This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.

Unclaimed
K. Boykin
Center for Applied Spatial Ecology, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88005, USA

Honors and Awards

The user has no records in this section


Career Timeline

The user has no records in this section.


Short Biography

The user biography is not available.
Following
Followers
Co Authors
The list of users this user is following is empty.
Following: 0 users

Feed

Journal article
Published: 23 July 2021 in Environments
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Unabated urbanization has led to environmental degradation and subsequent biodiversity loss across the globe. As an outcome of unmitigated land use, multi-jurisdictional agencies have developed land use plans that attempt to protect threatened or endangered species across selected areas by which some trade-offs between harm to species and additional conservation approaches are allowed among the partnering organizations. Typical conservation plans can be created to focus on single or multiple species, and although they may protect a species or groups of species, they may not account for biodiversity or its protection across the given area. We applied an approach that clustered deductive habitat models for terrestrial vertebrates into metrics that serve as surrogates for biodiversity and relate to ecosystem services. In order to evaluate this process, we collaborated with the partnering agencies who are creating a Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan in southern California and compared it to the entire Mojave Desert Ecoregion. We focused on total terrestrial vertebrate species richness and taxon groupings representing amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, and two special status species using the Normalized Index of Biodiversity (NIB). The conservation planning area had a lower NIB and was less species rich than the Mojave Desert Ecoregion, but the Mojave River riparian corridor had a higher NIB and was more species-rich, and while taxon analysis varied across the geographies, this pattern generally held. Additionally, we analyzed desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and desert kit fox (Vulpes macrotis arsipus) as umbrella species and determined that both species are associated with increased NIB and large numbers of species for the conservation area. Our process provided the ability to incorporate value-added surrogate information into a formal land use planning process and used a metric, NIB, which allowed comparison of the various planning areas and geographic units. Although this process has been applied to Apple Valley, CA, and other geographies within the U.S., the approach has practical application for other global biodiversity initiatives.

ACS Style

Kenneth Boykin; William Kepner; Alexa McKerrow. Applying Biodiversity Metrics as Surrogates to a Habitat Conservation Plan. Environments 2021, 8, 69 .

AMA Style

Kenneth Boykin, William Kepner, Alexa McKerrow. Applying Biodiversity Metrics as Surrogates to a Habitat Conservation Plan. Environments. 2021; 8 (8):69.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kenneth Boykin; William Kepner; Alexa McKerrow. 2021. "Applying Biodiversity Metrics as Surrogates to a Habitat Conservation Plan." Environments 8, no. 8: 69.

Journal article
Published: 05 June 2020 in Remote Sensing
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Accurate estimation of land use/land cover (LULC) areas is critical, especially over the semi-arid environments of the southwestern United States where water shortage and loss of rangelands and croplands are affecting the food production systems. This study was conducted within the context of providing an improved understanding of New Mexico’s (NM’s) Food–Energy–Water Systems (FEWS) at the county level. The main goal of this analysis was to evaluate the most important LULC classes for NM’s FEWS by implementing standardized protocols of accuracy assessment and providing bias-corrected area estimates of these classes. The LULC data used in the study was based on National Land Cover Database (NLCD) legacy maps of 1992, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. The analysis was conducted using the cloud-based geospatial processing and modeling tools available from System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing, and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) of the Food and Agricultural Organization. Accuracy assessment, uncertainty analysis, and bias-adjusted area estimates were evaluated by collecting a total of 11,428 reference samples using the Open Foris Collect Earth tool that provided access to high spatial and temporal resolution images available in Google Earth. The reference samples were allocated using a stratified random sampling approach. The results showed an overall accuracy that ranged from 71%–100% in all six study counties. The user’s and producer’s accuracy of most LULC classes were about or above 80%. The obtained bias-adjusted area estimates were higher than those based on pixel counting. The bias-adjusted area estimates simultaneously showed decreasing and increasing trends in grassland and shrubland, respectively in four counties that include Curry, Roosevelt, Lea, and Eddy during the 1992–2016 period. Doña Ana county experienced increasing and decreasing trends in grassland and shrubland areas, respectively. San Juan county experienced decreasing trends in both grassland and shrubland areas. Cultivated cropland areas showed decreasing trends in three counties in southeast NM that rely on groundwater resources including Curry, Roosevelt, and Lea. Similarly, cultivated cropland areas showed increasing trends in the other three counties that rely on surface water or conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources including San Juan, Doña Ana, and Eddy. The use of SEPAL allowed for efficient assessment and production of more accurate bias-adjusted area estimates compared to using pixel counting. Providing such information can help in understanding the behavior of NM’s food production systems including rangelands and croplands, better monitoring and characterizing NM’s FEWS, and evaluating their behavior under changing environmental and climatic conditions. More effort is needed to evaluate the ability of the NLCD data and other similar products to provide more accurate LULC area estimates at local scales.

ACS Style

Melakeneh G. Gedefaw; Hatim M.E. Geli; Kamini Yadav; Ashraf J. Zaied; Yelena Finegold; Kenneth G. Boykin. A Cloud-Based Evaluation of the National Land Cover Database to Support New Mexico’s Food–Energy–Water Systems. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 1830 .

