Water Quality Vulnerability in the Ozarks using Landscape Ecology Metrics: Upper White River Browser (v2.0)

The Upper White River study area orientation map and (Landsat) satellite imagery is provided to acquaint the user of this browser with the extent of land that has been assessed by this project and the distribution of land-cover types throughout the region. Land-cover maps are provided for the dates and decadal intervals indicated, and have been produced to specifically address the analysis questions of the stakeholders in the region (i.e., with regard to the potential interactions between surface water-quality and the spatial and temporal distribution of urban and agricultural areas). For this reason, the number of land-cover classes was intentionally kept to a minimum in order to address the specific questions of stakeholders, and to provide maximum land-cover classification accuracy. Initial land-cover validation sampling indicates an overall accuracy of the 2003 land-cover map in excess of 95% (N=73). The landscape metrics throughout this browser are based upon the land-cover and other maps provided in this section.

• Overview of Land-Cover Types
  • Examples of urban land-cover are urban centers and small rural towns.
  • Examples of the agricultural/grassland land-cover are pasture, a row crop field, a golf course, or any other area of herbaceous vegetation.
  • Examples of forest land-cover are nature reserves and woodlots.
  • Examples of water are streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds
  • Examples of barren land-cover are a gravel pit and a sandy beach.

Other base data maps are provided in this section to generally depict important boundaries, features, and sampling locations used in the analyses that are provided in this browser.