Site objective:

         To disseminate ArcGIS v9x tools created by the landscape ecology component of the EPA STARMAP project.

Available ArcGIS Tools for Download:

Functional Linkage of Watersheds and Streams (FLoWS):

         The goal of the functional linkage of watersheds and streams tools is to allow aquatic and terrestrial landscapes to be hydrologically-linked. In this sense, relationships between sites can be represented through functional distance measures. For many hydrological processes (not all!) downstream flow direction is an important ecological process, so that distance is not symmetric. Also, including important landscape attributes that modify the degree to which nearby locations are connected is important. This would include topographic considerations such as stream gradient and slope, as well as features that might impede the movement of a species or process such as waterfalls, dams, or certain vegetation types.

Functional Connectivity tools(FunConn):

         The goal of the functional connectivity model is to allow landscape connectivity to be examined from a functional perspective. Functional connectivity recognizes that individuals, species or processes respond functionally (or behaviorally) to the physical structure of the landscape. From this perspective, landscape connectivity is specific to a landscape and species/individual/process under investigation.

Spatially-balanced sampling using RRQRR:

         The goal of the Reversed Randomized Quadrant-Recursive Raster (RRQRR) algorithm is to provide environmental managers a practical, useful GIS tool to generate simple, efficient, and robust survey designs for natural resource applications. RRQRR generates a rigorous probability-based survey design that is spatially-balanced and allows surfaces to be used to specify the inclusion probability.