GIS-BASED LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS: NATURAL HAZARDS AND ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS ON BIODIVERSITY; CASE STUDY IN GOOSE CREEK STATE PARK, NC

Natural hazards such as hurricanes and storm surge, as well as anthropogenic activity, are powerful evolutionary forces that define ecosystems and terrestrial landscapes. Remote sensed data and computer models were used to explore an acute die-off of woody trees at Goose Creek State Park. It is believed that a combination of anthropogenic activity and hurricane-storm surge events were the main contributors to the high tree mortality. Park’s vegetation state was assessed by calculating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index on a time-series of Landsat and Color-Infrared imagery. Results suggest that state of the vegetation started to weaken after 1995. Topography induced drainage patterns and several water level scenarios were created employing ArcHydro, GRASS GIS hydro tools, and airborne lidar. Results suggest that water stage above 0.25 m is enough to stress the ecosystem. Calculated drainage patterns indicate that anthropogenic impact is less significant than topography gradients. The proposed approach on this study could be employed on other sites to help manage and preserve resources for future generations considering landscape dynamics.