The recovery of the lower montane cloud forest in the Mucujún watershed, Mérida, Venezuela

High deforestation rates in tropical countries continue to reduce forest cover and thereby habitat quantity and quality. However, in some places the forest is recovering and expanding thus offsetting the biodiversity and ecosystem service losses. In order to characterize the forest recovery, land use and land cover (LUC) changes were analyzed using aerial photographs, taken between 1952 and 2009, of a peri-urban watershed in the Andes region of Venezuela. The qualities of the changes were assessed using landscape indices and hemeroby indicators. In that period, the forest cover increased about 18 %, mainly due to abandoned pastures on steep slopes. At the same time, the urban area expanded about 4 % on valley bottoms, while pastures and crop fields were reduced about 20 %. The results also showed that forest patches were aggregating, whereas pastures were fragmenting. A reduction in direct human impacts on forests growing on abandoned pastures resulted in a slight recovery of the lower montane cloud forest structure and plant composition. But non-native species were found in all LUC categories. During the study period, we documented not only forest recovery, but also urban area growth, intensified land use and invasions by non-native species all of which could partially counterbalance the positives of forest recovery.     

Land use history of a floodplain area during the last 200 years in the Upper-Tisza region (Hungary)

Research into landscape history makes it possible to follow landscape changes in the past and support landscape management, conservation and restoration programs. Floodplain habitats are lost, isolated and fragmented on account of land use. Nowadays, these habitats are threatened by modifications in the natural water regime, as well as agricultural and forestry practices. Floodplains have great importance because they provide a transition between aquatic habitats and terrestrial biotopes. Our analysis of aerial photographs and topographical maps revealed that the major predicted changes in the study area are related to agricultural abandonment and afforestation. The comparison of land cover maps from 1784 to 2005 showed intensification of agriculture with land cover conversions from arable land and orchards to grasslands, marshes and woodlands. The land use types that are mostly responsible for the fragmentation of the landscape are arable land, economic plantations and orchards. We found that fragmentation was greater after 1956. This was caused by socioeconomic changes and showed that the habitats of floodplains have changed intensively during the last 200 years. Knowledge of this last 200 years of history contributes to a more careful and wiser management of the region through biodiversity protection and environmental development.     

Predicting hot-spots of land use changes in Italy by ensemble forecasting

In the context of environmental change projections at the regional level, not only the climate but also the land use plays a key role. The limited availability of historical information reduces the possibility to calibrate land use change (LUC) models. Even in case of successful calibration, using it both for diagnostic and prognostic studies does not guarantee the reliability of single future simulations. Through ensemble forecasting, useful LUC predictions are evaluable. In this work, after introducing a modified version of the well-assessed CLUE-S model, we present reasonable hot-spots of LUC in Italy for the end of 21st century, derived from the agreement of a 32 simulation ensemble performed alternating two choices for five model configurations or inputs: (1) two different climate projections (reflecting A2 and B2 emission scenarios by IPCC, respectively); (2) two different degrees (slight and strong) of demographic increase; (3) the conservation (or not) of protected areas; (4) the influence (or not) among adjacent land uses in determining their shift; and (5) the importance (or not) of past/recent LUC trends. Results, in terms of LUC hot-spot distribution, were evaluated at administrative, biogeographical, physiographic, and watershed level. The main findings highlighted that some trends of land use substitution will be likely opposite to the past and that a more detailed spatial scale can detect situations neglected by coarser scale evaluations, and due to different transpositions of directives from high-levels to local scales. Biogeographical and physiographic settings seem strongly influencing LUCs, and administrative and catchment units across Italy show very different developments and a highly fragmented territory in terms of LUC hot-spots, all that to be considered in landscape and resource planning.     

Land-use portfolios and the management of private landholdings in south-central Indiana

In the study of land-use and land-cover change as an important contributor to regional environmental change, linking household level land-use decisions to particular land-cover patterns has been an enduring challenge. The frequent conflation of land use and land cover has been appropriate and fruitful in regions where extractive activities are common, but the decoupling of household characteristics from land-cover choices in exurban landscapes may require that the two be treated separately. This research employs the concept of a land-use portfolio, defined as a unique combination of land use types, and land cover derived from remote sensing to examine the relationship between land use and land cover at the parcel scale. Data on the type and spatial organization of land use were collected for individual parcels through sketch maps constructed by land owners and then described quantitatively using GIS and spatial metrics from landscape ecology. The results of this analysis suggest that in the naturally forested region of south-central Indiana, parcels are frequently managed as multiple types of land use thereby supporting the portfolio approach. Generally, land-management complexity is related to land-cover fragmentation, but the strength of this relationship varies across portfolio types. In addition, substantial amounts of forest land cover occur in non-forest land uses further supporting the need to treat the two separately to accurately link land use intentions and land cover outcomes.     

