Ohio Wesleyan University A Proposal for Delaware County Anthromes Julian Kusin and John Reierson Anthromes Anthromes, also known as anthropogenic or human biomes, are ecological systems created by human and animal interactions. In the past they have been used primarily to describe global ecological patterns, but we propose to apply this concept to the smaller-scale to the area surrounding the OWU campus in Delaware County, OH. The term anthrome originated in 2007 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment by Erle Ellis and Navin Ramankutty - it has since grown into a more widely accepted definition. No definitive work has been done to define the Delaware, OH area under this framework, but we provide a precursor to a more rigid system. The Setting Delaware County, OH is located in the center of Ohio, just twenty miles north of Columbus. IT is the fastest growing county in OH, and ranks among the fastest growing in the nation. The landscape is quite homogenous, with the majority of land set aside for agricultural uses. The city itself is fairly urbanized, with moderate amount of industry and large building. There are numerous city parks and streams crisscross the landscape. There are numerous species of hardwoods, such as cottonwood, ash, elm, beech, maple, and black walnut. The topography is very flat, with some minor hills surrounding the town. Summary We began by classifying the middle Ohio landscape based on our own experiences and knowledge, forming a rough guideline of the different environments that existed. We refined our definitions with numerous academic articles, USGS classifications, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website. We submitted our initial proposal Laurie Anderson in the OWU ecology department, who helped correct and provided insight of how to refine our proposal. We consulted similar proposals, one classifying urban habitats in Minnesota to track bird populations, to come up with more rigorous definitions. At the end we had six major classifications, built-up, agricultural, natural transition zone, forest land, natural water, and wetlands. These broad anthrome classifications roughly based on Ohio land use classifications and the aforementioned study. We broke down each classification into several subcategories, giving a total of 24 anthromes. From final proposal, we then began mapping these anthromes on the Delaware County orthophotos from the DALIS website. We utilized hydrology, timber, road center line, parcel, and census block data among others to map our proposal.

The Proposal

1) BuiltUpa) Urbanb) Campusc) Backyard

i) Highintensityii) Lowintensity

d) Islande) UrbanForestf) OpenWater

i) Riverii) Lakeiii) RetentionPondiv) Reservoir

2) Agriculturala) Croplandb) Pasture

3) NaturalTransitionZone4) ForestLand5) NaturalWater

a) Riverb) Lakec) RetentionPondd) Reservoir

6) Wetlands

1)BuiltUp:Humansettlementssuchascitiesandtowns.Thelandcoverismostlyhumanconstructed,withlittlenaturalcover.Man-madestructuresincluderoads,buildings,andotherpavements;naturalcoverincludesparks,ponds,andfields.Whatlittlenaturalcoverthereisoftenusedforhumanrecreationoraresitesforfurtherdevelopment.Pocketsofnaturalzonesexistassmallislands,whereonlyplantsandanimalsthathaveadaptedcansurvive(Martel).

1a)Urban:Urbanbiomesreferspecificallytohighlydense,urbanizedareasofbuiltuplandscapes(Erle&Ramankutty2009).Areasincludedarecommercialandindustrialzones,andotherdenseconcentrationssuchasdowntowns.

1b)Campus:Campusreferstolarge,manicuredlandscapessuchasgolfcourses,athleticfields,anduniversityandcorporatecampuseswithinbuiltupareas.Itincludescityparkswithoutheavytreecover,collegecampuses,andlarge,maintainedfields(Martel).

1c)Backyard:Backyardreferstothelandscapeofsmall,privatelyowned,landscapedgreenareas,suchassuburbsandsprawlingneighborhoods(Martel).WedividedbackyardintotwogroupsbasedonUSGSlanduseclassifications:

1c(i):Highintensityresidential:Highintensityresidentialisasubdivisionofthebackyardbiomethatincludesdense,urbanizedneighborhoodswithsmallbackyardsorothernaturalsurroundings.Parcels

dominatedbystructuresandpavementfallunderhighintensity.Fewerspeciesthriveherecomparedtolowintensityoneareas.TheUSGSrequiresthere>80%humanactivityforaparceltobeclassifiedashighintensity(USGS).Wewillcompareparcelareatobuildingandstructureareasfoundwithineachparceltocalculatehumanactivity.

