Project Funding: 2014 - 2016

NRA: 2012 NASA: Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
For decades, Puerto Rico’s coastal and marine ecosystems (CMEs) have suffered the effects of anthropogenic stresses. Assessments of coastal conditions are very critical when population and economic activities occur near coastlines areas. This project will support efforts already in process within two of Puerto Rico’s priority watersheds. We will use legacy (Landsat ETM, AVIRIS), current (HICO) and new (Landsat 8) multi- and hyperspectral imagery, historic orthophotos, and GIS databanks, integrated with hydrological, ecological and economical modeling to provide a multi-decade assessment of changes in the coastal geomorphology and benthic components composition in the north (Manatí - watershed) and south (Lajas-Guánica watershed) coasts of Puerto Rico as a consequence of watershed anthropogenic developments. The proposed project addresses NASA’s Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science sub- element “Impacts of Population Growth on Watersheds and Coastal Ecology”. The goals are to: 1) evaluate the impacts of historic land use/land cover changes on the extent of CMEs in priority watersheds in the north and south coasts of Puerto Rico; 2) conduct an assessment of areal cover and biotic composition within the CMEs near the outlet of the two watersheds; 3) study beach geomorphological changes associated with riverine input and sedimentation within the Manatí- watershed; 4) compute the environmental economic value of selected CMEs; 5) establish permanent monitoring transects to study benthic cover changes through time in coral reefs near the watersheds; 6) produce a series of recommendations to enhance current coastal policy and management practices; and 7) the dissemination of results and recommendations to the general, scientific and government stakeholders through a series of local workshops, publications in peer-review journals and local media. The main objectives are to: 1) provide a detailed characterization of the extent of CMEs in priority watersheds in Puerto Rico based on the integration of remote sensing and GIS data analyses; 2) study CMEs using proven environmental economics valuation methods; 3) conduct hydrological and ecological analyses of the impacts of sediment and water loads reaching the CMEs associated with two of Puerto Rico’s priority watersheds; 4) provide decision and policy making recommendations to further promote the conservation of Puerto Rico’s CMEs; and 5) provide mapping and management tools that can be transfer to stakeholders in other Caribbean and Central America countries. The acquisition of reliable and updated information on the status of particularly vulnerable ecosystems, such as CMEs, is fundamental to understand the interactions of natural and human systems. Furthermore, the use of increasingly effective techniques, such as remote sensing tools, for the evaluation of natural ecosystems and disturbance  leads to improved government decision-making and management practices. The proposed project will address decades of anthropogenic impacts to two of Puerto Rico’s priority watersheds from an interdisciplinary and innovative approach involving remote sensing, oceanography, ecology, geography, hydrology, and social sciences experts. This will be one of the first projects using imagery from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) from the Landsat 8 mission to assess coastal ecosystems extent from tropical Atlantic US territories. Permanent monitoring transects will be established in never before studied reefs in the north coast of Puerto Rico with a populations of threatened coral species. Widely accepted and validated environmental economics methods will be used for the first time in the economic study of CMEs and will make a valuable contribution to the CMEs management literature. While our research aims to study impacts to CMEs and to improve CMEs management in Puerto Rico, the generality of the methodology provides for its extension to other locations (US and non-US territories) as well.

Publications:

Santiago, L., Loomis, J., V. Ortiz, A., L. Torres, A. 2016. Valuing Urban Tropical River Recreation Attributes Using Choice Experiments. Environment and Natural Resources Research. 6(2), 128. DOI: 10.5539/enrr.v6n2p128

Santiago, L., Torres, A.L., Ortiz, A.V., "Does Knowledge of Environmental Organizations Translate into Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors? Evidence from an Urbanized Tropical Watershed" ACSEE2016, ACSS ACSEE AGEN 2016, https://papers.iafor.org/submission26431/

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Ocean Biology & Biogeochemistry (OBB) Project Profile