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    Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 5 (2011) 1624-1641

    Using Geospatial Information Systems in Analyzing

    Urbanization Impacts on Stream Habitats in Southern

    Mississippi Coastal Ecosystem

    E. Merem1, S. Yerramilli2, C. Richardson1, J. Wesley1, T. Walker3, D. Foster1, J. Williams1, C. Romarno1 and E.

    Nwagboso4

    1. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Jackson State University, J ackson, MS 39211, USA

    2. National Center for Biodefense Communications, J ackson State University, J ackson, MS 39204, USA

    3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, J ackson State University, J ackson, MS 39213, USA

    4. Department of Political Science, J ackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA

    Received: J une 7, 2011 / Accepted: July 18, 2011 / Published: December 20, 2011.

    Abstract:The proliferation of urban development with concentration in population and human-environment interaction has intensified

    around urban environments. This has resulted in the degradation of urban environments, overuse of natural resources and widespread

    pollution of ecosystems. The patterns of design initiatives continue to follow unsustainable path with impacts on stream ecosystems.

    Accordingly, the paper adopts geospatial information systems and sustainability principles for the identification and sequential

    mapping of stressors impeding natural systems in Southern Mississippi. The results not only reveal that the study area experienced

    some significant changes in its watershed environments, but the stream habitat ecosystem remains under stress. The recommendations

    for mitigating the problems range from policy considerations to the adoption of ecosystem approach.

    Key words: Geospatial information systems, urbanization, ecological design, ecosystem approach, environmental degradation.

    1. I ntroduction

    Increasing signs demonstrating clear threats to the

    sustainability of ecosystems supporting human

    societies gave rise to various theories of

    human-environment interactions upon which basic

    material conditions, such as population, development,

    urbanization and other elements all impact the

    environment [1]. Compounding these concerns, it isthe pace at which widespread proliferation of urban

    development with subsequent concentration of

    population and the human-environment interaction has

    intensified around stream environments in the last

    several years especially around the southern

    Corresponding author: E. Merem, Ph.D., associateprofessor, research fields: climate change, GIS, naturalresources management, environmental planning, land use,agriculture, remote sensing and watershed management. E-mail:[email protected].

    Mississippi Region coastal counties [2]. Considering

    the scale at which growing population and the

    competition for limited land resources impede natural

    resource bases and habitats in estuarine environments

    of the area. The public attention has now been drawn to

    the un-sustainability of land use practices in coastal

    counties where numerous stressors unleashed from

    urbanization continue to ravage sensitive stream

    habitats [3].

    Accordingly, the mounting pressure from population

    growth in urban areas which is occurring at an alarming

    proportion continues to put enormous strain on urban

    ecosystem and the surrounding stream habitat

    environments. This has resulted in the degradation of

    stream habitats in urban environments and over

    utilization of natural resources to meet the needs of

    built up areas. There is also widespread pollution

    DDAVID PUBLISHING

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    beyond the carrying capacity of the ecosystems. In the

    process, the patterns of urban design initiatives

    continue to follow unsustainable path leading to

    landscape transformations with grave impacts on

    stream ecosystems [4]. At the same time, various

    development activities have been adopted at the

    expense of environmental welfare of communities. The

    factors responsible for the problems are not far fetched.

    They range from socio-economic variables and policy

    elements. This is happening at a time when most stream

    ecosystems are impacted by urbanization processes due

    to the negation of environmental design principles

    based on sustainability and design patterns that are in

    sync with nature [5]. There are also concerns about thehazardous effects of such activities as agriculture,

    urban and industrial development on freshwater

    habitats in built up areas [6, 7].

    Some of the most pervasive effects embody the

    increase in impervious surface cover within urban

    catchments. Such increases not only alter the

    hydrology and geomorphology of streams but it leads

    to changes in the stream habitat corridors. Existing

    literature has shown how runoffs from urbanized

    surfaces drive the loading of nutrients, pesticides and

    contaminants into ecosystems with resultant decline in

    both fish and algae populations. The rising incidence of

    non point source chemical pollution also poses

    enormous danger to the estuarine and coastal

    environments such as those in the southern Mississippi

    region [8]. Typically, excess storm water run off

    wrecks major havoc in a large number of urban areas

    by causing water pollution, ground water recharge

    deficits, and ecological damage to urban streams [9].The proliferation of impervious surface allows for rain

    to get to a stream faster, creating higher pick flows that

    can lead to a stream alteration and habitat degradation.

    When impervious surface stops rainfall from

    permeating the soil, smaller amount of water is

    available for groundwater recharge and this in turn

    minimizes stream base flow.

    Depending upon the land use in the watershed or

    stream corridor, roadways and parking lots nutrients

    that move over the surface through major storms often

    drain into water ways creating elevated toxic loading of

    the stream. In some areas, sensitive wetlands and

    various species are endangered because streams are

    overstretched by artificial run off from impervious

    surfaces and built up areas from urbanization [10, 11].

    Similarly, in an earlier study of the little Miami River

    Basin, Susanna et al. [12] noted that urban

    development in the watershed had caused considerable

    change on run off and water quality. In the context of

    southern Mississippi, regional statistics and indicators

    for building and construction associated with these

    problems have grown exponentially over the years inaffected counties. It is evident that the run off from

    different types of urban land use carry different kinds

    of contaminants. For example, run off from agricultural

    land use in the southern Mississippi region are enriched

    with nutrients and sediments.

    Compounding the matter is the lack of geospatial

    information systems and eco-design approach in

    current measures. Convinced about the risks, the

    current patterns of development pose to the

    environment. The World Commission on Environment

    and Development stressed the need to factor ecological

    and economic variables during decision making [13].

