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Wild bee communities persist in cities despite major disruption of nesting and food resources by urban development. Bee diversity and abundance is key for urban agriculture and maintenance of plant diversity, and assessing what aspects of cities enhance bee populations will promote our capacity to retain and provision bee habitat. Here, we assessed how variation in land cover and neighborhood development history affected bee communities in the midwestern US urban landscape of Madison, Wisconsin. We sampled bee communities across 38 sites with relatively high (> 55%) or low (< 30%) levels of impervious surface, and assessed effects of land use and neighborhood development history on bee abundance and species richness. We show abundance and richness of bees was lower in recently developed neighborhoods, with particularly strong negative effects on soil nesting bees. Soil nesting bees and bee community richness decreased as cover of impervious surface increased, but above ground nesting bees were minimally impacted. Bee community similarity varied spatially and based on dissimilar local land cover, only for soil nesting bees, and the overall bee community. Impervious surface limited bee abundance and diversity, but new neighborhoods were associated with greater negative effects. We suggest that enhancing the structural diversity of new neighborhoods in urban ecosystems may imitate the structural benefits of older neighborhoods for bee populations.

Poyang Lake is China's largest freshwater lake, and it has been an internationally important wintering ground for migratory waterbirds. Based on waterbird censuses from 2001 to 2016, community structure and abundance trends of waterbirds were analyzed, as well as the potential correlations with the water level of Poyang Lake. The results showed that the annual average number of waterbirds in Poyang Lake was 426,707 ± 150,170, with 111 species from 17 families. Waterfowl was the most abundant family accounting for 74.4 ± 8.8% of all individuals, followed by shorebirds (14.8 ± 8.5%), wading birds (6.5 ± 1.8%) and open-water/waterbirds (4.4 ± 1.9%). Although waterbird abundance fluctuated dramatically, there were no significant trends in the abundance of most guilds or in total waterbird abundance; only geese significantly increased among the eight groups. Analysis of trends of 37 relatively abundant or regularly occurring species indicated that population trends appeared to be species-specific. As for the correlations between water level and waterbird abundance, only shorebirds showed significant correlations with average July water level, average water level, and high water level duration in wet season among four guilds, i.e. waterfowl, wading bird, shorebird and, open-water and waterbird. At the group level, abundances of swans, geese, and ducks were significantly correlated with monthly average water level during the wet season, and wader abundance was significantly correlated with average water levels and high water level duration during the wet season. Correlations between population abundance and monthly water level also exhibited species-specific patterns.

Native pollinators provide an important ecosystem service for many pollination-dependent fruit crops, but require nesting and foraging resources in proximity to target crop plants. Landscape context and fluctuation in floral resources may influence the distribution of pollination services. This study investigates how landscape context influences bumble bee density on cranberry marshes across a resource pulse created by the target crop bloom. We sampled bumble bees at fourteen cranberry marshes before, during, and after the cranberry bloom in central Wisconsin. We quantified floral richness and surrounding land cover and assessed their effects on bumble bee density and colony representation using OLS regression. We measured colony representation as a colony detection rate—where low colony detection means more colonies were represented by single individual foragers. The amount of forest surrounding marshes explained the most variation in colony density, but not colony representation on site. Sites with high meadow interspersion in the surrounding landscape had lower colony representation (i.e., detection rate), suggesting some dilution effect. Colony density and detection did not change between the pre- and post-bloom period and resource pulse, even after statistically controlling for important landscape-scale effects. Yet, relative increase in colony density, was best explained by increased floral richness and decreased open-shrub bog. Landscapes with less clumpy forest experienced increased colony representation during the crop bloom. We suggest maintaining forest within cultivated landscapes to promote local bumble bee colony density, and increasing floral richness on site to attract foraging bees.

Despite synergistic goals across a wide breadth of fields and modalities, coastal landscape conservation projects that engage the lay public and integrate narratives of place remain elusive. This paper addresses these needs by introducing and evaluating the Wisconsin Geotools, an integrated pair of mobile-and web-based applications that allow users to generate and share spatially defined multimedia observations — including photos, short textual descriptions (or journals), and audio and video clips — of their surrounding bioregional landscapes. We followed a participatory, user-centered design process to develop a mobile application that uses GPS capabilities to geolocate multimedia observations of landscapes and feed them into a web-based application, which displays content through the structure of an interactive story map. The applications were piloted with coastal community user groups in Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Wisconsin, USA. Over 800 observations were recorded by participants in our study area. Results from a user evaluation survey indicate the geotools effectively engaged participants in learning about and exploring their surrounding coastal landscapes. A spatial analysis revealed participants’ affinity for water-related features in landscapes. We close by suggesting a variety of ways in which these tools can support future projects and existing methodologies that are advancing transdisciplinary approaches to engaging the public in coastal conservation.