AMA Style

Melakeneh G. Gedefaw, Hatim M.E. Geli, Kamini Yadav, Ashraf J. Zaied, Yelena Finegold, Kenneth G. Boykin. A Cloud-Based Evaluation of the National Land Cover Database to Support New Mexico’s Food–Energy–Water Systems. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (11):1830.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Melakeneh G. Gedefaw; Hatim M.E. Geli; Kamini Yadav; Ashraf J. Zaied; Yelena Finegold; Kenneth G. Boykin. 2020. "A Cloud-Based Evaluation of the National Land Cover Database to Support New Mexico’s Food–Energy–Water Systems." Remote Sensing 12, no. 11: 1830.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2019 in AIMS Environmental Science
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

Allison K.K. Leimer; Kenneth G. Boykin; Mark C. Andersen; Caitriana M. Steele. Applicability of functional groups as indicators of resilience and redundancy in the San Pedro Watershed, Arizona. AIMS Environmental Science 2019, 6, 127 -146.

AMA Style

Allison K.K. Leimer, Kenneth G. Boykin, Mark C. Andersen, Caitriana M. Steele. Applicability of functional groups as indicators of resilience and redundancy in the San Pedro Watershed, Arizona. AIMS Environmental Science. 2019; 6 (3):127-146.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Allison K.K. Leimer; Kenneth G. Boykin; Mark C. Andersen; Caitriana M. Steele. 2019. "Applicability of functional groups as indicators of resilience and redundancy in the San Pedro Watershed, Arizona." AIMS Environmental Science 6, no. 3: 127-146.

Other
Published: 01 January 2019 in Scientific Investigations Report
Reads 0
Downloads 0

First posted June 4, 2019 Director, Core Science Analytics and SynthesisU.S. Geological SurveyBox 25046, MS-302Denver, CO 80225-0046 The mission of the Gap Analysis Project (GAP) is to support national and regional assessments of the conservation status of vertebrate species and plant communities. This report explains conterminous United States species richness maps created by the U.S. Geological Survey for four major classes in the phylum Chordata: mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. In this work, we focus on terrestrial vertebrate species and the spatial patterns of richness derived from species’ habitat distribution models. We created species’ habitat distribution models for 1,590 species (282 amphibians, 621 birds, 365 mammals, 322 reptiles) and an additional 129 subspecies (2 amphibians, 28 birds, 94 mammals, 5 reptiles) that occur in the conterminous United States. The 1,590 species level models were spatially combined to create the taxa richness maps at a spatial resolution of 30 meters. Based on those maps we identified the maximum species richness for each of the taxa (43 amphibians, 163 birds, 72 mammals, and 54 reptiles) and show variation in richness across the conterminous United States. Because these habitat models remove unsuitable areas within the range of the species, the patterns of richness presented here are different from the coarse-resolution species’ habitat distribution models commonly presented in the literature. These maps provide a new, more spatially refined richness map. In addition, since these models are logically linked to mapped data layers that constitute habitat suitability, this suite of data can provide an intuitive data system for further exploration of biodiversity and implications for change at ecosystem and landscape scales.

ACS Style

Kevin J. Gergely; Kenneth G. Boykin; Alexa J. McKerrow; Matthew J. Rubino; Nathan M. Tarr; Steven G. Williams. Gap Analysis Project (GAP) Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Richness Maps for the Conterminous U.S. Scientific Investigations Report 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Kevin J. Gergely, Kenneth G. Boykin, Alexa J. McKerrow, Matthew J. Rubino, Nathan M. Tarr, Steven G. Williams. Gap Analysis Project (GAP) Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Richness Maps for the Conterminous U.S. Scientific Investigations Report. 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kevin J. Gergely; Kenneth G. Boykin; Alexa J. McKerrow; Matthew J. Rubino; Nathan M. Tarr; Steven G. Williams. 2019. "Gap Analysis Project (GAP) Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Richness Maps for the Conterminous U.S." Scientific Investigations Report , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 07 August 2018 in Environments
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The effects of future land use change on arid and semi-arid watersheds in the American Southwest have important management implications. Seamless, national-scale land-use-change scenarios for developed land were acquired from the US Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (lCLUS) project and extracted to fit the Northern Rio Grande River Basin, New Mexico relative to projections of housing density for the period from 2000 through 2100. Habitat models developed from the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project were invoked to examine changes in wildlife habitat and biodiversity metrics using five ICLUS scenarios. The scenarios represent a US Census base-case and four modifications that were consistent with the different assumptions underlying the A1, A2, B1, and B2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change global greenhouse gas emission storylines. Habitat models for terrestrial vertebrate species were used to derive metrics reflecting ecosystem services or biodiversity aspects valued by humans that could be quantified and mapped. Example metrics included total terrestrial vertebrate species richness, bird species richness, threatened and endangered species, and harvestable species (e.g., waterfowl, big game). Overall, the defined scenarios indicated that the housing density and extent of developed lands will increase throughout the century with a resultant decrease in area for all species richness categories. The A2 Scenario, in general, showed greatest effect on area by species richness category. The integration of the land use scenarios with biodiversity metrics derived from deductive habitat models may prove to be an important tool for decision makers involved in impact assessments and adaptive planning processes.