1c(ii)Lowintensityresidential:Lowintensityresidentiallandscapesareparcelswithrelativelylittlehumanactivitythatfallunderthebackyardbiome.Theseincludesprawlingneighborhoodslikesuburbs,lightlypopulatedneighborhoods,andparcelswithlargenaturalcover.Alargeramountoffloraandfaunaliveinlowintensityareas.TheUSGSclassifieslowintensityasresidenceswherehumanactivityaccountsfor<80%ofthelanduse,whichwewillmeasurebyparcelareavs.structurearea(USGS).

1d)Island:Islandbiomesrefertosmall,isolatedpocketsofnaturalenvironmentswithinbuiltupareas.Islandenvironmentsincludeawidevarietyoflandscapes,suchasflowergardens,walkingtrails,springs,andshadetrees.Itisexpectedthateachislandwithhavevastlydifferentfloraandfauna,buttheywillsharethetraitofbeingsmall,isolatednaturallandscapes(Martel).

1e)UrbanForest:Oftenthesearesecondgrowthforeststhatgrewaftersettlementsbegan(Martel).Urbanforestsfallwithinbuiltupareas,andincludelargeforestsanddenseshrubareas.Thisbiomeprovideshabitattomanyanimalspecies,especiallybirds,andawidevarietyofplantspecies(Martel).Theyprovidecleanairandwater,aswellasareasofrecreationtohumanpopulations.Occurinareasoflowhumanpopulationdensity.

1f)Openwater:Openwaterbiomesarerivers,lakes,streams,ponds–naturalorman-made–andtheirassociatedshorelines(Martel).Openwaterrefersspecificallytoaquatichabitatswithinbuiltupareas.Thesefreshwaterhabitatsservehuman,plant,andanimalneeds,andarethussourcesofbothhumanandnaturalactivity.

1f(i)River:Rangefromthinstreamstolargerbodiesofwater,constantlyflowinginasingledirection;maybeharnessedtocreatedamsortoproducehydroelectricenergy.Therearevaryingamountsofwildlifedependingonflowrateofriver,proximitytohumansettlements,andotherfactors(CRWA2002).

1f(ii)Lake:Asingleandstationarybodyofwater,mostlikelyinhabitedbyfishandothershallow,freshwateraquaticlife,doesnotparticularlymoveinanydirection(JohnandJulian).Canadageese,woodducks,mallardsandseasonalwaterfowlarenativetoDelaware’slakes(DNR).

1f(iii)RetentionPond:Manmadepondsbuiltindrainagebasinstocatchexcessandpollutedrunoff.Theytreattheheldwaterandslowlyreleaseitbackintootherwaterbodiesorgroundwater(RetentionPond).Theseareincreasinglyfoundinagriculturelots,andaredevoidofmostplantandanimallife.

1f(iv)Reservoir:Artificiallakesusuallyformedbydammingariver.Thiscreatesalargestandingbodyofwateratthecostofareducedfloodplain(DeGeorges2006).Canproviderefugeformigratorybirds,andareoftenpopularsitesforhumanrecreation.

2)Agricultural:Agriculturalbiomesaregrasslandsalteredbyhumansforagriculturalmeans.“Grasslandfragmentation[yields]considerableevidenceofbiodiversitychange”(Hogan,2010).Theseareashaveminorhumanpopulations,often<1perkm².Wedividedtheagricultureanthromeintocroplandandpasture,whichcorrespondstoOhiolanduseclassifications(Ohio).