    In the urban context, Edwin et al. [14] have noted that

    achieving ecosystem sustainability requires mitigation

    of some of these problems with the right tools. Clearly,

    ecosystem approach often represents the most

    appropriate type of model for analyzing human

    influences on ecological systems; it can play a central

    role in the design and analysis of alternativeagricultural, industrial and residential systems that

    could reduce the human footprint on the earth [15]. Just

    as the ecosystem approach is a method for sustaining

    ecological desired future conditions that integrates

    ecological, economic and social factors in development.

    It also recognizes the importance of integrating science

    and technology, the economy and societys demands in

    the management of resources such as urban stream

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    habitats. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for the

    adoption of ecological design approach based on the

    applications of geospatial information systems for the

    identification and sequential mapping of urban

    stressors impeding the viability of natural systems in

    the southern Mississippi region.

    In light of that, the assessment of ecosystem health

    of stream habitats using Geographic Information

    Systems (GIS) to detect change not only enhances our

    understanding of the scale of changes occurring in

    these systems, but it provides a framework for

    evaluating ecosystem decline and the mechanisms for

    restoration [16-19]. In the case of GIS, Gaurav [20]

    developed the eco-assessor based decision supportsystem for the lower part of the Yazoo river Basin in

    Mississippi to help planners and managers determine

    the best locations for the restoration of wetlands on

    defined ecological and geographic criteria and

    probability of success. In the study, potential

    restoration area assessment involved data over lays

    sorted by hydrology, water quality and habitat.

    Elsewhere Joan et al. [2] adopted GIS and remote

    sensing in estimating the rates of change along the

    Pascagoula River and its tributaries in the Southern

    Mississippi area. In considering how modifications

    generated by human activities influence the changes.

    The authors digitized the larger and mined tributaries

    of the system in a GIS using varied sources of data such

    as aerial photographs and other types of spatial

    information. In a related work, another researcher

    adopts remote sensing and geospatial applications in

    the delineation of the Upper Pearl River watershed in

    the State of Mississippi [21]. The idea behind the studyhinged on the benefits of accurate delineation of stream

    habitats (watersheds) using GIS in the management of

    the ecosystem [21]. Current remote sensing and

    geographic information systems technologies as the

    study noted promote rapid collection of field-data and

    prompt processing.

    Notwithstanding these capabilities, in the past years,

    widespread level of development triggered by human

    activities has been eroding the environment and

    support systems along major stream ecosystems in the

    study area. In fact, direct and indirect effects of human

    activities continue to ravage estuaries. In the case of

    Mississippi, with limited efforts to curb ecological

    decline facing major watersheds of the state, Southern

    Mississippi River watersheds most notably the

    Pascagoula and the Southern streams now have the

    appearance of a stressed ecosystem with cases of water

    pollution [22]. In the Gulf area of the state, developers

    who do not have their property zoned for business and

    economic development continually request changes to

    the land use plan. They prefer that general use district

    such as residential and recreational be rezoned to allowfor casino developments on sensitive coastal

    environments. Compounding the issue is the limited

    effort to evaluate the cumulative and secondary effects

    of these developments [23].

    With such pressures, river systems in the area have

    experienced cases of water impairment caused by fecal

    coliform, mercury, PCBs and other contaminants and

    nutrients from agricultural runoff and other types of

    land use. A case in point is Turkey Creek in the coastal

    streams running through the wetlands of the North

    Gulfport in the Bay of Biloxi. The Turkey creek area as

    the focus of growth in the past decades attracts

    developers seeking permits to dreg hundreds of acres of

    wetlands in the area. The pressures from large-scale

    development, however, has contributed to the

    impairment of water quality along the Turkey creek

    area of the Basin [24]. While the other indicators of

    change in the Pascagoula basin involve water-body

    declines and other variables, using spatial informationsystems in stream habitat management minimizes the

    time needed to obtain inputs on water quality models.

    This can increase the measurement precision of stream

    habitat and watershed conditions [25].

    The paper focuses on the issues, theory and practice

    of ecosystem design by using geospatial information

    technologies in the study of changes in urban

    streams/ecosystems in cities, with emphasis on

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    ecological and environmental design principles in

    alleviating these problems. Adopting such an approach

    can provide planners information about the casual

    effects of disturbances in ecosystems and help them

    contribute to a more effective urban management in

    terms of environmental protection and through the

    infusion of ecological design principles in practice. The

    paper has five objectives. The first objective is to

    update the literature on ecosystem restoration, while

    the second objective centers on the need to identify

    ecological change issues along costal urban

    environments. The third objective is to apply spatial

    information technology such as GIS in gauging the

    pressures of urbanization along stream habitats and thefourth aim is to design decision support tools for

    assisting decision makers and resource mangers in

    monitoring environmental change. The fifth objective

    is to identify appropriate strategies and the efforts for

    curbing the threats of ecological change caused by

    urbanization. In terms of organization, the paper

    contains five sections. The first part covers the

    introduction of the paper while section two on methods

    and materials highlights the background on the study

    area and the methodology. The third part presents the

    results and the analysis on environmental change and

    the factors fuelling change. Section four contains a

    brief discussion of the results and suggestions for

    remedying the problems. Section five presents the

    conclusions.