ACS Style

Elizabeth A. Samson; Kenneth G. Boykin; William G. Kepner; Mark C. Andersen; Alexander Fernald. Evaluating Biodiversity Metric Response to Forecasted Land Use Change in the Northern Rio Grande Basin. Environments 2018, 5, 91 -91.

AMA Style

Elizabeth A. Samson, Kenneth G. Boykin, William G. Kepner, Mark C. Andersen, Alexander Fernald. Evaluating Biodiversity Metric Response to Forecasted Land Use Change in the Northern Rio Grande Basin. Environments. 2018; 5 (8):91-91.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Elizabeth A. Samson; Kenneth G. Boykin; William G. Kepner; Mark C. Andersen; Alexander Fernald. 2018. "Evaluating Biodiversity Metric Response to Forecasted Land Use Change in the Northern Rio Grande Basin." Environments 5, no. 8: 91-91.

Journal article
Published: 14 June 2018 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Many agropastoral systems worldwide are supported by important linkages between crop production and rangeland grazing. We explored the connections between smallholder farming and public rangeland grazing in northern New Mexico, USA. We retrieved historical data of livestock inventories, drought, and hay production which we analyzed using either ordinary least squares models, generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models (GARCH), or exponential GARCH models. We also conducted a survey of farmers and ranchers (n = 74) of traditional communities in our study area using a mixed methods design. County hay production was the only predictor that explained year-to-year variation in allotment livestock numbers. Allotments that increased livestock numbers tended to have larger base properties (mostly irrigated cropland). Most survey respondents (95%) raised livestock and slightly more than half agreed that livestock provided better financial security than crops. Availability of summer grazing lands and ability to grow or purchase hay to feed livestock during winter were the factors cited least (6% of responses) and most (42%), respectively, as limiting farmers’ ability to increase their herd size. Livestock-raising apparently continues to be critical to the acequia agropastoral economy. Ability to acquire winter feed (hay) appears to regulate the demand for summer grazing on public forested rangelands.

ACS Style

Stephanie C. López; Andrés F. Cibils; Ursula R. Smedly; Steven J. Guldan; Alexander G. Fernald; Carlos G. Ochoa; Kenneth G. Boykin; Lilian Cibils. Linkages Between acequia Farming and Rangeland Grazing in Traditional Agropastoral Communities of the Southwestern USA. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2021 .

AMA Style

Stephanie C. López, Andrés F. Cibils, Ursula R. Smedly, Steven J. Guldan, Alexander G. Fernald, Carlos G. Ochoa, Kenneth G. Boykin, Lilian Cibils. Linkages Between acequia Farming and Rangeland Grazing in Traditional Agropastoral Communities of the Southwestern USA. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (6):2021.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stephanie C. López; Andrés F. Cibils; Ursula R. Smedly; Steven J. Guldan; Alexander G. Fernald; Carlos G. Ochoa; Kenneth G. Boykin; Lilian Cibils. 2018. "Linkages Between acequia Farming and Rangeland Grazing in Traditional Agropastoral Communities of the Southwestern USA." Sustainability 10, no. 6: 2021.

Journal article
Published: 22 April 2017 in Climate
Reads 0
Downloads 0

This paper highlights the results of bioclimatic-envelope modeling of whiptail lizards belonging to the Aspidoscelis tesselata species group and related species. We utilized five species distribution models (SDM) including Generalized Linear Model, Random Forest, Boosted Regression Tree, Maxent and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines to develop the present day distributions of the species based on climate-driven models alone. We then projected future distributions of whiptails using data from four climate models run according to two greenhouse gas concentration scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Results of A. tesselata species group suggested that climate change will negatively affect the bioclimatic habitat and distribution of some species, while projecting gains in suitability for others. Furthermore, when the species group was analyzed together, climate projections changed for some species compared to when they were analyzed alone, suggesting significant loss of syntopic areas where suitable climatic conditions for more than two species would persist. In other words, syntopy within members of the species group will be drastically reduced according to future bioclimatic suitability projections in this study.

ACS Style

Guillermo Alvarez; Eric Ariel L. Salas; Nicole M. Harings; Kenneth G. Boykin. Projections of Future Suitable Bioclimatic Conditions of Parthenogenetic Whiptails. Climate 2017, 5, 34 .

