Northern Michigan Forest Productivity Across a Complex Landscape

David S. Ellsworth and Kathleen M. Bergen

Objectives:1) Analyze spatial patterns in ecosystem productivityin a forested landscape in the Upper Great Lakes2) Test a conceptual scheme for regulation of primary production in the region3) Provide a baseline of conditions against which management and environmental change can be evaluated.

Rationale:• It’s difficult to discern how land management has affected ecosystem functioning in addition to other known factors (soils, topography, resources, etc.).•We lack good tools or analytical approaches for mapping forest productivity across the landscape, yet seek to include landscapes in management plans.

Topography& Soils

Resource avail.:Nutrients, water

Climate

Landscape ecosystem variables

Topography& Soils

Resource avail.:Nutrients, water

Climate

Landscape ecosystem variables

Leaf area index, L

Species composition

Canopy N%

Manage-mentvariables

Leaf areaindex, L

Speciescomposition

CanopyN%

Manage-mentvariables

Net PrimaryProductivity

NDVI &reflectance

Data products

Topography& Soils

Resource avail.:Nutrients, water

Climate

Landscape ecosystem variables

Landsat ETM+ NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) Image with UMBS Landscape Ecosystems and forest test stand boundaries overlaid. Shows the hypothesized relationship

between variation in productivity (brighter areas equal greater productivity) and landscape ecosystems.

K. Bergen, Environmental Spatial Analysis Laboratory, 2002.

Landscape Ecosystems and Survey plots