Poyang Lake is China's largest freshwater lake in summer and provides important habitat for an internationally significant assemblage of waterbirds in winter. Human-caused alterations to this system threaten to compromise the long-term viability of these bird populations due to the role of water in driving habitat suitability. Little is known, however, about the patch-scale habitat selection strategies of waterbirds within Poyang. Consequently, there is potential for spatial incongruence between protected area boundaries and key habitats given the system's high variability. This study used scan and focal sampling techniques to investigate patch selection by a wintering population of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) within the Sha Hu sub-lake basin of Poyang Lake. Eurasian Spoonbills averaged higher foraging success rates in areas with water depth of 28.1-36.6 cm compared to other areas and preferred to forage in this depth class, as indicated by usage disproportionate to availability (Manly's standardized selection index = 0.817). Defining the patch-scale habitat selection of this indicator species both quantifies the impact of hydrological changes on resource availability and spatially predicts suitable areas for wintering birdlife within a dynamic environment.

Comparisons of the potential outcomes of multiple land management strategies and an understanding of the influence of potential increases in climate-related disturbances on these outcomes are essential for long term land management and conservation planning. To provide these insights, we developed an approach that uses collaborative scenario development and state-and-transition simulation modeling to provide land managers and conservation practitioners with a comparison of potential landscapes resulting from alternative management scenarios and climate conditions, and we have applied this approach in the Wild Rivers Legacy Forest (WRLF) area in northeastern Wisconsin. Three management scenarios were developed with input from local land managers, scientists, and conservation practitioners: 1) continuation of current management, 2) expanded working forest conservation easements, and 3) cooperative ecological forestry. Scenarios were modeled under current climate with contemporary probabilities of natural disturbance and under increased probability of windthrow and wildfire that may result from climate change in this region. All scenarios were modeled for 100 years using the VDDT/TELSA modeling suite. Results showed that landscape composition and configuration were relatively similar among scenarios, and that management had a stronger effect than increased probability of windthrow and wildfire. These findings suggest that the scale of the landscape analysis used here and the lack of differences in predominant management strategies between ownerships in this region play significant roles in scenario outcomes. The approach used here does not rely on complex mechanistic modeling of uncertain dynamics and can therefore be used as starting point for planning and further analysis.

Stressor gradients and spatial narratives of the St. Louis River Estuary, a joint Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant study, connected aquatic science research with spatially-explicit stories of local resource issues and place-based geo-quests to enhance spatial awareness and stewardship of the estuary. The goal of this paper is to report and reflect on an integrated study that combined environmental humanities and technology with aquatic science in a spatial context. Our study was organized into three objectives around research, outreach, and evaluation. First, we summarized anthropogenic stressors within high resolution watersheds and linked the watershed stress estimates to aquatic habitats within the estuary. Second, we designed tools to deliver place-based environmental science and technology to targeted users to increase awareness, learning, and the potential for long-term stewardship. And third, we evaluated the responses of targeted end users to their interaction with the project’s integrated science and innovative delivery methods. Finally, central to all three objectives, we created a dynamic website to facilitate regional to national coastal outreach and education goals. We found significant correlations between the stressor index and the water quality and biotic data, along with variability attributed to landscape elements. Connecting this science with the place-based experiences we collected is expected to expand the scope and reach of state, bi-national and non-governmental outreach programs. The project also has direct applications to classroom science education. Developing this integrated project contributed to our shared knowledge of environmental and cultural aspects of the estuary for place-based education, and offers several lessons for future work of this nature.

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has become widely used because it bridges ecology and economics and links nature to society. ES may evolve over time in dynamic landscapes driven by myriad processes. However, the consequences of changes in key ES has not been considered adequately in current ES research. Here we propose a framework for linking ES with landscape history, which can help us better understand the evolution of ES over time. We illustrate the framework by a case study from Switzerland. Both the capacity of landscapes to supply ES and the realization and recognition of key ES are likely to change over time. This insight should have important implications for landscape sustainability and related scenario studies.

