem service tradeoffs and synergies that occur within their wetland complexes.