Southeast Wetlands: Status and Trends, Mid Nineteen Seventy to Mid Nineteen Eightys

摘要

The U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service prepares reports on the status and trends of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the conterminous United States on a 10-year cycle, in accordance with the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 3931(a)). Changes were determined to be either natural or human-induced. The wetland acreage estimate for the mid-1980's was subtracted from the estimate for the mid-1970's and divided by the nine-year study period for an estimate of average annual net loss. The most recent report in the series (Dahl and Johnson 1991) evaluated wetland trends for the period from the mid-1970's to mid-1980's. The national study design was such that region-specific--and in some cases state-specific--information also could be developed. The present report analyzes data collected for the 10-state Southeast Region of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The design of this regional study consisted of a stratified random sample of 2,204 plots drawn from the national sample of 3,629 plots. Aerial photography from the mid-1970's and mid 1980's (mean dates 1974 and 1983) for each of the plots was analyzed to detect changes in wetlands and deepwater habitat acreage.