Community food production in the form of home gardening, community gardening, school gar- dening, and urban farming continues to increase in popularity in many parts of the world. This interest has led to public and private investment in community food production and increased need for urban agricul- tural planning as a way to manage growth and prioritize resource allocation. Municipal planning and thoughtful institutional support for the practice will require program evaluation and greater attention to the spatial composition and configuration of this widely dispersed practice. This article explores the results of community-supported landscape socio-eco- logical research in Madison, WI (USA) to assess the spatial and social dynamics of community food production. Results indicate that community food production resources are unevenly distributed across the study area. Historic community garden placement does appear to be consistent with community priori- tization which dictates placing resources in areas with low median household income. However, home garden presence and recent community garden place- ment both occur in areas of higher than average median household income. Specific focus is placed on how an understanding of landscape placement and pattern has helped inform attempts to meet municipal and regional objectives in addressing urban food insecurity.

Conservation and land management organizations such as The Nature Conservancy are developing strategies to distribute conservation efforts over larger areas. Relative to fee-simple protection efforts, strategies that allow ecologically sustainable timber harvest and recreation activities, such as working forest conservation easements, should yield greater socioeconomic benefits (ecosystem services) with less investment per area without significantly compromising the conservation of biodiversity (ecological targets). At the same time, climate change may profoundly influence forest resilience to management strategies in the coming century. As a result, there are many possible scenarios for the future of our forests and significant uncertainty for practitioners and decision makers. Yet, monitoring efforts aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of conservation strategies span decades or longer, leading to a lag in knowledge transfer and delayed adaptive management. To explore potential outcomes for biodiversity, provisioning of ecosystem services, and resilience of our forests resulting from various management strategies and climate change projections, we developed an approach that integrates quantitative, spatially explicit landscape modeling with scenario-building informed by expert knowledge. In this paper, we present our experiences applying this approach to two conservation project areas in the western Great Lakes region of the U.S. For each project area, spatially explicit landscape simulations were performed using the VDDT©/TELSA© software suite (ESSA Technologies, Ltd.). At key points in the process, we infused the modeling efforts with expert knowledge via interactive in-person or web-based workshops and an online collaborative tool. Here, we capture our experiences applying the scenario building and modeling approach to forests in the western Great Lakes region and our efforts to make the process transparent and responsive to local and regional experts. It is our intent that this approach be transferable and implemented in future landscape scale conservation projects.

Sustainable conservation and management of valued resources and ecosystem services relies on understanding the dynamics of the socio-ecological system. In the case of wild rice, a cherished food resource of Northern Great Lakes landscapes, the dynamics involve (a) a changing distribution of wild rice lakes, (b) changing harvester population and demographics, and (c) different management overlays. Together these factors influence harvester choices and opportunities and create unexpected spatial dynamics between people and the lakes they harvest. In this paper we examine first, the regional distribution and characteristics of wild rice lakes through compilation of multi-agency data, geospatial analysis, license sales and harvest surveys. Second, we identify patterns of harvest in the region through six case study lakes and examine the decision-making models used to open lakes for harvest. Gathered together these various forms of knowledge and collected data sets inform our understanding of the social–ecological systems involving wild rice (Zizania palustris). Watersheds with wild rice have declined by 32% since the early 1900s, and are now primarily limited to northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Across case studies wild rice harvesters tend to gather wild rice close to where they live or learned to harvest and 50% have more than 20 years experience. Some wild rice lakes draw harvesters from greater distances and in higher numbers. Models for managing the harvest of wild rice range from ‘gather when ripe’ by state entities to a more hands-on posting by reservation committees specifying hours and days of harvest on a lake by lake basis. The social–ecological system around wild rice is a complex mosaic of multiple management jurisdictions, culturally diverse people, and an ecological system that is not well understood and potentially declining in extent. Defining the context of harvest within the spatially connected landscape and across multiple management systems is a first step in developing a shared framework of governance for the sustainability of wild rice landscapes.

Agricultural sustainability practices make the best use of both nature's resources and available technology, and generally avoid those land use practices that lead to greater environmental stress. There are examples in some agro-ecosystems, however, where stress is vital to food quality and productivity. In the case of grape production, a limited amount of environmental stress actually leads to an increase in fruit quality, and with wine grapes, to improved wine quality. But when the stress exceeds an acceptable threshold, vine vigour declines and production and quality may be compromised. Using our experiences with environmental stress in grapes grown in the landscapes of Central and Eastern Washington, USA, we question how agricultural sustainability should consider environmental stress, and at what point management interventions contribute or detract from a sustainable system. Framed by the two French land-related terms ‘appellation’ and ‘terroir’, we discuss agricultural sustainability for grape culti...

