Table 1
Selected attributes, datasets, calculations and sources
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| ID | Attribute | Datasets | Calculations | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Percent forested land by watershed (F) |
Canada 250m Land Cover Time Series 2000-2011 |
Total area of forest classes was calculated by watershed using these four NRCan CCRS classes: 'needleleaf_temperate,' 'needleleaf_taiga,' 'broadleaf,' and 'mixed_forest'. |
Natural Resources Canada, 2012, Canada 250m Land
Cover Time Series 2000-2011, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS). |
| 2 | Percent agricultural land by watershed (A) |
Canada 250m Land Cover Time Series 2000-2011 |
Total area was calculated by watershed using the NRCan CCRS 'cropland' land cover class. |
Natural Resources Canada, 2012, Canada 250m Land
Cover Time Series 2000-2011, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. |
| 3 | Weighted percent riparian forest cover (R) |
Canada 250m Land Cover Time Series 2000-2011; Waterbody Edge Density |
Calculated as the ratio between the total area of forest classes within a 250 m buffer along water bodies in a watershed and the total edge of waterbodies. |
Natural Resources Canada, 2012, Canada 250m Land
Cover Time Series 2000-2011, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Natural Resources Canada, 2007, National Hydro Network, Canada, Earth Sciences Sector, Mapping Information Branch, Centre for Topographic Information, http://geobase.ca/geobase/en /data/nhn/index.html (accessed March 1, 2013). |
| 4 | Percent wetlands (W) |
CanVec | Estimated as the total wetlands area summed by watershed. |
Natural Resources Canada, 2013, CanVec, Earth Sciences Sector, Mapping Information Branch, Centre for Topographic Information, www.geogratis.gc.ca (accessed September 12, 2013). |
| 5 | Percent total anthropogenic disturbance (TD) |
EC Boreal disturbance dataset 2010 |
Estimated as the total area disturbed by polygonal (Cutblock; Mine; Reservoir; Settlement; Well site; Agriculture; Oil and Gas; Unknown) and buffered linear (road; powerline; railway; seismic line; pipeline; dam; airstrip; unknown) anthropogenic features. This attribute could only be estimated for 2010 due to data availability. |
Pasher, J., E. Seed, and J. Duffe, 2013, "Development of boreal ecosystem anthropogenic disturbance layers for Canada based on 2008 to 2010 Landsat imagery," Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 39, no. 1, pages 42 to 58. |
| 6 | Weighted percent burn area (B) |
Canadian National Fire Database; Homogeneous Fire Regimes |
Estimated by associating each watershed with the Homogeneous Fire Regime zones (HFR) in which the largest proportion of the watershed was located. For example, if 30%, 60%, and 30% of a watershed was located in HFR 1, 24, 21 respectively, then HFR 24 was the de facto HFR for that watershed. For each HFR zone, natural range of variability in decadal burn e xtent was assessed using data from 1940 to 2010. The post-fire regeneration time for vegetation to resume its hydrologic functions was set at 10 years. For example, total area burn forthe year 2000 was estimated by including fires reported between 1990 to 1999 inclusively. 1 |
Natural Resources Canada, 2010,
Canadian National Fire Database, Agency Fire Data , Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en_CA/nfdb/poly (accessed September 12, 2013). Boulanger. Y., S. Gauthier, P.J. Burton, and M.-A. Vaillancourt, 2012, "An alternative fire regime zonation for Canada," International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol. 21, no. 8, pages 1052 to 1064. |
| 7 | Edge density (ED) |
EC Boreal disturbance dataset 2010 |
Estimated as the total edge from linear features (road, powerline, railway, seismic line, pipeline, dam, airstrip, unknown) divided by total watershed area. This attribute could only be estimated for 2010 due to data availability. |
Pasher, J., E. Seed, and J. Duffe, 2013, "Development of boreal ecosystem anthropogenic disturbance layers for Canada based on 2008 to 2010 Landsat imagery," Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 39, no. 1, pages 42 to 58. |
| 8 | Linear Density (LD) |
Roads; Powerlines; Pipelines; Railways |
Estimated as the total edge from linear features (power corridors, roads, railways). However, the attribute was estimated for 2001 and 2010 to allow change analysis. |
Statistics Canada, 2002, Road Network File, 2001,
Catalogue no. 92F0157X. Statistics Canada, 2006, Road Network File, 2006, Catalogue no. 92-500-X. Natural Resources Canada, 2013, CanVec, Earth Sciences Sector, Mapping Information Branch, Centre for Topographic Information, www.geogratis.gc.ca (accessed September 12, 2013). Natural Resources Canada, 2012, National Railway Network (NRWN), www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/data/nrwn/description.html (accessed February 1, 2013). |
| 9 | Human Footprint (HF) |
Roads; Powerlines; Pipelines; Railways; Settlements; Agriculture |
Estimated as the total area disturbed by settlements and linear anthropogenic features (power corridors, roads, railways) within a 1 km buffer. |
Statistics Canada, 2002, Road Network File, 2001,
Catalogue no. 92F0157X. Statistics Canada, 2006, Road Network File, 2006, Catalogue no. 92-500-X. Natural Resources Canada, 2013, CanVec, Earth Sciences Sector, Mapping Information Branch, Centre for Topographic Information, www.geogratis.gc.ca (accessed September 12, 2013). Natural Resources Canada, 2012, National Railway Network (NRWN), www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/data/nrwn/description.html (accessed February 2013). Statistics Canada, 2002, Population Ecumene Census Division Boundary File (Geography Products: Spatial Information Products, 2001 Census), Catalogue no. 92F0159X . Statistics Canada, 2007, Population Ecumene Census Division Cartographic Boundary File, Census year 2006 , Catalogue no. 92-159-X. Natural Resources Canada, 2012, Canada 250m Land Cover Time Series 2000-2011, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. |
| 10 | Slope (S) |
Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED, 1:50,000) |
Derived from a digital elevation model (1:250,000) using the bilinear interpolation method of re-sampling and averaged over the watershed. |
Natural Resources Canada, 2000, Canadian Digital
Elevation Data, Earth Sciences Sector, Centre for Topographic Information, www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/data/cded/index.html (accessed September 12, 2013). |
| 11 | N and S exceedance level (NS) |
Aurams model from EC (data for 2000) |
Assigned for regions where current atmospheric deposition of N and S is greater than the critical loads ('exceeded'). Critical loads are defined as "a quantitative estimate of an exposure to one or more pollutants below which significant harmful effects on specified sensitive elements of the environment do not occur according to present knowledge." 2 |
Environment Canada, 2013, Critical load exceedance data. |
Boulanger, Y., S. Gauthier, P.J. Burton and
M.-A. Vaillancourt, 2012, "An alternative fire regime zonation for Canada,"
International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol. 21, no. 8, pages 1052 to 1064.
Nilsson, J. and P. Grennfelt (eds.), 1988,
Critical Loads for Sulphur and Nitrogen, Miljörapport1988:15, Nordic
Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.
Source(s):
Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada, 2013.
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