    2. Methods and Data

    2.1 Study Area

    The study area located in southern Mississippi along

    the coastal plain in the southern portion of the map in

    Fig. 1 encompasses 6 selected counties. The six

    counties under analysis that consists of Pearl River,

    George, Stone, Harrison, Hancock and Jackson have a

    combined population 437,408 in 2006 (Table 1). The

    study location stretches through major urban areas

    along the Gulf coast region of Pascagoula and

    Biloxi-Gulfport metro areas. As shown in the table, it

    contains major thriving urban areas prone to pollution

    and other environmental problems. The major river

    basin, the Pascagoula, is Mississippis second largest

    basin measuring approximately 164 miles long and 84

    miles wide draining an area of about 9,600 miles before

    emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. It is also the largest

    unimpeded major river system in the continental

    United States. The major streams include the

    Pascagoula, Leaf and Chicksawhay Rivers as well as

    the Black and Red Creeks [26, 27]. The total estimated

    land area of the watershed measures about 386,008

    acres with non-irrigated cropland and pastureland as

    the major land-uses. About 72% of the basin contains

    forested area and the other 21% classified asagricultural land.

    With the presence of generally well-drained and

    moderately drained soil types, the basin contains about

    542 farms and an average farm size of 94 acres. The

    size of Cropland stretches across an area estimated at

    22,100l acres while pastureland consists of 20,800 total

    acres [27].

    Fig. 1 The study area: southern Mississippi region.

    Jackson

    GeorgeStonePearl River

    Hancock

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    Table 1 The population and profile of southern Mississippi costal counties.

    County Population Area in square miles CMA

    Pearl River 57,099 811 Picayune

    George 21,828 478 Pascagoula

    Stone 15,608 445 Gulfport-Biloxi

    Harrison 171,875 580 Gulfport-Biloxi

    Hancock 40,421 476 Gulfport-Biloxi

    Jackson 130,577 726 Pascagoula

    Total 437,408 3,516 NA

    From an economic standpoint, timber use in the

    basin generates $325 million dollars to the economy.

    The Pascagoula basin accounts for 75% of oil and gas

    production in the state and there are about 250 surface

    mining operations in the area [28]. While agriculturaland timber activities declined in the region in recent

    years, other forms of land use have increased their

    impact on the ecosystem. Although in channel mining

    was quite rampant in the area until it was banned in

    1995. Floodplain sand and gravel mining remain

    active on the Bowie River side of the basin as well as

    in Thompson creek and Leaf River. At the same time,

    simultaneous development has been occurring in

    many parts of the basin, including the cities of

    Pascagoula, Moss Point, Meridian, Hattiesburg and

    Laurel [2, 28].

    Some of the threats in the area that require

    conservation efforts anchored in sustainability

    principles are the threats of sediments entering streams

    and rivers in the Pascagoula as well as the issue of

    in-stream sedimentation caused by scouring of bed and

    bank erosion. The scale of unsustainable silver culture

    practices and unparalleled road construction for

    development in the area creates sedimentationconcerns as well as interruption of hydrologic flow

    along the stream habitats. This has been compounded

    by gravel mining sedimentation and the alterations to

    hydrologic regimes threatening the migration and the

    spawning habitats of the Gulf Sturgeon, Pearl Darter

    and Alabama Shad [29]. The extent of these changes

    and the ecological impacts caused by development

    activities in the basin can be properly assessed using

    geospatial information systems.

    2.2 Methods

    This paper stresses a mix scale approach involving

    the use of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and

    geospatial technologies of Geographic Information

    Systems (GIS) in processing data provided through

    government sources and data bases from other

    organizations. The raw spatial data made up of maps

    and other kinds of digital information used in the

    research came from the United States Geological

    Surveys (USGS) data procurement unit, USDA and US

    EPA, the Government of Mississippi MARIS and

    United States Census and other organizations such as

    the University of Maryland On line data unit.

    2.3 Step 1: Data Acquisition

    The first step involves the identification of the

    variables needed to assess the environmental impacts

    of urbanization on stream habitats in urban areas at the

    regional level. The spatial units of analysis consisted of

    the counties located in the Gulf region (Table 2). The

    variables encompasses socio-economic and

    environmental data, including land cover elements (of

    the amount of farmland, fertilized areas, impaired

    water bodies), population, number of building permits

    and the monetary values of construction and sales from

    agriculture. This process continued with the design of

    data matrices covering the various periods from 1990s

    and 2000 and beyond. In addition, to the design stage,

    access to databases and abstracts that are presently

    available within the Federal and state archives in

    Mississippi and the United States Geological Surveys

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    Table 2 The results of descriptive statistics.

    Acres fertilized

    Counties 1992 1997 2002 % Change (1992-1997) % Change (1992-2002)

    Pearl River 32,262 28,907 14,234 -10.39 -50.75

    George 16,484 11,907 19,395 -27.76 62.88

    Stone 8,846 8,671 8,886 -1.978 2.47

    Harrison 3,530 4,514 4,323 27.87 -4.23

    Hancock 6,135 9,271 7,062 51.11 -23.82

    Jackson 3,511 11,882 8,779 238.42 -26.11

    Impaired water areas

    Counties 1998 2002 2004 % Change (1998-2002) % Change (2002-2004)

    Pearl River 2 1 0 -50 -100

    George 5 2 1 -60 -50

    Stone 1 1 1 0 0

    Harrison 2 0 0 -100

    Hancock 2 1 2 -50 100Jackson 5 1 1 -80 0

    Farm land

    Counties 1992 1997 2002 % Change (1992-1997) % Change (1992-2002)

    Pearl River 93,180 130,344 120,135 39.88 -7.83

    George 43,498 54,645 62,995 25.62 15.28

    Stone 32,666 50,862 57,257 55.7 12.57

    Harrison 16,665 25,761 25,248 54.58 -1.991

    Hancock 30,050 47,548 37,721 58.22 -20.66

    Jackson 24,845 43,390 42,890 74.64 -1.152

    Agro sales

    Counties 1992 1997 2002 % Change (1992-1997) % Change (1992-2002)

