@mastersthesis{Merkohasanaj2016,

title = {Tools and indicators for integrated wetland monitoring. Case study, Fuente de Piedra Wetland, Andalusia, Spain},

author = {M. Merkohasanaj and D. Abdul-Malak and E. Aksoy},

url = {/wp-content/uploads/publications/Master_Thesis_Matilda_Merkohasanaj_06_2016.pdf},

year  = {2016},

date = {2016-01-01},

abstract = {Wetland ecosystems are important for the welling of the people as they provide a wide range of ecosystem services; however they are suffering several pressures coming from land use changes. This study focused on identifying pressures and changes in the Fuente de Piedra wetland ecosystem (Malaga, Andalusia) by using latest Earth Observation and GIS techniques. The major drivers of pressures on this rural area have been identified being land use land cover changes, intensification of agricultural practices namely by conversion to irrigated crops as well as soil erosion. Several topo-climatic variables have been analyzed in order to valuate past changes and present risks of the Fuente de Piedra wetland. A number of indicators are used to assess spatial and temporal changes namely remote sensing based Normalized.

Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) indicator was used to discriminate land use patterns, in particular agricultural crops focused in cereals and olive groves between 1985 and 2015. The mean NDVI values show high potential to distinguish between different LULC classes and their changes in time, but mostly prove to be an accurate tool to monitor the intra-annual distribution and seasonality between cereals and olive groves. Wetland surface and flooding processes are monitored by using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) derived from satellite images and Topographic Wetness Indicator (TWI) extracted from digital elevation model. The NDWI indicator shows to be an adequate tool for water surface discrimination and the temporal change detection in the wetland surface. As a potential risk in the area, soil erosion was analyzed through statistical Regression analysis. Results reveal that high soil erosion rates come as a result of different spatial-temporal variables, affected mainly by precipitation and slope, but also show that the rate of soil erosion is greatly affected by the agricultural practice and type of land cover. Namely techniques and indicator can provide to wetland management and decision makers accurate and precise data for a continuous monitor of their territory in order to improve planning of rural areas and conservation of wetland ecosystems.},

keywords = {Geotechnology, Land and soil, SWOS, Wetlands},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {mastersthesis}

}