AMA Style

Guillermo Alvarez, Eric Ariel L. Salas, Nicole M. Harings, Kenneth G. Boykin. Projections of Future Suitable Bioclimatic Conditions of Parthenogenetic Whiptails. Climate. 2017; 5 (2):34.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Guillermo Alvarez; Eric Ariel L. Salas; Nicole M. Harings; Kenneth G. Boykin. 2017. "Projections of Future Suitable Bioclimatic Conditions of Parthenogenetic Whiptails." Climate 5, no. 2: 34.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in AIMS Environmental Science
Reads 0
Downloads 0

We used 19 bioclimatic variables, five species distribution modeling (SDM) algorithms, four general circulation models, and two climate scenarios (2050 and 2070) to model nine bird species. Identified as Species of Concern (SOC), we highlighted these birds: Northern/Masked Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus), Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata), Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi), Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), Cassin’s Sparrow (Peucaea cassinii), Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae), and White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus). The Generalized Linear Model, Random Forest, Boosted Regression Tree, Maxent, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines, and an ensemble model were used to identify present day core bioclimatic-envelopes for the species. We then projected future distributions of suitable climatic conditions for the species using data derived from four climate models run according to two greenhouse gas Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 2.6 and 8.5). Our models predicted changes in suitable bioclimatic-envelopes for all species for the years 2050 and 2070. Among the nine species of birds, the quails were found to be highly susceptible to climate change and appeared to be of most future conservation concern. The White-tailed Ptarmigan would lose about 62% of its suitable climatic habitat by 2050 and 67% by 2070. Among the species distribution models (SDMs), the Boosted Regression Tree model consistently performed fairly well based on Area Under the Curve (AUC range: 0.89 to 0.97) values. The ensemble models showed improved True Skill Statistics (all TSS values > 0.85) and Kappa Statistics (all K values > 0.80) for all species relative to the individual SDMs

ACS Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Virginia A. Seamster; Kenneth G. Boykin; Nicole M. Harings; Keith W. Dixon. Modeling the impacts of climate change on Species of Concern (birds) in South Central U.S. based on bioclimatic variables. AIMS Environmental Science 2017, 4, 358 -385.

AMA Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas, Virginia A. Seamster, Kenneth G. Boykin, Nicole M. Harings, Keith W. Dixon. Modeling the impacts of climate change on Species of Concern (birds) in South Central U.S. based on bioclimatic variables. AIMS Environmental Science. 2017; 4 (2):358-385.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Virginia A. Seamster; Kenneth G. Boykin; Nicole M. Harings; Keith W. Dixon. 2017. "Modeling the impacts of climate change on Species of Concern (birds) in South Central U.S. based on bioclimatic variables." AIMS Environmental Science 4, no. 2: 358-385.

Journal article
Published: 13 October 2016 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Agriculture-based irrigation communities of northern New Mexico have survived for centuries despite the arid environment in which they reside. These irrigation communities are threatened by regional population growth, urbanization, a changing demographic profile, economic development, climate change, and other factors. Within this context, we investigated the extent to which community resource management practices centering on shared resources (e.g., water for agricultural in the floodplains and grazing resources in the uplands) and mutualism (i.e., shared responsibility of local residents to maintaining traditional irrigation policies and upholding cultural and spiritual observances) embedded within the community structure influence acequia function. We used a system dynamics modeling approach as an interdisciplinary platform to integrate these systems, specifically the relationship between community structure and resource management. In this paper we describe the background and context of acequia communities in northern New Mexico and the challenges they face. We formulate a Dynamic Hypothesis capturing the endogenous feedbacks driving acequia community vitality. Development of the model centered on major stock-and-flow components, including linkages for hydrology, ecology, community, and economics. Calibration metrics were used for model evaluation, including statistical correlation of observed and predicted values and Theil inequality statistics. Results indicated that the model reproduced trends exhibited by the observed system. Sensitivity analyses of socio-cultural processes identified absentee decisions, cumulative income effect on time in agriculture, and land use preference due to time allocation, community demographic effect, effect of employment on participation, and farm size effect as key determinants of system behavior and response. Sensitivity analyses of biophysical parameters revealed that several key parameters (e.g., acres per animal unit or percentage of normal acequia ditch seepage) which created less variable system responses but which utilized similar pathways to that of the socio-cultural processes (e.g., socio-cultural or physical parameter change → agricultural profit → time in spent in agriculture → effect on socio-cultural or physical processes). These processes also linked through acequia mutualism to create the greatest variability in system outputs compared to the remainder of tests. Results also point to the important role of community mutualism in sustaining linkages between natural and human systems that increase resilience to stressors. Future work will explore scenario development and testing, integration with upland and downstream models, and comparative analyses between acequia communities with distinct social and landscape characteristics.

ACS Style

Benjamin L. Turner; Vincent Tidwell; Alexander Fernald; José A. Rivera; Sylvia Rodriguez; Steven Guldan; Carlos Ochoa; Brian Hurd; Kenneth Boykin; Andres Cibils. Modeling Acequia Irrigation Systems Using System Dynamics: Model Development, Evaluation, and Sensitivity Analyses to Investigate Effects of Socio-Economic and Biophysical Feedbacks. Sustainability 2016, 8, 1019 .