Aldo Leo­pold is well known in North America as a conservationist, author, and promoter of the Land Ethic. Although Leo­pold’s work is rarely included in the realm of landscape ecology, he left several illustrations of an early spatial theory for conservation. While European geographer Troll published the term ‘landscape ecology’ in 1939, Leo­pold was discovering the role of spatial configuration in European working landscapes, and began to apply the landscape ecology concepts to wildlife management and cooperative conservation in the US. With his own spatial language he wrote, mapped, and applied elements of pattern, process, and connectedness in the landscape. In this perspective piece I use three examples from Leo­pold’s work to demonstrate his contribution to spatial theory in early conservation design. First, this paper deciphers spatial elements conveyed through Leo­pold’s writing, drawing, and teaching in the early 1930s. Second, I re-interpret Leo­pold’s observations of the spatial design of remises from his visit to Silesia, Europe. Third, I show how the lessons from Silesia were applied to a landscape in Wisconsin, USA, involving both farmers and townspeople in cooperative implementation of a remise system. Collectively, a new perspective emerges on the early dialogue of landscape ecology and conservation across continents.

Concord grapes (Vitis labrusca L.) in Washington, USA suffer from ‘blackleaf’ disorder, which darkens the foliage to purplish-brown and black in sun-exposed leaves of the outer canopy. Recently, blackleaf has been related to ultraviolet radiation in combination with water-deficit stress, although blackleaf development varies within and among vineyards. This study used digital image analysis, mapping, and semivariogram models to determine if blackleaf or its reciprocal greenness, demonstrates spatial variability within Washington vineyards, and if so, to characterize development of that spatial structure throughout the growing season. In 1998, digital color images were taken in one commercial and one research vineyard. Images taken directly above the vines were captured at key phenological stages (fruit set, veraison, and harvest). Individual images were analyzed for blackleaf symptoms, demonstrated by a low proportion of greenness, and each measurement was associated with a vine location for use in geostatistical procedures and mapping. Declines in greenness occurred throughout the growing season in both vineyards. Spatial auto-correlation was strongest early in the season with 39–51% of the variation explained by spatial location. Results suggest greenness is spatially dependent early in the season, but as the season progresses and the canopy expands, greenness loses its association with spatial location until blackleaf expression becomes more pervasive late in the season. This research presents insight into the seasonal and spatial development of blackleaf in an agroecosystem. It also presents a method for detecting and mapping early to mid-season indications of environmental stress to facilitate site-specific management practices. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecological relationships beneath a forest canopy are related spatially to the pattern of canopy gaps and sunlight penetration. Methods to characterize and predict canopy light patterns from easily gathered site inventory data are not readily available. We developed a model to estimate the proportion and distribution of canopy openings visible from the under-story, in lieu of hemispherical photography or field instrumentation. An automated procedure for constructing vertical wide-angle views of forest canopies using standard computer-aided design (CAD) software was applied to canopy structure data collected on individual mapped trees in old-growth plots. Vertical hemispherical photos of actual canopies were paired with constructed CAD views of the same point to evaluate the correspondence between the two. Using image analysis software, we assessed total canopy openness (CO) and largest gap size (GAP) on 324 image pairs from seven different plots. With the exception of one plot, a single quadratic model form fit the remaining observations, resulting in r2 values over 50% between CAD and photo images. We could not adequately model a plot with heavy non-tree understory vegetation. We also compared contour maps of CO gradients from the CAD images and estimates from the regression model to the photographic images to evaluate whether spatial distributions of canopy openings were correctly captured by the constructed model approach. Visual observations of the gradient map show peaks and valleys in canopy openness that visually match openness on photos at corresponding locations in the plot. Lastly, we found a relatively stable correspondence in the distribution of gap sizes between photographic and CAD images. The models presented here may be applied to known or simulated patterns of tree data to derive a spatially-explicit estimation of gap patterns without the need for corresponding photography or instrumentation.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Vitis labrusca, Concord, ultra violet radiation, photosynthesis, deficit- water stress SUMMARY. Research suggests that blackleaf (a leaf disorder in grape, Vitis labrusca L.) is induced by high levels of ultra violet ( UV) radiation and overall light intensity, resulting in color changes (purple-brown-black) for sun-exposed leaves of the outer canopy, and a corre- sponding >50% reduction in photosynthesis. Metabolic indicators (photosynthesis and leaf water potential), percent blackleaf expression, and full spectrum leaf reflectance were mapped within vineyards using global positioning system (GPS) and digital remotely-sensed images. Each image and data record was stored as an attribute associated with a specific vine location within a geographical information system (GIS). Spatial maps were created from the GIS coverages to graphically present the progression of blackleaf across vineyards throughout the season. Analysis included summary statistics such as minimum, maximum, and variation of green reflectance, within a vineyard by image capture date. Additionally, geostatistics were used to model the degree of similarity between blackleaf values as a function of their spatial location. Remote-image analysis indicated a decrease in percent greenness of about 45% between July and August, which was related to a decrease in photosynthesis and an increase in blackleaf symptom expression within the canopy. Examination of full spectral leaf reflectance indicated differences at specific wavelengths for grape leaves exposed to UV or water-deficit stress. This work suggests that remote-image and leaf spectral reflectance analysis may be a strong tool for monitoring changes in metabolism associated with plant stress.

