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Methodology and Interpretation
RAGP0 - Percent pasture adjacent to streams
The percentage of pasture land cover adjacent to streams is calculated by
dividing the number of pasture land cover cells underneath stream segments in
the 3 km grid cell reporting unit and dividing by the stream corridor's total
land area (total number cells underneath stream segments minus those classified
as water). Animals grazing in pasture land may decrease vegetation cover possibly
leading to increased runoff. Livestock may also impair stream banks by trampling
riparian vegetation, which may cause increased sedimentation in the stream.
Quantile: Each class contains an approximately equal number (count) of features. A quantile
classification is well-suited to linearly distributed data. Because features are grouped by the number
within each class, the resulting map can be misleading, in that similar features can be separated into
adjacent classes, or features with widely different values can be lumped into the same class. This
distortion can be minimized by increasing the number of classes.
Natural Breaks: Classes are based on natural groupings of data values. Natural break points
are identified by looking for groupings and patterns inherent in the data. The features are divided
into classes whose boundaries are set where there are relatively large jumps in the distribution of
data values.
* EMAP-West Landscape Metrics Metadata (FGDC)
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