    Pearl River 9,961,000 9,397,000 11,721,000 -5.66 24.73

    George 6,897,000 9,540,000 13,050,000 38.32 36.79

    Stone 4,530,000 4,468,000 6,959,000 -1.36 55.75

    Harrison 1,951,000 2,803,000 3,336,000 43.66 19.01

    Hancock 2,139,000 2,366,000 2,529,000 10.61 6.88

    Jackson 4,902,000 5,210,000 6,391,000 6.28 22.66

    Population

    Counties 1998 2002 2004 % Change (1998-2002) % Change (2002-2004)

    Pearl River 46,939 50,381 51,719 7.33 2.65

    George 18,592 20,034 20,711 7.75 3.37

    Stone 13,223 14,108 14,458 6.69 2.48

    Harrison 186,249 189,996 192,129 2.01 1.12Hancock 40,885 44,607 45,821 9.1 2.72

    Jackson 128,412 132,895 134,935 3.49 1.53

    (USGS), United States National Aeronautical and

    Space Agency (NASA) and host of other entities

    quickened the search process. The spatial data was

    acquired from the USGS and the Mississippi

    Automated Resources Information System (MARIS)

    covering the southern Mississippi region of

    Pascagoula-Biloxi Gulfport area for the separate

    periods of 1992 through 2004.

    2.4 Step 2: Geo Spatial Data Acquisition and

    Processing

    For the study area of southern Mississippi region,

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    multi-temporal spatial data made up of shape files and

    maps were obtained for the study. The data that were

    assembled for southern Mississippi Gulf region urban

    counties of Stone, Pearl River, Harrison, Hancock,

    George, and Jackson along the Pascagoula river basin

    region include socio-economic and ecological data,

    shape files, paper and digital maps from 1992 to 2004.

    All the spatial and temporal data were processed using

    ARC-VIEW GIS and SPSS. The outputs which

    emerged consist of texts, tables and maps as well as

    matrices. The processed data displayed under different

    legends makes ecological and stream habitat variables

    like water appear as common colors of black and white

    while the other socio-economic variables weredistinguished in similar colors as well. Furthermore,

    the output was visually compared to see the changes

    across time and space along the tributaries of the

    southern Mississippi Gulf coast environment. The

    remaining procedure involves spatial analysis and

    output (maps-tables-text) covering the study period

    using ARCVIEW GIS. This process helped show the

    extent of temporal-spatial evolution of change induced

    by urbanization. It provided opportunities to undertake

    the sequential mappings of the stressors impacting the

    stream habitats in the south Mississippi Gulf region.

    The idea behind the process stems from the

    advantages of carrying out precise mapping of stream

    habitats using geospatial information systems in the

    region. Accordingly, the analysis of ecosystem health

    of stream habitats using Geographic Information

    Systems (GIS) to capture on going disturbances not

    only improves our knowledge of the scale of changes

    occurring in these systems, but it provides a frameworkfor evaluating ecosystem decline and the mechanisms

    for restoration.

    3. Results

    This part of the paper presents the results of

    descriptive statistics and temporal-spatial analysis of

    environmental change with GIS and correlation

    analysis on a set of indicators associated with stream

    disturbance already outlined in the methodology. It

    consists of the snapshot of ecological variables of

    fertilized areas, impaired water areas, farmland etc.,

    and socio-economic elements from population to

    agricultural sales in the region. This would be followed

    by a highlight of the factors responsible for change.

    3.1 Environmental Analysis: Fertilized Acreages of

    Agricultural Land

    In terms of the size of acreages of land treated with

    fertilizer, the counties of Pearl River and George

    appear to have exceeded the other areas in the use of

    fertilizer nutrients. The use of fertilizers in Pear River

    ranged from about 32,262 acres in 1992, 28,907 during1997 and 14,234 by 2002. Over the years (1992, 1997,

    and 2004) at George County, the size of agricultural

    land treated with fertilizer stood at 16,484, 11,907 and

    19,395 acres. Within the same periods at Stone county,

    fertilizer acreages consists of 8,846 in 1992, 8,671 in

    1997 and 8,886 in 2002. In 1992 about 3,530 acres

    were under the direct applications of fertilizer nutrients

    in Harrison county, in the following periods of 1997

    and 2002, the size of fertilized areas stayed somewhat

    identical at 4,514 in 2002 and 4,323 in 2002. For

    Hancock county, land treated with fertilizers was

    estimated at 6,135 acres in 1992, 9,271 by 1997 and

    7,062 during 2002. Between 1992, 1997 and 2002 in the

    Jackson county area, the numbers varied from 3,511 to

    11,832 and 8,779 acres respectively (Table 2).

    On the percentages of change, it is seen that the

    counties were evenly split in terms of declines and

    gains in 1992-1997. In fact, three counties (Harrison,

    Hancock and Jackson) made gains while three otherareas most notably Pearl River George and Stone saw

    their acreages of fertilized land decline. The

    breakdown of the figures show fertilized areas grew by

    27% at Harrison, 51% at Hancock and by 238% in

    Jackson county. With the exception of 62% gains in

    fertilized areas for George and 2.4% for Stone county,

    the other remaining four counties experienced sizable

    declines in the period of 1992 through 2002 (Table 2).

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    3.2 Impaired Water Areas

    On the other environmental variables, in 1998,

    impaired water areas appeared more in the south

    Mississippi urban areas with three counties of PearlRiver, Harrison, and Hancock each accounting for the 2

    major water areas under impairment. In the same

    period, George and Jackson counties led the rest of the

    region with 5 impaired water areas while Stone

    emerged as the county with the least impaired water

    surface. Among the counties, in 2002 and 2004, only

    the George county and Hancock areas experienced

    water surface impairment in 2 areas while the rest had

    either one case of reported impaired surface or none at

    all (Table 2).

