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Author(s): M. T. Carone, S. Manfreda, T. Simoniello & M. Macchiato
Abstract:
In recent years the need to restore impacted habitats has become a fundamental
aspect of environmental management in order to match sustainable development
requirements.
This is particularly important for fluvial habitats because of their
role in the landscapes as environmental corridors.
For these reasons the correct
management of the restoration ecology interventions is mandatory and the
ecosystem characteristics, as well as the influence of its landscape, have to be
taken into account.
In order to correctly realize buffer strip intervention, one of
the most used restoration techniques, we propose an approach which uses field
measurements for fluvial functionality and satellite data integrated with
hydrological models to obtain information on the landscape influence on the
river system.
The investigation involved the high valley of the Agri River located
in the Basilicata region, Southern Italy.
The first step to the analysis involves the investigation of the fluvial
ecosystem quality by using the Italian IFF Index (Fluvial Functionality Index),
which differentiates various river segments in different levels of functionality.
Meanwhile, by using a multispectral satellite image (LANDSAT TM 5) a land
use map of the area of interest was performed.
This land use map represented an
important input for the hydrological simulation, which identified fluvial
segments receiving the highest amount of landscape surface runoff, which is the
most important cause of pollutant transporting from surrounding areas.
All the results have been recorded and integrated in a Geographical
Information System to define the final prediction for the localization of the
buffer strips.
The results obtained underline that the identification of the
intervention sites realized by using the IFF field measurements and
satellite-based hydrological analyses are complementary since critical segments
respectively identified are not completely overlapped.
Therefore, an integrated
approach is fundamental to better plan the management of restoration ecology
interventions.
Keywords:
fluvial habitat, satellite, IFF, Landsat-TM, hydrological model, GIS.
...
Pages: 9
Size: 557 kb
Paper DOI: 10.2495/RM050191
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