Abstract.
The condition of landscapes and the ecological communities within them is strongly related to levels of human activity. Human-dominated land uses and especially the intensity of the uses can affect adjacent ecological communities through direct, secondary, and cumulative impacts.Using land use data and a development-intensity measure derived from energy use per unit area, an index of Landscape Development Intensity (LDI) can be calculated for watersheds of varying sizes to estimate the potential impacts from human-dominated activities that are experienced by ecological systems within those watersheds. The intended use of the LDI is as an index of the human disturbance gradient (the level of human induced impacts on the biological, chemical, and physical processes of surrounding lands or waters). The LDI can be used at the scale of river, stream, or lake watersheds or at the smaller scale of individual isolated wetland watersheds. Based on land uses and land cover, the LDI can be applied using available GIS land use/land cover data, aerial photographs, or field surveys.A description of data needs and methods for calculating an LDI index and several applications of the index as a land use based ranking scheme of the human disturbance gradient for watersheds are given.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan, J.D., Erickson, D.L. and Fay, J.: 1997, ‘The influence of catchment land use on stream integrity across multiple spatial scales’, Freshw. Biol. 37, 149–161.
Barbour, M.T., Gerritsen, J., Griffith, G.E., Frydenborg, R., Carron, E.C., White, J.S. and Bastian, M.L.: 1996, ‘A framework for biological criteria for Florida streams using benthic macroinvertebrates’, J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 15(2), 185–211.
Beaulac, M.N. and Reckhow, K.H.: 1982, ‘An examination of land use–nutrient export’, relationships. Water Resour. Bull. 18, 1013–1024.
Brandt-Williams, S.: 2002, Emergy of Florida Agriculture, Folio #4, Handbook of Emergy Evaluation: A compendium of data for emergy computation issued in a series of folios, Center for Environmental Policy, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 40 pp.
Brown, M.T.: 1980, ‘Energy Basis for Hierarchies in Urban and Regional Landscapes’, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 359 pp.
Brown, M.T.: 2003, ‘Spatial Modeling of Empower and Environmental Loading’, in M.T. Brown (ed.), Emergy Synthesis 2: Proceeding of the conference on emergy analysis, Gainesville FL, September 2001, Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Brown, M.T., Carstenn, S., Lane, C., Reiss, K., Surdick, J., Spurrier, L., Murry-Hudson, M., Kasbar, J., Vivas, B. and Doherty, S.: 2001, ‘Development of a Biological Approach for Assessing Wetland Function and Integrity: Depressional Marshes’ (Contract no. WM683). First Draft Final Report to Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Center For Wetlands, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 214 pp.
Brown, M.T., Parker, N. and Foley, A.: 1998, ‘Spatial Modeling of Landscape Development Intensity and Water Quality in the St Marks River Watershed’, DEP Contract #GW138,Center for Wetlands, University of Florida, Gainesville, 136 pp.
Castelle, A.J., Johnson, A.W. and Conolly, C.: 1994, ‘Wetland and stream buffer size requirements-A review’, J. Environ. Quality 23, 878–882.
Crosbie, B. and Chow-Fraser, P.:1999, ‘Percentage land use in the watershed determines the water and sediment quality of 22 marshes in the Great Lakes basin’, Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. 56, 1781–1791.
Ehrenfeld, J.G.:1983, ‘The effects of changes in land-use on swamps of the New Jersey pine barrens’, Biol. Conser. 25, 353–375.
FDOT: 1999, Florida Land Use Cover and Forms Classification System. Handbook of Florida Department of Transportation, Surveying and Mapping Office, Thematic Mapping Section, Tallahassee, 91 pp.
Findlay, C.S. and Houlahan, J.: 1997, ‘Anthropogenic correlates of species richness in southeastern Ontario wetlands’, Conserv. Biol. 11, 1000–1009.
Fluck, R.C., Panesar, B.S. and Baird, C.D.: ‘Florida agricultural energy consumption model’, Final Report to the Florida Energy Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Gainesville Regional Utilities: 2002, Billing records.
Galatowitsch, S.M.,Whited, D.C., Lehtinen, R., Husveth, J. and Schik, K.: 2000, ‘The vegetation of wet meadows in relation to their land-use’, Environ. Monit. Assess. 60, 121–144.
Gerritsen, J. and White, J.: 1997, Development of a Biological Index for Florida Lakes, Tetra Tech, Inc., Owings Mills, MD.
