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 Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
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ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory Research





- McCarty, Gregory
- Water Availability and Watershed Management (211)
- Sustainable Agricultural Systems Research (216)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory** Project Number: 8042-13610-030-061-I
                        
                        Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement Start Date: Sep 19, 2022
                        
                        End Date: Sep 30, 2027 **Objective:**
                        
                        Objective 1: Develop and evaluate the SWAT C modeling components using Choptank Watershed data.

Objective 2: Continue evaluation of in situ nutrient sensors for monitoring water quality in the Choptank Watershed.

Objective 3: Examine the fate of chiral MESA within the Tuckahoe and Greensboro sub-watersheds and nested smaller sub-watersheds and collaborate with USGS on chiral MESA measurements using NWQA samples.

Objective 4: Assessment of ecosystem service provision by NRCS/FSA conservation practices in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed using the InVEST model. **Approach:**
                        
                        Problems to be addressed include:
A) Understanding Chemical, Physical, and Biological Processes that Affect Implementation of Conservation Practices - Proposed Research:
•Plot & field studies that advance understanding of processes that determine the effectiveness of conservation practices for minimizing environmental contaminants to surface & subsurface waters.
•Determine how conservation practices influence soil properties & health, crop water use, crop yield, surface transport, & water cycling in the landscape, & how conservation practices are affected by changing climatic variables.
•Combine soil & biological measurements with management data to understand the effects of management & above ground biomass on ecology.
•Study soil crust formation & the measurement of crust shear strength & investigate the role conservation management on soil aggregate distribution & stability.
•Assess the long-term effects of large applications of dairy manure & other amendments on soil properties & crop yields, & the effects of periodic deep tillage under no-till management to alleviate nutrient stratification.
B) Assess & Implement Conservation Practices in Agricultural Landscapes – Proposed Research:
•Assess gully erosion using remote sensing & geospatial technologies at multiple scales.
•Characterize provision of ecosystem services in natural & restored wetlands & riparian buffer management.
•Evaluate the effects of edge-of-field practices on adjacent aquatic ecosystems.
•Assess the resilience of conservation practices to function under changing conditions & extreme weather events.
•Assess the efficacy of conservation practices at multiple scales to reduce soil erosion & improve water quality.
•Utilize remote sensing & geospatial technologies to evaluate the positioning of conservation practices within watersheds.
•Evaluate the role of precision agriculture in improving agricultural productivity & reducing negative environmental effects.
•Evaluate effects of tillage, cover crops, & other in-field conservation practices on water loss, use, & mitigation of sediment & other contaminant losses.

C) Forecast the Impacts of Conservation Practices Within Changing Environments – Proposed Research:
•Synthesize past research results related to impacts of conservation practices with qualitative literature reviews, systematic literature reviews, & meta-analyses.
•Maintain long term monitoring databases (STEWARDS, LTAR) & incorporate or link relevant & available information from historical watershed databases with current databases.
•Develop new watershed models & refine existing watershed models, such as SWAT, AnnAGNPS, & RUSLE, to predict the impacts of conservation practices & anticipated future changes in climatic, land use & socio-economic environments.
•Conduct novel statistical modeling assessments (i.e., artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural networks, multi-model averaging, etc.) of the impacts of conservation practices & changing environmental conditions (climatic, habitat, land use, socio-economic, ecological, spatiotemporal scale, etc.) on ecological responses & ecosystem services in agricultural and mixed-use watersheds.


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