Investigating impacts of land-use land cover change on wetlands in the Muskegon River Watershed, Michigan, USA

Estimates indicate that nearly half of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed or altered as a result of human activities. However, studies investigating the impacts of land-use land cover change on wetlands have shown varied results. Furthermore, when assessing wetlands at the site level, landscapescale wetland health conditions can go largely unnoticed. The objective of this paper was to investigate wetland quality changes resulting from land-use land cover alterations at a watershed scale. Landscapepattern metrics were generated to examine changes in wetlands characteristics between 1978 and 2000 in the Muskegon River Watershed, Michigan, USA. Metrics quantifying composition, configuration, and fractal indication were generated and correlated with land-use land cover patterns and alterations. Results show ranging wetland stress with the mid-river portion of the watershed undergoing the highest fragmentation indicated by wetland patch dynamics. Landscape Shape Index, Fractal Dimension Index, and Interspersion and Juxtaposition Index metrics reflect similar spatial trends of decreasing wetlands quality. Agriculture and urban land-use composition had weak to moderate strength correlations with the Interspersion and Juxtaposition Index, respectively. The method was useful for identifying the spatial variability of wetland changes across watersheds and possible regions to focus management and monitoring efforts.