    3.3 Farm Land

    The activities involving the use of agricultural shows

    Pearl River county had 93,180 acres of farm land in

    1992. In the following periods, the size of farmland at

    the county reached 130,344 in 1997 and 120,135 in

    2002. Within these periods, George county which

    opened the 1992 period with 43,498 acres saw its

    agricultural land areas jump to 54,645 acres in 1997and 62,995 in 2002. At Stone county, the size of

    farmland rose from an initial value of 32,666 in 1992 to

    50,862 in 1997 and 57,257 by 2002. In the same period,

    Harrison county used nearly 16,665 acres for farming

    in 1992, by the subsequent years of 1997 and 2002,

    farmland area in the county exceeded the 25,000 acres

    mark. Similarly, Hancock contained 30,050 in 1992

    and it grew further to 47,548 in 1997 and 37,721 in

    2002 while Jackson county which started with 24,845

    acres in 1992 experienced increases of 43,390 and

    42,890 acres in 1997 and 2002 respectively (Table 2).

    With the intense use of agricultural land in the study

    area, most of the counties posted double digit gains in

    percentages of change. To a great extent, three counties

    made up of Stone, Harrison and Hancock had

    parentages of change totaling over 53% between

    1992-1997 while the rates of change for Pearl River

    county and George stood at 39.8% and 25%

    respectively. The county of Jackson finished ahead of

    the rest with the highest gain of 74% from 1992-1997.

    In 1992-2002, the rates of change in terms of decline

    were evident in the counties of Pearl River at -7.8%,

    Harrison with -1.9%, Hancock at -20%, while the rate

    for Jackson county stood at -1.1%. During that period,

    the two counties that experienced gains comprised

    of George at a rate of 15% and Stone with 12.5%

    (Table 2).

    3.4 The Correlation Analysis

    To buttress linkages to behavior of some of the

    variables herein analyzed in contributing to stream

    habitat pollution, the simple correlation analysisperformed on the 5 variables shows a positive relation

    between impaired waters and fertilized acres (Table 3).

    With the increase in fertilized acres, there came a rise

    in the number of impaired waters as well. Of all the

    counties under analysis, Jackson and George emerged

    as the most polluted counties with maximum number of

    impaired waters in 1998. This can be attributed to

    increases in the fertilized acres variable as both

    counties experienced a drastic rise in the acres of farm

    land treated with fertilizers resulting in nutrient flow

    into the adjacent waters and stream habitats.

    3.5 Spatial Analysis

    On the spatial aspects of the factors threatening

    stream habitats, fertilizer use across space as the maps

    in Figs. 2(a)-2(c) show seemed quite pronounced in the

    periods of 1992, 1997 and 2002 in some counties. Note

    that the northern portion of the study area map

    highlighting Pearl River county had fertilized areasexceeding 20000 acres. Fertilizer use not only reached

    high levels, but the northern part appeared as the area

    with more fertilized areas in the 1992 and 1997, 2002

    fiscal years (Figs. 2(a)-2(c)). On the number of

    impaired waters over the years, two counties (George

    and Jackson) both accounted for maximum levels of 3

    and 5 cases of impairment in 1998 than the other

    counties in the study area (Fig. 3(a)). While most

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    counties each had 1 and 2 cases of impairment in 2002

    and 2004, note that the situation in Harrison showed no

    cases of impairment in the same periods. The same

    thing can be said of Pearl River county where number

    of impaired watersheds gradually disappeared in 2004

    (Figs. 3(b)-3(c)).

    Turning to impaired watersheds from nutrient flow

    in the coastal counties, there was a high concentration

    of impaired water areas in the 1998 period with much

    of it located at George and Jackson, Harrison, Hancock

    and Pearl River (Fig. 4(a)). A closer look on the maps

    during the year 2002 and 2004 indicates a slight

    recurrence of impairment in minute clusters within the

    three counties notably Hancock, George and Jackson(Figs. 4(b)-4(c)). In terms of toxic release inventory

    sites, there seems to be a high dispersion of toxic

    release sites with much of it situated along the lower

    part of the study area in 1998. Of all the counties,

    Jackson, Harrison and Pearl River known for their

    proximity to sensitive watersheds had more toxic

    release facilities at the period (Fig. 5). On geographic

    diffusion of farming operations, the northern counties

    of Pearl River, Stone and George had intense

    agricultural activities measured around 30,001 to

    50,000 acres in 1992 and over 50,000 acres in the 1997

    through 2002 period (Figs. 6(a)-6(c)).

    Part of the economic engine fueling ecological

    change in the region is evidenced by high growth in the

    sales of agricultural products. From the map,

    agriculture sales of more than $70000001 occurred

    more along the Pearl River and George counties most

    of the years while Jackson county also had sizable sales

    between 1997 and 2002 (Figs. 7(a)-7(c)). The spatial

    distribution of the population shows that in spite of

    demographic changes within all counties, the southern

    portion of the study area representing the counties of

    Jackson and Harrison had more population of and

    greater than 100,000 in the periods of 1998, 2002 and

    2004. Both areas maintained a steady rise most of the

    time (Figs. 8(a)-8(c)).

    3.6 Socio-Economic Factors Responsible for Stream

    Habitat Disturbance

    The extent and nature of environmental change

    leading to stream habitat degradation in the study area

    did not occur in a vacuum. Several socio-economic

    elements that played a role in the process are

    highlighted in this section of the paper.

    3.6.1 Demography and Urban Growth

    The study area boosts of some of the most

    urbanizing areas including the city of Pascagoula. The

    area has been experiencing one of the most extensive

    Table 3 Summary of correlation analysis.