The distribution of human occupation across a landscape provides informationabout how people use the landscape, about patterns of economic development,and about social interactions of human groups. When the distributions areexamined over several thousand years, we gain an evolutionary understanding,not only of the people and their cultural patterns, but also of physicallandscape development. The focus of this assessment was to examine andcompare settlement patterns of prehistoric, historic, and present timeperiods, based on known cultural sites in the Eastern Upper Peninsula ofMichigan, U.S.A., and to generate hypotheses about the interaction ofsettlement pattern and landscape change at multiple scales. Patterns ofsettlement among the three time periods were compared at three geographicscales: by subregional ecosystems, by landscape ecosystems and by terraincharacteristics. The Michigan Bureau of History database of archaeologicalsites was searched for prehistoric habitation sites of Middle or LateWoodland period (ca. 3000-300 years before present). Historic occupationswere drawn from pre-European settlement landscape data based on General LandOffice survey notes of the 1850s. We extracted “urban” categories from landcover classified from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery to measure presentoccupations. Spatial patterns and dynamics of settlement areas in each timeperiod were examined using the ARC/INFO geographic information system (GIS).Results showed a tendency for settlement in all time periods on the bedrockand lowland landscape groups near Great Lakes shorelines, generally occupyingslopes less than two percent. The distribution of present occupations, interms of both slope aspect and geographic subregion (multi-scalar), wassimilar to the distribution of prehistoric occupations. Both prehistoric andpresent sites were primarily south facing and were frequently found alongGreen Bay and Lake Michigan shorelines.

Conservationists worldwide have long been interested in rural landscapes (McNeely & Keeton, 1995; McNeely, 1995; Miller & Hobbs, 2002; Washitani, 2001; Yokohari et al., 2005), which can be characterized as semi-natural areas that are neither pristinely natural nor urban, maintained by appropriate level of human interventions. A great portion of the world’s biodiversity is found in these landscapes (Pimentel et al., 1992). Such landscapes have gained an international attention as Satoyama, and an international partnership has been established in 2010 to promote sustainable use of human-influenced natural environment through the Satoyama Initiative (Convention on Biological Diversity Decision X/32). Japanese archipelago is one of the 34 Biodiversity Hotspots of the world (Mittermeier et al., 2004), and its biodiversity owe much to the quality of the human-influenced natural environment. Rural landscapes are an important conservation challenge in Japan because they are being lost rapidly. The challenge is that the traditional conservation strategy of “setting aside” will not work because humans play important roles in maintaining biodiversity on such landscapes (e.g., Farina, 1995; McNeely, 1995; Melnick, 1983; Nakagoshi, 1995; Natori et al., 2005; Washitani, 2001). Conservation in rural environments faces difficulties also because the public tends to associate nature conservation with pristine, untouched nature (Miller & Hobbs, 2002). The conservation of rural environments would require approaches different from the traditional conservation strategies employed for pristine natural areas. Many have suggested that the consideration of the sociocultural dimension is crucial to the success of the conservation of rural environments in particular, and the conservation of biodiversity in general (e.g., Miller & Hobbs, 2002; Phillips, 1995; Pimentel et al., 1992; Saunders, 1990; Yokohari et al., 1994). Naveh (2000; 2001) has explicitly included humans in his theoretical development of a holistic approach to landscape studies. Born and Sonzogni (1995) and Margerum and Born (1995) have articulated a more pragmatic means to deal with environmental problems in the framework of integrated environmental management. Trauger (1999) calls for a shift from a traditional discipline-based approach to a problembased approach. Accordingly, transdisciplinary research is being advocated in recent years