Habersack, H.M.: 2000, ‘The river-scaling concept (Rsc): A basis for ecological assessments’, Hydrobiologia 422/423, 49–60.
Haukoos, D.S.: 1994, ‘An Emergy Analysis of Construction Materials and Systems’, MS terminal project, Department of Architecture, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
Hawkins, C.P., Norris, R.H., Gerritsen, J., Hughes, R.M., Jackson, S.K., Johnson, R. K. and Stevenson, R. J.: 2000, ‘Evaluation of the use of landscape classifications for the prediction of freshwater biota: Synthesis and recommendations’, J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 19(3), 541–556.
Hawkins, C.P. and Vinson, M.R.: 2000, ‘Weak correspondence between landscape classification and stream invertebrate assemblages; implications for bioassessment’, J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 19(3), 497–500.
Jones, B., Neale, A.C., Wade, T.G., Wickham, J.D., Cross, C.L., Edmonds, C.M., Loveland, T.R., Nash, M.S., Riitters, K.H. and Smith, E.R.: 2001, ‘The consequences of landscape change on ecological resources: An assessment of the United States Mid-Atlantic region’, 1973–1993. Ecosystem Health 7(4) 229–241.
Karr, J.R. and Chu, E.W.: 2000, ‘Sustaining living rivers’, Hydrobiologia 2000 422–423, 1–14.
Kirkman, K.L., Lide, R.F., Wein, G. and Sharitz R, R.R.: 1996, ‘Vegetation changes and land-use legacies of depression wetlands of the western coastal plain of South Carolina, 1951–1992’, Wetlands 16, 564–576.
Kraus, E.B.: 1972, Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction, Clarendon Press,Oxford.
Lane, C.R.: 2003, ‘Development of Biological Indicators of Wetland Condition for Isolated Depressional Herbaceous Wetlands in Florida’, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville. [in press]
Miller, R.E. and Gunsalus, B.E.: 1997, Wetland Rapid Assessment Procedure (WRAP). West Palm Beach, FL: South Florida Water Management District.
NCDC (National Climatic Data Center): 2000, Climatic Atlas of the United States, NOAA, Ashville, NC.
Odum, H.T.: 1996, Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 370 pp.
Parker, N.: 1989, ‘Spatial Simulation of Nonpoint Source Pollutant Loading in the St. Marks Basin Using a GIS Model’, in M.T. Brown, N. Parker and A. Foley (eds), 1998, Spatial Modeling of Landscape Development Intensity and Water Quality in the St. Marks River Watershed, DEP Contract #GW138, Center for Wetlands, University of Florida, Gainesville, 136 pp.
Patil, G.P., Brooks, R.P., Myers, W.L., Rapport, D.J. and Taillie, C.: 2001, ‘Ecosystem health and its measurement at landscape scale: Toward the next generation of quantitative assessments’, Ecosystem Health 7(4), 307–319.
Pimentel, D., Harvey, C., Resosudarmo, P., Sinclair, K., Kurz, D., McNair, M., Crist, S., Shprotz, L., Fitton, L., Saffouri, R. and Blair, R.: 1995, ‘Environmental and economic costs of soil erosion and conservation benefits’, Science 267, 1117–1121.
Richards, C., Johnson, L.B. and Host, G.E.:1996, ‘Landscape-scale influences on stream habitats and biota’, Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. 53, 295–311.
Roth, N.E., Allan, J.D. and Erickson, D.L.:1996, ‘Landscape influences on stream biotic integrity assessed at multiple spatial scales’, Landscape Ecol. 11, 141–156.
Seaber, P.R., Kapinos, F.P. and Knapp, G.L.: 1987, Hydrologic Unit Maps: U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Supply Paper 2294, 63 pp.
Smajstrla, A.G.: 1990, ‘Agricultural field scale irrigation requirements simulation model’, (AFSIRS) 5. 5. Department of Agricultural Engineering. Inst. of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida, Gainesville.
Whitfield, D.F.: 1994, ‘Energy Basis for Urban Land Use Patterns in Jacksonville, FL’, MA Dissertation,Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida. Gainesville, 259 pp.
Vivas, M.B.: 2004, ‘A Landscape Approach for the Assessment of the Environmental Condition of Surface Waters in Florida’, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida [in press].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BROWN, M.T., VIVAS, M.B. LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT INTENSITY INDEX. Environ Monit Assess 101, 289–309 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-0296-6
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-0296-6