2a)Cropland:Croplandsarethoseagriculturallotsdevotedtogrowinglargeamountsofthesamespeciesofplant.Theytypicallyincludehighamountsofpesticideandherbicideswithlittleplant/animaldiversity.Theyaremanuallyirrigated,oftenincludingretentionponds,withminimalhumanhabitation(JohnandJulian).

2b)Pasture:Pasturesareopenfieldsusedforagriculturaluse,especiallyforgrazingorotherfarmanimaluses.Thereisverylowhumandensity(JohnandJulian).

3)NaturalTransitionZone:Openlandscapedominatedbyshrubsandtallgrasses.AbouthalfofDelaware’swildlifeareaconsistsofsmallshrubs,grasses,andbriers(DNR).Oftenfoundasboundariesbetweenfarmlots,transitionsfromforeststopasture,orformerfarmfields.NTZ’sarecalledrangelandunderOhio’slanduseclassifications(Ohio).

4)ForestLand:Landscapewithathicktreecoverandlittletonoman-madestructures.Almostentirelypopulatedbywildlife;buttherecanbeareasmarkedofffordevelopmentatalaterdate.Themostcommontreesarecottonwood,ash,elm,beech,maple,hickory,oak,andblackwalnuthardwoods(DNR).

5)NaturalWater:Aquaticlandscapesprimarylocatedoutsideofbuiltupareas.Likeopenwater,theseincludethebodyofwater,andthesurroundingshorelines/habitats.

5a)River:Rangefromthinstreamstolargerbodiesofwater,constantlyflowinginasingledirection;maybeharnessedtocreatedamsortoproducehydroelectricenergy.Therearevaryingamountsofwildlifedependingonflowrateofriver,proximitytohumansettlements,andotherfactors(CRWA2002).

5b)Lake:Asingleandstationarybodyofwatermostlyinhabitedbyfishandothershallow,freshwateraquaticlife;doesnotparticularlymoveinanydirection(JohnandJulian).Canadageese,woodducks,mallardsandseasonalwaterfowlarenativetoDelaware’slakes(DNR).

5c)RetentionPond:Manmadepondsbuiltindrainagebasinstocatchexcessandpollutedrunoff.Theytreattheheldwaterandslowlyreleaseitbackintootherwaterbodiesorgroundwater(RetentionPond).Theseareincreasinglyfoundinagriculturallots,andaredevoidofmostplantandanimallife.

5d)Reservoir:Artificiallakesusuallyformedbydammingariver.Thiscreatesalargestandingbodyofwateratthecostofareducedfloodplain(DeGeorges2006).Canproviderefugeformigratorybirds,andareoftenpopularsitesforhumanrecreation.

6)Wetlands:Landscapethathasconstantmoistureintheground,sometimestothepointofcausingwidespreadstandingwater;canbeinhabitedbybothhumanandanimallife,thoughremainstypicallyuntouchedbyhumaninfluenceduetounfavorable,butnotinhospitableconditionsoflandscape;variabletreecoverandgroundcoverspanningfrommudcoveredgrasslandtobodiesofstandingwater(JohnandJulian).

The Maps

Central Delaware, OH

This map displays a centered view of downtown Delaware, OH. It is only a basic outline of the eventual final map, but it what we could get done in the time constraints of the class. It does not include the proposed Green Trail, but can serve as a template when it is completed. Looking at the map, the dominance of the built-up landscape is obvious. Even with 24 anthromes, only a handful are shown in this zoomed in map. This is partly because anthromes are usually used to describe global patterns, but also because of the difficulty of combing human and animal ecosystems together.

Central Ohio, Delware County and surrounding areas

This map is much more zoomed out than the previous. Our ideal goal was to define the map boundary along more natural lines, such as watersheds or stark environmental changes. The ubiquity of the agricultural landscape is easy to see, as are the large bodies of water the flank and hydrate this area. The numerous anthromes we classified are all present in this area of Ohio, but some were not mapped or didn’t show up well at this scale.

WorksCited

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