AMA Style

Benjamin L. Turner, Vincent Tidwell, Alexander Fernald, José A. Rivera, Sylvia Rodriguez, Steven Guldan, Carlos Ochoa, Brian Hurd, Kenneth Boykin, Andres Cibils. Modeling Acequia Irrigation Systems Using System Dynamics: Model Development, Evaluation, and Sensitivity Analyses to Investigate Effects of Socio-Economic and Biophysical Feedbacks. Sustainability. 2016; 8 (10):1019.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Benjamin L. Turner; Vincent Tidwell; Alexander Fernald; José A. Rivera; Sylvia Rodriguez; Steven Guldan; Carlos Ochoa; Brian Hurd; Kenneth Boykin; Andres Cibils. 2016. "Modeling Acequia Irrigation Systems Using System Dynamics: Model Development, Evaluation, and Sensitivity Analyses to Investigate Effects of Socio-Economic and Biophysical Feedbacks." Sustainability 8, no. 10: 1019.

Data descriptor
Published: 12 May 2016 in Data
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Seven Geographic Information System (GIS) layers comprise this dataset intended for understanding the Marco Polo argali habitat in the southeastern Tajikistan Pamirs (37°33′ N, 74°09′ E). Extensive remote sensing habitat data processing and field data analysis of the Marco Polo sheep study area have yielded these layers that are now available online to download and for use by other researchers interested in studying the argali patterns and habitat suitability in the southeastern Tajik Pamirs. It is important to note that the layers were generated using a 30-m Landsat ETM image and field data from 2012.

ACS Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Raul Valdez; Kenneth G. Boykin. Open-Access Geographic Data for the Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Tajik Pamirs. Data 2016, 1, 5 .

AMA Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas, Raul Valdez, Kenneth G. Boykin. Open-Access Geographic Data for the Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Tajik Pamirs. Data. 2016; 1 (1):5.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Raul Valdez; Kenneth G. Boykin. 2016. "Open-Access Geographic Data for the Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Tajik Pamirs." Data 1, no. 1: 5.

Journal article
Published: 21 January 2016 in Remote Sensing
Reads 0
Downloads 0

We tested the Moment Distance Index (MDI) in combination with texture features for the summer vegetation mapping in the eastern Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan using the 2014 Landsat OLI (Operational Land Imager) image. The five major classes identified were sparse vegetation, medium-dense vegetation, dense vegetation, barren land, and water bodies. By utilizing object features in a random forest (RF) classifier, the overall classification accuracy of the land cover maps were 92% using a set of variables including texture features and MDI, and 84% using a set of variables including texture but without MDI. A decrease of the Kappa statistics, from 0.89 to 0.79, was observed when MDI was removed from the set of predictor variables. McNemar’s test showed that the increase in the classification accuracy due to the addition of MDI was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The proposed method provides an effective way of discriminating sparse vegetation from barren land in an arid environment, such as the Pamir Mountains.

ACS Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Kenneth G. Boykin; Raul Valdez. Multispectral and Texture Feature Application in Image-Object Analysis of Summer Vegetation in Eastern Tajikistan Pamirs. Remote Sensing 2016, 8, 78 .

AMA Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas, Kenneth G. Boykin, Raul Valdez. Multispectral and Texture Feature Application in Image-Object Analysis of Summer Vegetation in Eastern Tajikistan Pamirs. Remote Sensing. 2016; 8 (1):78.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Kenneth G. Boykin; Raul Valdez. 2016. "Multispectral and Texture Feature Application in Image-Object Analysis of Summer Vegetation in Eastern Tajikistan Pamirs." Remote Sensing 8, no. 1: 78.

Project report
Published: 20 October 2015 in ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Reads 0
Downloads 0

We described in this report the essential geographic layers used as landscape drivers for the Marco Polo Argali habitat in the eastern Tajik Pamirs. Using remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems (GIS), individual layers were generated in order to acquire more information on argali patterns and habitat suitability and to make the dataset available online. We introduced an improved object-based image analysis in our mapping of the vegetation cover by utilizing spectral, topographic, and texture variables. We exhausted every Landsat image band and texture feature combination to select the best pairing of band-texture components. For vegetation class alone, the producer’s accuracy was 90.8% and the user’s accuracy was 91.6%.

ACS Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Raul Valdez; Kenneth G. Boykin. Geographic Layers as Landscape Drivers for the Marco Polo Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2015, 4, 2094 -2108.

AMA Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas, Raul Valdez, Kenneth G. Boykin. Geographic Layers as Landscape Drivers for the Marco Polo Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. 2015; 4 (4):2094-2108.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Eric Ariel L. Salas; Raul Valdez; Kenneth G. Boykin. 2015. "Geographic Layers as Landscape Drivers for the Marco Polo Argali Habitat in the Southeastern Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan." ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 4, no. 4: 2094-2108.

Journal article
Published: 01 December 2013 in Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Hydrologic connectivity can be important when assessing the role of water availability and distribution in sustaining different natural processes and human activities in a given landscape. We present a study that served as one of five case studies for an interdisciplinary modeling course. The main objectives of the study presented are: 1) to characterize the hydrologic connectivity between the uplands and the irrigated valley and; 2) to set the foundations for understanding the connections between hydrology and complementary disciplines of ecology, rangeland management, and system dynamics modeling in a semiarid watershed in the southwestern United States. Study results show a strong hydrologic connectivity between surface and groundwater in the lower agricultural valley that follows a seasonal pattern, driven primarily by irrigation contributions to the shallow aquifer. The interdisciplinary modeling team assigned to this study was able to use data from it and outside sources to create a working model that addressed these interconnections and highlighted the study value of concurrent consideration of multiple components of linked hydrologic, economic, ecological, and social systems.

