Causes And Consequences Of Land Cover Change In A Greater Ecosystem: Trend And Risk Assessment, Monitoring, And Outreach

Start Date:

01/01/1997

End Date:

01/01/2000

Project Call:

Land-Cover Land-Use Change

Science Theme:

Detection and Monitoring of LCLUC

Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycle Impacts

Predictive Land Use Modeling

Climate Variability and Change

Ecosystems and Biodiversity Impacts

Region:

Solicitation:

Team members:

Person Name	Person role on project	Affiliation
Andrew Hansen	Principal Investigator	Montana State University, Bozeman, US

Abstract:

The regions surrounding many nature reserves are growing rapidly in human population size. Such population increases raise question as to role of ecosystem quality in attracting new immigrants and the consequences of increasingly intense human land use on ecosystem quality. The goal of this study is to quantify changes in biodiversity, land use, and human socioeconomic performance in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) over the past 23 years and to test hypotheses on interactions among these ecological and human factors. Objectives of the study are: 1. Quantify changes in biophysical gradients, biodiversity, and land use and socioeconomic factors across the GYE from 1972-1996. 2. Test hypotheses on interactions among biophysical gradients, biodiversity, and socioeconomic patterns. 3. Assess current and future risk to ecological hot spots and potential for restoration. 4. Develop an approach to monitor ecological and human interactions. 5. Communicate results to stakeholders. Here, we report progress from September 1997, when funding began, through April 1998. A first step was to define the study area boundaries based on ecological and socioeconomic factors. The resulting 100,000-km2 study area includes a gradient in land use from lowland urban and agriculture to high elevation nature reserves, and includes 20 counties. We then delineated one of these counties (Gallatin) as a pilot study area where we will focus the initial trend assessment and hypothesis testing. After methods are refined in the pilot study area, analyses will be extended to the entire study area.

Project Documents

Year	Authors	Type	Title
2003		Publications	Parmenter, A.P., A. Hansen, R. Kennedy, W. Cohen, U. Langner, R. Lawrence, B. Maxwell, A. Gallant, R. Aspinall. 2003. Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: 1975-95. Ecological Applications 13(3):687-703.
2003	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Gallant, A.L. A.J. Hansen, J.S. Councilman, D.K. Monte, and D.W. Betz. 2003. Vegetation Dynamics under fire exclusion and logging in a Rocky Mountain watershed: 1856-1996. Ecological Applications 13(2):385-403.
2002	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J., R. Rasker, B. Maxwell, J.J. Rotella, A. Wright, U. Langner, W. Cohen, R. Lawrence, J. Johnson. 2002. Ecology and socioeconomics in the New West: A case study from Greater Yellowstone. BioScience 52(2)151-168.
2002	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J., and J.J. Rotella. 2002. Rural Development and Biodiversity: A Case Study from Greater Yellowstone. Pgs 123-140 in: Levitt, J., ed. Conservation in the Internet Age. Island Press. New York.
2001	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J. and J.J. Rotella. 2001. Nature Reserves and Land Use: Implications of the "Place" Principle. Pages 57-75 in Dale, V. and R. Haeuber, eds. Applying Ecological Principles to Land Management. Springer Verlag, New York, NY.
2000	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Rasker, R. and A.J. Hansen. 2000. Natural amenities and population growth in the Greater Yellowstone region. Human Ecology Review 7(2):30-40.
2000	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J., J.J. Rotella, M.L. Kraska and D. Brown. 2000. Spatial patterns of primary productivity in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Landscape Ecology. 15:505-522.
1999	Andrew Hansen	NASA LCLUC Science Team Presentation	Interactions Between Biodiversity and Socioeconomics in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
1999	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J., J.J. Rotella, and M.L. Kraska. 1999. Dynamic habitat and population analysis: A filtering approach to resolve the biodiversity manager's dilemma. Ecological Applications 9(4):1459–1476.
1999	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J., A. Gallant, J.J. Rotella, D. Brown. 1999. Natural and human drivers of biodiversity in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Pgs. 61-70 in Land use history of North America: Providing a context for understanding environmental change. T. Sisk, (ed.) Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
1999	Matthew Hansen	Publications	Hansen, A.J. and J.J. Rotella. 1999. Abiotic factors. Pages 161-209. In: M.L Hunter, Jr. (ed.). Maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Great Britain.
1998	Andrew Hansen	Annual Progress Report	Causes And Consequences Of Land Cover Change In A Greater Ecosystem: Trend And Risk Assessment, Monitoring, And Outreach