Conservation and land management organizations such as The Nature Conservancy are developing conservation strategies to distribute protection efforts over larger areas and a broader range of ownership and management techniques. These “distributed conservation strategies,” such as working forest conservation easements, are based on the premise that blending resource extraction, such sustainable timber harvest, and conservation should yield greater socio-economic benefits without significantly compromising the conservation of biodiversity or the sustainable provisioning of ecosystem services. However, it is unknown how well these strategies will compare to traditional conservation preserves or if they will be robust to climate change and resource demand over the coming centuries. Due to scarce financial resources and the relative difficulty of negotiating easement acquisitions, it is important for forest conservation and management organizations to know which strategies most effectively meet conservation goals. Meanwhile, the long duration required to evaluate most monitoring questions leads to a lag in knowledge transfer and delayed adaptive management. In this chapter, we discuss the challenges and constraints to measuring conservation effectiveness and illustrate a scenario-building approach that we are applying to understand and compare the conservation effectiveness of various conservation strategies in two large conservation acquisitions in the Great Lakes region of the United States. We show how this approach can be used to evaluate potential outcomes for biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services resulting from varying conservation strategies and discuss implications of this approach for the future of forest conservation.

This chapter discusses challenges for PhD students involved in integrative landscape research. These challenges include terminology, epistemology, expectations, stakeholder involvement, organizational barriers, communicating and publishing, as well as career development. The chapter presents recommendations for future integrative landscape research involving PhD students and prospects for future education. The recommendations are based on our experiences in research and teaching in general, and on our exchanges with the students in the PhD master class in particular. The recommendations also reflect on the conclusions that can be drawn from the PhD students¿ contributions in this book.

Compares historic and present landscape structure among four landtype association groups in Upper Michigan. Provides an example of a landtype association framework for assessing landscape composition and pattern.

Blackleaf (a.k.a. chocolate leaf) is of worldwide concern in Vitis due to its negative impact on fruit ripening, yield reduction and overall stress on grapevines. Research suggests blackleaf is induced by high levels of UV radiation and overall light intensity, which induce color changes (purple-brown-black) in exposed leaves, resulting in >50% reduction in photosynthesis. The ability to detect blackleaf symptoms before expression can provide insight into metabolic stresses and the possibility of the use and/or timing of management practices to reduce its impact. Remotely sensed imagery and spatial analysis may elucidate reflectance-related processes and symptoms not apparent to the un-aided eye. In this research we mapped canopy growth (leaves/shoot and shoots/vine), metabolic triggers (photosynthesis, leaf water potential, soil moisture), and percent blackleaf expression within vineyards using global positioning system (GPS), infrared gas analyzer, and digital remotely-sensed images. Each image and data record was stored as an attribute associated with specific vine location within a geographical information system (GIS). Spatial maps were created from the GIS coverages to graphically present the progression of blackleaf across vineyards throughout the season. Analysis included summary statistics such as minimum, maximum, and variation of green reflectance, within a vineyard by image capture date. Additionally, geostatistics were used to model the degree of similarity between blackleaf values as a function of their spatial location. Continuing research will be aimed at identifying spectral characteristics of early season stresses due to UV light, water stress, and reduced photosynthetic capacity. Spatial relationships between early season stress and later blackleaf expression will be assessed using joint spatial dependence measures. Overall, information obtained through digital image and spatial analysis will supplement site level information for growers.

Exploratory archaeobotanical analysis was conducted on Grand Island, Michigan, in concert with current botanical inventories and historic document research. Our goal was to synthesize these three forms of data in the study of early cultural-plant use. We describe indigenous and Euro-American plant relationships on Grand Island, and the patterning of plant remains between individual sites. Botanical materials in four of five samples showed greater correspondence to current flora than to historic accounts of plant representation. Still, from most samples we recovered a good depiction of historic food plants. A well-defined feature sample yielded the greatest quantity and diversity of culturally important botanical material. The results support integration of documentary with archaeological sources to identify plant remains with cultural meaning.