Ecology

Data on Environmental Pollution Detailed by Researchers at South Dakota State University

  2012 JUL 6 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- New research on Environmental Pollution is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Brookings, South Dakota, by VerticalNews editors, researchers stated "The extent and change of land cover/land use (LCLU) across the Tampa Bay watershed, Florida, was characterized for the time period between 1996 and 2006. Likewise, the water turbidity trend was determined at a site near the Bay for each of four major tributaries to Tampa Bay (Hillsborough River, the Alafia River, the Little Manatee River, and the Manatee River)."

  Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research by the authors from South Dakota State University, "This study identifies consistent changes in LCLU across the Tampa Bay watershed and a decrease in water turbidity. LCLU change analysis as a percent of the total Tampa Bay watershed revealed an increase of 2.6% in developed area followed by a 0.9% in bare land and a 0.6% in water cover. A decrease of 1.8% of the total Tampa Bay watershed was found in agriculture, followed in order by 1.1% in wetland and 1.4% in scrub/shrub. Other land classes changed less than 0.2% of the total watershed. A linear mixed model (SAS procedure PROC MIXED) revealed an overall decreasing trend in water turbidity (p = 0.003, slope estimate = -0.02) across the four major Tampa Bay tributaries considered. This study suggests that development (urbanization) could be associated with decreasing water turbidity in Tampa Bay."

  According to the news editors, the researchers concluded: "Finally, although these results may help explain similar effects on other water bodies with similar conditions of adjacent urbanization and low slope, more analysis are needed considering a larger number of watersheds with similar scales and longer time period in order to confirm that the findings of this study are generally evident."

  For more information on this research see: Relationship Between Watershed Land-Cover/Land-Use Change and Water Turbidity Status of Tampa Bay Major Tributaries, Florida, USA. Water Air and Soil Pollution, 2012;223(5):2093-2109. Water Air and Soil Pollution can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands.

  Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting M.J.M. Madrinan, South Dakota State University, Dept. of Math & Stat, Brookings, SD 57007, United States.

  Keywords for this news article include: Brookings, South Dakota, United States, Environmental Pollution, North and Central America

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