There has been a recent push to conduct spatially explicit landscape planning at finer hydrologic unit scales to mitigate diffuse pollution. The Agricultural Conservation and Planning Framework (ACPF) helps identify potential locations for agricultural conservation practices by using high-resolution soils and elevation data. This spatially explicit approach attempts to identify runoff and nutrient pathways, but output may be influenced by user-specified parameters and the properties of the digital elevation model (DEM) being used. Here we assess differences in the density and location of conservation practices sited by the ACPF toolbox across three DEM resolutions in three agricultural catchments, each in distinct physiographies (Ridge and Valley, Piedmont, Coastal Plain) of the United States mid-Atlantic region. Output frequency did not vary much for contour buffer strips or water and sediment control basins (WASCOBs) across DEM resolution, particularly compared with landscape type. The DEM resolution was crucial for the density of grassed waterways but of little consequence for contour buffer strips. Placement density of WASCOBs and contour buffer strips varied by region. Grassed waterways are sited based on either discrete values or statistical distributions of stream power index (SPI). A higher density of grassed waterways was placed in lower relief landscapes when a single standard deviation threshold was applied. Using discrete SPI values for the grassed waterway tool generated more consistent output across watersheds than output based on statistical distributions. These and other reported findings can help guide user decisions in future applications of the ACPF toolbox, particularly across different areas of study.

中文翻译：

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影响大西洋中部地区农业保护规划框架 (ACPF) 工具箱中农业最佳管理实践的因素

最近一直在推动在更精细的水文单元尺度上进行空间明确的景观规划，以减轻扩散污染。农业保护和规划框架 (ACPF) 通过使用高分辨率土壤和高程数据帮助确定农业保护实践的潜在位置。这种空间明确的方法试图识别径流和养分途径，但输出可能会受到用户指定的参数和所使用的数字高程模型 (DEM) 的属性的影响。在这里，我们评估了 ACPF 工具箱在三个农业集水区的三个 DEM 决议中选择的保护实践的密度和位置差异，每个集水区都在美国大西洋中部地区的不同地貌（山脊和山谷、皮埃蒙特、沿海平原）。在整个 DEM 分辨率中，等高线缓冲带或水和沉积物控制盆地 (WASCOB) 的输出频率变化不大，尤其是与景观类型相比。DEM 分辨率对于草地水道的密度至关重要，但对等高线缓冲带影响不大。WASCOBs 和轮廓缓冲带的放置密度因地区而异。草地水道的选址基于离散值或河流功率指数 (SPI) 的统计分布。当应用单一标准偏差阈值时，较高密度的草地水道被放置在较低的地形景观中。与基于统计分布的输出相比，对草地水道工具使用离散 SPI 值可在流域之间生成更一致的输出。