ACS Style

Carlos G. Ochoa; Steven J. Guldan; Andrés F. Cibils; Stephanie C. Lopez; Kenneth G. Boykin; Vincent C. Tidwell; Alexander G. Fernald. Hydrologic Connectivity of Head Waters and Floodplains in a Semi-Arid Watershed. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education 2013, 152, 69 -78.

AMA Style

Carlos G. Ochoa, Steven J. Guldan, Andrés F. Cibils, Stephanie C. Lopez, Kenneth G. Boykin, Vincent C. Tidwell, Alexander G. Fernald. Hydrologic Connectivity of Head Waters and Floodplains in a Semi-Arid Watershed. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education. 2013; 152 (1):69-78.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Carlos G. Ochoa; Steven J. Guldan; Andrés F. Cibils; Stephanie C. Lopez; Kenneth G. Boykin; Vincent C. Tidwell; Alexander G. Fernald. 2013. "Hydrologic Connectivity of Head Waters and Floodplains in a Semi-Arid Watershed." Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education 152, no. 1: 69-78.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2013 in Ecological Indicators
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

Kenneth G. Boykin; William G. Kepner; David F. Bradford; Rachel K. Guy; Darin A. Kopp; Allison K. Leimer; Elizabeth A. Samson; N. Forrest East; Anne C. Neale; Kevin J. Gergely. A national approach for mapping and quantifying habitat-based biodiversity metrics across multiple spatial scales. Ecological Indicators 2013, 33, 139 -147.

AMA Style

Kenneth G. Boykin, William G. Kepner, David F. Bradford, Rachel K. Guy, Darin A. Kopp, Allison K. Leimer, Elizabeth A. Samson, N. Forrest East, Anne C. Neale, Kevin J. Gergely. A national approach for mapping and quantifying habitat-based biodiversity metrics across multiple spatial scales. Ecological Indicators. 2013; 33 ():139-147.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kenneth G. Boykin; William G. Kepner; David F. Bradford; Rachel K. Guy; Darin A. Kopp; Allison K. Leimer; Elizabeth A. Samson; N. Forrest East; Anne C. Neale; Kevin J. Gergely. 2013. "A national approach for mapping and quantifying habitat-based biodiversity metrics across multiple spatial scales." Ecological Indicators 33, no. : 139-147.

Original articles
Published: 17 December 2012 in International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The Sonoran Desert and Apache Highlands ecoregions of North America are areas of exceptionally high plant and vertebrate biodiversity. However, much of the vertebrate biodiversity is supported by only a few vegetation types with limited distributions, some of which are increasingly threatened by changing land uses. We assessed the impacts of two future urban growth scenarios on biodiversity in a binational watershed in Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico. We quantified and mapped terrestrial vertebrate species richness using Wildlife Habitat Relation models and validated the results with data from National Park Service (NPS) biological inventories. Future urban growth, based on historical trends, was projected to the year 2050 for (1) a ‘Current Trends’ (CT) scenario and (2) a ‘Megalopolis’ (MEGA) scenario that represented a transnational growth corridor with open-space conservation attributes. Based on CT, 45% of existing riparian woodland (267 of 451species) and 34% of semi-desert grasslands (215 of 451 species) will be lost, whereas in the MEGA scenario, these types would decline by 44% and 24%, respectively. Outcomes of the two models suggest a trade-off at the taxonomic class level: CT would reduce and fragment mammal and herpetofauna habitat, while MEGA would result in loss of avian-rich riparian habitat.

ACS Style

Miguel Villarreal; Laura M. Norman; Kenneth G. Boykin; Cynthia S.A. Wallace. Biodiversity losses and conservation trade-offs: assessing future urban growth scenarios for a North American trade corridor. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 2012, 9, 90 -103.

AMA Style

Miguel Villarreal, Laura M. Norman, Kenneth G. Boykin, Cynthia S.A. Wallace. Biodiversity losses and conservation trade-offs: assessing future urban growth scenarios for a North American trade corridor. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management. 2012; 9 (2):90-103.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Miguel Villarreal; Laura M. Norman; Kenneth G. Boykin; Cynthia S.A. Wallace. 2012. "Biodiversity losses and conservation trade-offs: assessing future urban growth scenarios for a North American trade corridor." International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 9, no. 2: 90-103.

