Does the size of the watershed/ecoregion influence statistical relationships between landscape characteristics and ecological condition?
In addition, an assessment of landscape change was to be conducted as part of continuing ESD research in application of change detection techniques. The information presented here addresses only the first objective. The data analysis plan developed to address the objectives given above called for calculation of a specific suite of landscape indicators for all nine United States Geological Survey (USGS) 8-digit hydrological unit codes (HUC; USGS, 1982), a selected subset of the 94 Georgia and South Carolina subbasins, and the riparian corridors in the HUCs and selected subbasins. The subbasins are generally equivalent in area to USGS 11-digit HUCs. The riparian corridor was defined as 100 meters on either side of stream arcs; this size was selected from a review of state laws and literature available on the Internet (e.g., Santa Cruz County, 1998; U.S. EPA, 1998; South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, 1998). The suite of indicators included: landcover types, u-index, agricultur
