Honors Projects

Abstract

Agricultural land in the U.S. is abundant but not infinite. Change in cropland impacts national and local economies and the natural environment. The Black Swamp Conservancy (BSC), a non-profit land trust in Perrysburg, Ohio, is committed to preserving agricultural and natural lands in the Northwest Ohio region for future generations. This project was designed in collaboration with the BSC to illustrate the spatial distribution of land cover change within their sixteen-county service area in Northwest Ohio and to find a list of factors associated with land cover change in the region. The primary data source was the National Land Cover Database 2016 (2016 NLCD) published by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. The 2016 NLCD includes 30m x 30m land cover maps of the contiguous U.S for 2-3-year intervals from 2001 and 2016. The project found that cropland loss to development within Northwest Ohio is mitigated by hay/pasture conversion to cropland. Most cropland loss occurred at the urban fringe of cities including Toledo, Lima, and Findlay. The study also found that location factors were not useful in explaining land cover conversion in this homogeneous region. Maps and graphics illustrating the spatial distribution of land cover conversion and both net and gross change were also created.

Department

Mathematics and Statistics

Major

Mathematics

First Advisor

James Albert

First Advisor Department

Mathematics and Statistics

Second Advisor

Shuchismita Sarkar

Second Advisor Department

Applied Statistics and Operations Research

Publication Date

Spring 5-8-2020

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