Journal article
Published: 09 November 2012 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Water scarcity, land use conversion and cultural and ecosystem changes threaten the way of life for traditional irrigation communities of the semi-arid southwestern United States. Traditions are strong, yet potential upheaval is great in these communities that rely on acequia irrigation systems. Acequias are ancient ditch systems brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the New World over 400 years ago; they are simultaneously gravity flow water delivery systems and shared water governance institutions. Acequias have survived periods of drought and external shocks from changing economics, demographics, and resource uses. Now, climate change and urbanization threaten water availability, ecosystem functions, and the acequia communities themselves. Do past adaptive practices hold the key to future sustainability, or are new strategies required? To explore this issue we translated disciplinary understanding into a uniform format of causal loop diagrams to conceptualize the subsystems of the entire acequia-based human-natural system. Four subsystems are identified in this study: hydrology, ecosystem, land use/economics, and sociocultural. Important linkages between subsystems were revealed as well as variables indicating community cohesion (e.g., total irrigated land, intensity of upland grazing, mutualism). Ongoing work will test the conceptualizations with field data and modeling exercises to capture tipping points for non-sustainability and thresholds for sustainable water use and community longevity.

ACS Style

Alexander Fernald; Vincent Tidwell; José Rivera; Sylvia Rodríguez; Steven Guldan; Caitriana Steele; Carlos Ochoa; Brian Hurd; Marquita Ortiz; Kenneth Boykin; Andres Cibils. Modeling Sustainability of Water, Environment, Livelihood, and Culture in Traditional Irrigation Communities and Their Linked Watersheds. Sustainability 2012, 4, 2998 -3022.

AMA Style

Alexander Fernald, Vincent Tidwell, José Rivera, Sylvia Rodríguez, Steven Guldan, Caitriana Steele, Carlos Ochoa, Brian Hurd, Marquita Ortiz, Kenneth Boykin, Andres Cibils. Modeling Sustainability of Water, Environment, Livelihood, and Culture in Traditional Irrigation Communities and Their Linked Watersheds. Sustainability. 2012; 4 (11):2998-3022.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexander Fernald; Vincent Tidwell; José Rivera; Sylvia Rodríguez; Steven Guldan; Caitriana Steele; Carlos Ochoa; Brian Hurd; Marquita Ortiz; Kenneth Boykin; Andres Cibils. 2012. "Modeling Sustainability of Water, Environment, Livelihood, and Culture in Traditional Irrigation Communities and Their Linked Watersheds." Sustainability 4, no. 11: 2998-3022.

Journal article
Published: 25 January 2012 in Ecography
Reads 0
Downloads 0

We modeled current and future distribution of suitable habitat for the talus‐obligate montane mammal Ochotona princeps (American pika) across the western USA under increases in temperature associated with contemporary climate change, to: a) compare forecasts using only climate variables vs using those plus habitat considerations; b) identify possible patterns of range collapse (center vs margins, and large‐ vs small‐sized patches); and c) compare conservation and management implications of changes at two taxonomic resolutions, and using binned‐ vs binary‐probability maps. We used MaxEnt to analyze relationships between occurrence records and climatic variables to develop a bioclimatic‐envelope model, which we refined by masking with a deductive appropriate‐habitat filter based on suitable land‐cover types. We used this final species‐distribution model to predict distribution of suitable habitat under range‐wide temperature increases from 1 to 7°C, in 1°C increments; we also compared these results to distribution under IPCC‐forecasted climates for 2050 and 2080. Though all currently recognized lineages and traditionally defined subspecies were predicted to lose increasing amounts of habitat as temperatures rose, the most‐dramatic range losses were predicted to occur among traditional subspecies. Nineteen of the 31 traditional US pika subspecies were predicted to lose > 98% of their suitable habitat under a 7˚C increase in the mean temperature of the warmest quarter of the year, and lineages were predicted to lose 88 95% of suitable habitat. Under a 4˚C increase, traditional subspecies averaged a predicted 73% (range = 44–99%) reduction. The appropriate‐habitat filter removed 40–6% of the predicted climatically suitable pixels, in a stepped and monotonically decreasing fashion as predicted temperatures rose. Predicted range collapse proceeded until only populations in island‐biogeographic ‘mainlands’ remained, which were not in the geographic range center. We used this model system to illustrate possible distributional shifts under stepped changes in biologically relevant aspects of climate, importance of land cover and taxonomic level in species‐distribution forecasts, and impact of using a single threshold vs multiple categories of persistence probability in predicted range maps; we encourage additional research to further investigate the generality of these patterns.

ACS Style

Michael T. Calkins; Erik A. Beever; Kenneth Boykin; Jennifer K. Frey; Mark C. Andersen. Not-so-splendid isolation: modeling climate-mediated range collapse of a montane mammal Ochotona princeps across numerous ecoregions. Ecography 2012, 35, 780 -791.

AMA Style

Michael T. Calkins, Erik A. Beever, Kenneth Boykin, Jennifer K. Frey, Mark C. Andersen. Not-so-splendid isolation: modeling climate-mediated range collapse of a montane mammal Ochotona princeps across numerous ecoregions. Ecography. 2012; 35 (9):780-791.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Michael T. Calkins; Erik A. Beever; Kenneth Boykin; Jennifer K. Frey; Mark C. Andersen. 2012. "Not-so-splendid isolation: modeling climate-mediated range collapse of a montane mammal Ochotona princeps across numerous ecoregions." Ecography 35, no. 9: 780-791.