    Variables and residuals Population Farmland Fertilized acres Agro sales Impaired waters

    Population

    Pearson correlation 1 -0.425 -0.438 -0.436 -0.159

    Sig. (2-tailed) 0.079 0.069 0.071 0.53

    N 18 18 18 18 18

    Farmland

    Pearson correlation -0.425 1 0.805** 0.752** -0.243

    Sig. (2-tailed) 0.079 0 0 0.332

    N 18 18 18 18 18

    Fertilized acres

    Pearson correlation -0.438 0.805** 1 0.725** 0.01

    Sig. (2-tailed) 0.069 0 0.001 0.97

    N 18 18 18 18 18

    Agro sales

    Pearson correlation -0.436 0.752** 0.725** 1 -0.055

    Sig. (2-tailed) 0.071 0 0.001 0.828

    N 18 18 18 18 18

    Impaired waters

    Pearson correlation -0.159 -0.243 0.01 -0.055 1

    Sig. (2-tailed) 0.53 0.332 0.97 0.828

    N 18 18 18 18 18

    ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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    (a)

    (b)

    (c)Fig. 2 Number of acres fertilized in (a) 1992; (b) 1997; (c)

    2002.

    (a)

    (b)

    (c)Fig. 3 The number of impaired watersheds in (a) 1998; (b)

    2002; (c) 2004.

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    (a)

    (b)

    (c)Fig. 4 Impaired watersheds due to nutrient flow in (a)

    1998; (b) 2002; (c) 2004.

    Fig. 5 Spatial location of TRI sites in 1994.

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    (a)

    (b)

    (c)Fig. 6 The farmland (in acres) in (a) 1992; (b) 1997; (c)

    2002.

    (a)

    (b)

    (c)Fig. 7 Total sales from agricultural products in (a) 1992;

    (b) 1997; (c) 2002.

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    (a)

    (b)

    (c)

    Fig. 8 Population statistics in (a) 1998; (b) 2002; (c) 2004.

    forms of urbanization brought about by rapid pace of

    economic development, proliferation of oil and gas

    activities and casino development. The request for

    residential and commercial housing permits as shown

    in Table 4 was significant in most of the counties. The

    role of residential and construction costs is quite

    evident in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

    Table 4 Building indicators.

    Hancock county

    Year Building permits Construction cost $

    1996 55 5,136,900

    1997 87 7,850,588

    1998 49 5,429,671

    1999 55 5,827,324

    2000 477 42,218,862

    2001 406 39,965,735

    2002 384 45,009,570

    2003 165 16,704,607

    2004 529 66,178,274

    2005 285 40,425,890

    2006 1,273 116,434,221

    Harrison county

    Year Building permits Construction cost $

    1996 1,022 91,597,071

    1997 929 81,702,928

    1998 1,119 149,077,587

    1999 1,272 145,379,142

    2000 1,213 178,633,457

    2001 1,010 130,432,922

    2002 1,131 147,617,400

    2003 1,272 234,714,431

    2004 1,364 208,155,303

    2005 877 141,498,912

    2006 2,223 303,724,452

    Jackson county

    Year Building permits Construction cost $

    1996 650 66,208,7491997 592 28,399,190

    1998 721 46,096,814

    1999 1,092 84,787,166

    2000 767 52,999,124

    2001 746 52,651,164

    2002 632 43,858,793

    2003 896 94,545,439

    2004 922 76,096,307

    2005 846 78,954,203

    2006 1,197 224,140,661

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    Looking at those counties between 1996 through 2006,

    it is evident that Harrison County had more building

    permits with construction costs estimated at tens and

    hundreds of million dollars.

    The percentage of changes for population from

    1998-2002 as Table 2 shows indicate that the Pearl

    River and George counties both had growth rates of a

    little over 7% estimated at 7.3 and 7.7% while the

    population grew at 6.6 % at Stone county in the same

    period. Among the remaining counties, Harrison

    posted a percentage of change of 2%, Hancocks

    population rose by 9.1% while Jackson experienced a

    population increase of 3.4%. The growth rates for 2002

    to 2004 stayed at under 3% among the counties withtwo counties (Harrison and Jackson) having population

    growth rates of 1%. Another three counties (Pearl

    River, Stone, and Hancock) experienced growth rates

    estimated at slightly over 2% points while George

    county posted the highest gains of 3.3% (Table 2).

    These increases created high population concentration

    along the coasts adjacent to the basin at the expense of

    watershed ecosystem protection.

    3.6.2 Economic Development and Agricultural

    Activities

    The economic activities in the basin embody those

    types that can impede the natural process of the

    watershed ecosystem. With a timber sector that

    generates over $300 million dollars in revenues and the

    presence of 75% of fossil fuel production, numerous

    drilling and mining activities are bound to live indelible

    ecological footprints in the form of severe disturbances

    on stream habitats all these years. The severity in

    channel and floodplain sand and gravel mining alongthe tributaries has raised concerns about the

    externalities unleashed from economic development.

    High level concentration of pollutants most notably

    PCBs, mercury, fecal coliform emanating from

    industrial and domestic sources have been reported in

    the river systems of the watershed.

    Other elements of urban change likely to impact the

    quality of habitats in the area can be evidenced from

    the pace of agricultural sales in the region. From the

    Table 2 Pearl River made sales worth about $9,961,000

    in 1992, $9,397,000 in 1997 and $11,721,000 in 2002.

