NDSU environmental and conservation science doctoral student Papia Rozario’s research presentation, “Quantifying spatiotemporal change in landuse and land cover and accessing water quality: Case study of Missouri watershed James-sub region North Dakota,” was one of two presentations recognized at the World Congress on GIS and Remote Sensing, Aug. 1-3 in New Orleans.
The conference theme was “Strategies Expanding in GIS: Making Sense of Remote Sensing” organized by OMICS International based in Los Angeles. Rozario’s research was under the “Young Researchers Forum” that hosted 20 universities.
The research paper will be published in OMICS International’s peer-reviewed Journal of Remote Sensing and GIS. She co-wrote the paper with her academic adviser Peter G. Oduor, associate professor and chair of geosciences, Michael Kangas, Forest Service team leader, and Larry Kotchman, North Dakota state forester.
The research was performed under the sub-award, “Identifying acreage changes in Shelterbelts and Riparian Forests within North Dakota: Ramifications of Basal Loss on Water Quality,” was part of U.S. Forest Service award #13-DG-11010000-004 and Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Cooperative Forestry Assistance award #10.664 in fiscal 2013.
According to Oduor, there has been a recent growing trend of depletion of riparian forests and trees, shelterbelts and increased cropping at vulnerable fringe spaces between riparian trees and water edges in North Dakota. He said that may lead to significant eutrophication, sediment loads and poor water quality.
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