Journal article
Published: 18 October 2011 in Conservation Genetics Resources
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri) is an endangered amphibian native to the Laramie Basin, Wyoming, USA. A captive breeding program propagates B. baxteri, and the monitoring of genetic diversity in captive stock can assist in guiding restoration and recovery efforts. We developed eight species-specific polymorphic loci from an enriched microsatellite library. For 281 samples, B. baxteri exhibited 2–11 alleles per locus, and observed and expected heterozygosities per locus ranged from 0.411 to 0.943 and from 0.400 to 0.691, respectively. Four loci deviated significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The eight microsatellite markers may be useful for conservation, population, and quantitative genetics for B. baxteri and closely related species.

ACS Style

Renee M. Martin; Connie L. Keeler-Foster; Kenneth G. Boykin; Gerard Zegers; Wade D. Wilson. Isolation and characterization of eight novel microsatellite loci in endangered Wyoming toad, Bufo baxteri. Conservation Genetics Resources 2011, 4, 347 -349.

AMA Style

Renee M. Martin, Connie L. Keeler-Foster, Kenneth G. Boykin, Gerard Zegers, Wade D. Wilson. Isolation and characterization of eight novel microsatellite loci in endangered Wyoming toad, Bufo baxteri. Conservation Genetics Resources. 2011; 4 (2):347-349.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Renee M. Martin; Connie L. Keeler-Foster; Kenneth G. Boykin; Gerard Zegers; Wade D. Wilson. 2011. "Isolation and characterization of eight novel microsatellite loci in endangered Wyoming toad, Bufo baxteri." Conservation Genetics Resources 4, no. 2: 347-349.

Journal article
Published: 01 September 2011 in Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

Mark A. Weltz; Leonard Jolley; Dave Goodrich; Kenneth Boykin; Mark Nearing; Jeff Stone; Phil Guertin; Mariano Hernandez; Ken Spaeth; Fred Pierson; Christo Morris; Bill Kepner. Techniques for assessing the environmental outcomes of conservation practices applied to rangeland watersheds. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 2011, 66, 154A -162A.

AMA Style

Mark A. Weltz, Leonard Jolley, Dave Goodrich, Kenneth Boykin, Mark Nearing, Jeff Stone, Phil Guertin, Mariano Hernandez, Ken Spaeth, Fred Pierson, Christo Morris, Bill Kepner. Techniques for assessing the environmental outcomes of conservation practices applied to rangeland watersheds. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 2011; 66 (5):154A-162A.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mark A. Weltz; Leonard Jolley; Dave Goodrich; Kenneth Boykin; Mark Nearing; Jeff Stone; Phil Guertin; Mariano Hernandez; Ken Spaeth; Fred Pierson; Christo Morris; Bill Kepner. 2011. "Techniques for assessing the environmental outcomes of conservation practices applied to rangeland watersheds." Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 66, no. 5: 154A-162A.

Journal article
Published: 16 June 2011 in Diversity
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Landscape scale conservation planning efforts have been in place for the past several decades to maintain biodiversity. Objectives of past efforts have been to identify areas to create reserves based on species diversity, land ownership, and landscape context. Risk analysis has not often been included in these spatial analyses. Datasets such as the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis (SWReGAP) are now available as are processes that allow risk analysis to be viewed in a spatial context in relations to factors that affect habitats over broad scales. We describe a method to include four spatial datasets to provide coarse scale delineation on areas to focus conservation including species numbers, key habitats, land management and factors that influence habitats. We used the SWReGAP management status dataset to identify management categories for long-term intent of management for biodiversity. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish identified a set of 290 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Species occurrences for these species were associated with hydrologic unit codes from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Key habitats were identified by using the SWReGAP land cover dataset and NHD derivatives. Factors that influence habitats were identified and scored for 89 land cover types and 23 aquatic habitats identified by the NMDGF. Our final model prioritizes landscapes that are within key habitats, have high numbers of terrestrial and aquatic Species of Greatest Conservation Need taxa, may be potentially altered by multiple effects that influence habitats, and lack long-term legally-binding management plans protecting them from anthropogenic degradation. Similar to other efforts, riparian and aquatic habitats were identified as the most important for conservation. This information may be displayed spatially, allowing land managers and decision makers to understand the ecological context where multiple effects of potential factors may influence some habitats greater than others, and repeat process with CWCS revisions.

ACS Style

Kenneth G. Boykin; Kendal E. Young; Rachel K. Guy. Spatial Identification of Statewide Areas for Conservation Focus in New Mexico: Implications for State Conservation Efforts. Diversity 2011, 3, 275 -295.

AMA Style

Kenneth G. Boykin, Kendal E. Young, Rachel K. Guy. Spatial Identification of Statewide Areas for Conservation Focus in New Mexico: Implications for State Conservation Efforts. Diversity. 2011; 3 (2):275-295.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kenneth G. Boykin; Kendal E. Young; Rachel K. Guy. 2011. "Spatial Identification of Statewide Areas for Conservation Focus in New Mexico: Implications for State Conservation Efforts." Diversity 3, no. 2: 275-295.