    George county followed in the same periods with

    $6,897,000 in 1992, $954,000 in 1997 and $13,050,000

    in 2002. At Stone county, the amount of tradable goods

    from agriculture were 4,530,000 in 1992, 4,468,000 in

    1997 and 6,959,000 in 2002. In the other counties, the

    Harrison area farm sales stood at $1,951,000,

    $2,803,000 and $3,336,000 in 1992, 1997 and 2002

    respectively while Hancock made sales estimated at

    $2,139,000, 2,366,000 and $2,529,000. The medium

    level sales reported in the area include $4,902,000,

    $5,211,000 and $6,391,000. The percentages of changein farm sales show very significant gains in 1992-1997

    and 1992-2002 most of the time (Table 2). The

    externalities from agriculture in the form of nutrient

    flow into watersheds threaten the quality of

    biodiversity habitats.

    4. Discussion

    The results not only reveal that the study area

    experienced some changes across time and space but

    the estuarine environments and stream habitats are

    threatened by urbanization elements. In light of that,

    the regions adjoining natural areas remain an

    ecosystem under stress. Overall, the result of the data

    analysis point to signs of growing incidence of

    pollution involving extensive fertilizer use and the

    impairment of water bodies. The presence of toxic

    facilities in the region exposes the regions natural

    systems to a great danger. The increases in human

    settlement indicators as indicated by population growthand the requests for building permits and the level of

    agricultural intensification needed to feed urban

    populace led to loss of arable farmland around the

    surrounding ecology.

    Increased agricultural land use activity known to

    precipitate large use of agrochemicals and other type of

    nutrients as the analysis showed grew to a great extent

    at very significant rates especially in Pearl River, Stone,

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    George and Jackson counties. In the process, many of

    the study area stream corridors or habitats in the urban

    counties were greatly impaired. Under this setting,

    indicators like agricultural activities likely to spur

    pollution through fertilizer use as well as toxic

    inventory release sites were quite visible in the counties.

    Although several counties experienced double digit

    gains in the use of agricultural land, the downside is

    that under current practices, those gains often resulted

    into more use of fertilizers to boost agricultural

    productivity. This creates further impairment of stream

    corridors already over stretched with heavy load of

    nutrients and other contaminants beyond their carrying

    capacity.The loss of farmland to other land uses most notably

    urbanization still does not bode well for sustainability

    and ecological design approach and the environmental

    welfare or the carrying capacity of the sensitive stream

    habitats in the Mississippi Gulf region. The loss of

    farmland in such costal areas experiencing conversion

    of adjoining wetlands to urbanization seemed to have

    aided building construction. This leads to more

    impervious surfaces through which the flow of

    pollutants and toxic chemicals from roadways empty

    directly into sensitive estuarine habitats. Thus, gains

    and losses in agricultural land in the study area

    symbolizes a double edged sword for stream habitat

    planning since the emergent land use activities from

    these changes facilitates pollution of open streams in

    the region.

    With population exceeding over 100,000 in the

    Jackson and Hancock areas, it is evident that some of

    the counties along the coast have very highconcentration of human populations likely to exert

    pressure on the environment and the sensitive natural

    habitats in the ecosystem. In an area sprawling with

    growth, there are bound to be requests for new

    development projects in the form of new housing and

    road designs likely to create more impervious surfaces

    at the expense of stream habitat health. At the same

    time, socio-economic indicators of agricultural sales,

    building permits and construction costs as a measure of

    the intensity of land activities and transactions seemed

    quite pronounced. Large volume of investments

    resulting from high agriculture sales and boom in

    construction can put some added stress on the sensitive

    watersheds as run off from agriculture and construction

    sites empty into watersheds already stressed beyond

    their carrying capacities. All these point to the role of

    socio-economic and human factors fueled by

    urbanization in precipitating stream habitat

    impediment in an ecosystem. This seemed to reflect the

    ecosystem approach that often represents the most

    appropriate level of organization for analyzing human

    influences on ecological systems. It can play a centralrole in the design and analysis of alternatives and future

    lines of action. To buttress the linkages among some of

    the variables in fuelling change, a correlation analysis

    confirmed a direct relationship between impaired water

    surfaces and fertilizer use in the region.

    The environmental change analysis using geospatial

    information tool of GIS in the area identified a cluster

    of counties where land use activities involving

    agricultural farming and the widespread applications of

    fertilizers threatening urban environments and stream

    habitat ecosystem remained very active. From the

    spatial and temporal analysis, the regions stream

    corridors appear threatened by the gradual pace in the

    impairment of water bodies in certain areas and toxic

    site inventories. In fact, the proliferation of toxic

    inventory sites seem fully concentrated along the

    watersheds and the tributaries of rivers along the urban

    environments due to intense development and human

    activities.In light of this finding, the practical use of a mix

    scale approach involving GIS in tracking the extent to

    which urbanization had impacted and contributed to

    stream habitat change in coastal environments of

    southern Mississippi region stands as an update to the

    current literature on ecosystem restoration. With the

    meager efforts in the past to assess the impacts of

    urbanization along the Southern Mississippi River

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    stream habitat ecosystem, geospatial technology of

    GIS as demonstrated in this project has been quite

    effective in ensuring the mapping of change related

    information on the watershed with a spatial reference.

    As an effective tool for resource management,

    integrated data analysis using GIS facilitated the

    analysis of the spatial distribution of stream habitat

    change involving land use and hydrology and the

    demographic issues facing the south Mississippi river

    basin environment. Such spatial information

    technology is desirable for policy makers in the

    Mississippi area as they deal with the emerging

    problems threatening the environment along the

    regions stream habitats.To deal with the concerns raised in this research, this

    section of the paper provides four suggestions

    anchored in ecosystem approach and the principles of

    sustainability. The recommendations for mitigating

    the problems range from policy considerations,

    coastal zone planning, and the design of spatial

    information systems and the adoption of ecosystem

    approach.

