Historical Loss of Whooping Crane Habitat on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
In October 1989, researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) initiated a project to investigate the historical loss of critical whooping crane (Grus americana) habitat on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Vegetation on the area was categorized into 11 habitat types and manually delineated on aerial photos of the area from 1930, 1957, 1986, and 1988. Habitat type maps for each year were digitized into a Geographic Information System (GIS) database that included soils, topography, and National Wetland Inventory data. Preliminary GIS analysis of habitat type...