    4.1 Adopt Effective Policy

    The land use regulations and zoning laws

    operational in the state have several lapses that threaten

    the environmental welfare of citizens and other life

    forms along the basins. Just as land developers in the

    area constantly gain approvals for switching general

    development plans to commercial types with little

    recourse to cumulative impacts on the ecosystem. So

    are the growing vulnerability of quality of streams,

    lakes and the ecosystem health to the impairment andthreats created by mining activities, silver culture and

    industrial development. Because current policies have

    done little to mitigate the inherent ecological problems

    on the estuarine environments, the paper suggests the

    adoption of effective policy instruments to ensure

    enforcement and a better framework for protecting the

    environment. This will go along in straightening the

    mitigation measures necessary in containing the

    current pressures mounted on the stream corridors by

    urbanization in the study area.

    4.2 Encourage Urban Costal Zone Planning

    Part of the mandate of planning is to promote the

    quality of life and the environment in coastal areas by

    involving multi-stakeholders including the decision

    makers and those whose livelihoods are impacted by

    development in the planning process through a set of

    goals. Considering the scale of pressures unleashed on

    the natural ecosystem by the built environment through

    urbanization in study area, the paper suggests the need

    for coastal zone planning in the region built on the

    conservation of natural areas especially streamcorridors. Sensitive natural areas and habitats for

    biodiversity, endangered plants and animals along the

    Pascagoula watershed should be zoned as protected

    areas. This should be enforced with strict controls

    on future development activities along the shores of

    the watershed so that erosion and sedimentation

    problems experienced in the area can be

    minimized.

    4.3 Promote Periodic Monitoring and Design ofSpatial Information System

    The state of ecological health of the basin calls for

    regular monitoring, observation and assessment of land,

    sea, atmosphere, and open space in order to create a

    data collection network to track earths changing

    systems using spatial information. This approach

    would not only aid decision makers to understand how

    stream habitats and natural systems of the Gulf region

    work, but it provides opportunities for counties topartner together through yearly assessments of their

    conditions. It will also enable managers assess and

    predict change and interactions within natural systems

    such as watershed. This could be attained by providing

    future information for managing coastal resources in

    order to optimize their benefits to the environment,

    economy and society in line with ecosystem principles

    and sustainability.

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    4.4 Support Ecosystem/Watershed Approach

    The ecology of aquatic life shares close linkages

    with the conditions of a watersheds terrestrial

    ecosystems. Yet society does not fully understand howstresses from human activities, such as land

    development, pollutant releases, deforestation, river

    channelization and agriculture affect these common

    linkages in the basin. Under this setting, the Pascagoula

    Watersheds as the basic units of land and surface water

    in the Southern Mississippi area merit continuous

    protection. This approach supports research that cuts

    across all disciplines with potentials for applying the

    principles of watershed restoration for the common

    good of communities at risk. The emphasis should be

    on the integration of ecological-socio-economic

    studies by taking into account the human factors

    associated with watershed stress under the aegis of

    ecosystem design approach.

    5. Conclusions

    From the onset of the paper, the literature rightfully

    identified the threats urbanization poses to stream

    habitats. Using geospatial technology of GIS, the papershows that human-environment interaction results in

    degradation of stream habitat corridors. The

    assessment of urbanization impacts on stream corridors

    using GIS not only enhances our understanding of the

    scale of changes occurring in these systems, but it

    provides a framework for evaluating ecosystem decline

    and the mechanisms for restoration. Nonetheless, in the

    past years, widespread level of urban development

    triggered by anthropogenic activities has been eroding

    the environment and support systems along the

    southern Mississippi study area. The results not only

    reveal that the study area experienced some significant

    changes in its watershed environments, but the stream

    habitat in the area remains an ecosystem under stress.

    Overall, the results point to threats to water quality,

    growing incidence of pollution, impairment of water

    bodies, and increase in human settlement, and

    agricultural intensification. Ecological indicators and

    stressors made up of fertilizer applications, number of

    impaired watersheds, the use of farmlands and

    pollution inventory sites were on the rise especially in

    areas adjacent to urban watersheds. Other aspects of

    the results show that socio-economic factors of

    population, income from agricultural sales and

    building permits grew in some of the areas. The

    pressures unleashed from these variables as the

    analysis indicates accentuated the strain on the regions

    ecosystem.

    The environmental change analysis in the area using

    GIS identified a cluster of several land cover types in

    the form of agricultural areas under use, size of land

    under fertilizer use, impaired water areas and diffusionof socio-economic indicators (stress sources) in space

    in affected areas. Accordingly, the application of GIS

    as demonstrated in this paper has been quite effective

    in ensuring the sequential mapping of stress factors

    along the southern Mississippi region. Being a valuable

    device for resource management, integrated data

    analysis through GIS quickened the assessment of

    geographic diffusion of urbanization impacts on stream

    habitats and change involving land use anddemographic elements of urbanization threatening

    stream habitats. As part of the remedies, the paper

    offered four recommendations built on ecosystem

    approach and sustainability principles. The suggested

    actions for restoration offered here ranging from

    effective policy to ecosystem approach would go a long

    way in ensuring a speedy mitigation of the problems.

    Finally, geospatial information technology as used in

    this project would continue its emergence as a valuable

    device for policy makers in the state as they confront

    stressors threatening the environment along the

    southern Mississippi coastal region in the years ahead.

    Adopting such an approach can provide planners

    information about the casual effects of disturbances in

    ecosystems. This would help them contribute to a more

    effective urban management in terms of environmental

    protection and the infusion of ecological design

    principles in practice.

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