Land use changes and its impacts on water resources in Nile Delta region using remote sensing techniques

Sustainable water resources management plans depend on reliable monitoring of land use –land cover (LULC) changes. The use of the remote sensing techniques in LULC changes detection brings consistency and reliability to the decision maker at regional scale. Three temporal data sets of images were used to obtain the land cover changes in this study: Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) acquired in 1984, and Landsat-7 enhanced Thematic Mapper acquired in 2000 and 2005 consequently. Each temporal data set consists of four Landsat scenes, which were mosaicked to cover the whole Nile Delta. Two different supervised classification algorithms were implemented to produce classification maps in thematic form. Support vector machine showed higher classification accuracies in comparison with maximum likelihood classification. The results indicated that the rapid imbalance changes occurred among three land cover classes (urban, desert, and agricultural land). These changes powered the land degradation and land fragmentation processes over the agricultural land exclusively due to urban encroachment. Slight land cover changes were detected between fish farms and surface water land cover classes.     

Land-use change and its socio-environmental impact in Eastern Ethiopia’s highland

The Alemaya district (Eastern Ethiopian highlands) is characterized by undulating physiographic features with arid, semi-arid, and humid climatic conditions. This study evaluated socio-environmental changes in land use and land cover during 1985–2011. Screen digitization on remotely sensed data (i.e., Landsat images from 1985 to 2011) was performed to produce 10 classes of land use and land cover. Then, final land-use maps were prepared using a geographic information system following field verification and accuracy assessment. The drying of water bodies, including the prominent lakes Alemaya, Adele, and Tinike, had been the most important environmental change observed. Degraded land, marsh, perennial cropland, and residential areas increased by 37, 438, 42, and 190 %, respectively, whereas grassland, plantation, shrubland, and temporal cropland decreased by 64, 11, 63, and 29 %, respectively. The increase in land degradation (+37 %), the other major observed problem, has made large areas unsuitable for agriculture and has reduced crop productivity. These land-use and land-cover changes have affected both the environment and the livelihoods of local residents; especially the issue related to land degradation requires urgent attention.     

Influence of peatland and land cover distribution on fire regimes in insular Southeast Asia

Anthropogenic biomass burning in insular Southeast Asia facilitates conversion and degradation of ecosystems and emits high amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We analyzed the influence of peat soil and land cover distribution on the occurrence and characteristics of vegetation fires. Two years of satellite-based active fire detections over Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and Java were examined together with land cover and peatland maps. Our results showed that fire occurrence nearly tripled (23,000 → 68,000) from a wet La Niña year (2008) to a drier El Niño year (2009). In both years, fires were concentrated in peatlands (in 2009 41% of fires vs. 10% of land area), and the majority of large-scale burning took place in peatlands. Variation in peatland land cover within the study area was noticed to create remarkable different fire regimes. Biomass burning in the intensely managed Sumatran peatlands was characterized by large-scale land clearance fires that took place annually to varying extent. The largely unmanaged degraded peatland ecosystems of Borneo, on the other hand, experienced very little fire activity in a wet year but were ravaged by large-scale wildfires when El Niño conditions arose. We conclude that fire regime characteristics in insular Southeast Asia are strongly connected to occurrence of peat soil and land management status. This leads to high variation of fire activity within this region both annually (depending on weather patters) and over longer time range (depending on land cover/management issues) and greatly complicates estimation of the effects of fires.     

Land use change in Southern Romania after the collapse of socialism

The drastic socio-economic and political changes that occurred after the breakdown of socialism in Eastern Europe triggered widespread land use change, including cropland abandonment and forest cover changes. Yet the rates and spatial patterns of post-socialist land use change remain largely unclear. We used Landsat TM/ETM+ images to classify land cover maps and assess landscape pattern changes from 1990 to 2005 in Argeş County, Southern Romania. Cropland abandonment was the most widespread change (21.1% abandonment rate), likely due to declining returns from farming, tenure insecurity, and demographic developments during transition. Forest cover and forest fragmentation remained remarkably stable during transition, despite widespread ownership transfers. Cropland abandonment provides opportunities for increased carbon sequestration, but threatens cultural landscapes and biodiversity. Continued monitoring is important for assessing whether abandoned croplands will eventually reforest or be put back into production and to better understand the consequences of post-socialist land use change for ecosystems and biodiversity.     

Multi-scale land cover dynamics of semiarid scrubland in Baja California,Mexico

Land use and cover changes trigger multi-factorial responses with tangible and intangible effects. Driving forces governing changes are scale-, place- and time-dependent; because of their complexity, a multi-scalar analysis is required to determine conjoint causation. Studies using multi-scalar approach in semiarid scrubland ecosystems are scanty. This paper investigates land use changes on the largest semiarid scrubland ecosystem of Mexico, the Baja California Peninsula, using a multi-scalar analysis approach. It further provides insight into the likely underlying causes for land use trends. Multi-temporal databases were compiled for 1978, 1990, 2000 and 2003 from various sources; population was projected for the same years. Land cover processes were validated through intensive fieldwork. Map overlapping with the aid of geographic information systems allowed computation of land cover transformation rates. New algorithms were developed to better understand land cover trends. Multi-variate analysis was also performed to provide a synthetic statistical overview. Results showed that land cover change occurred at different times, at variable scales, due to distinct drivers. As a consequence, the current regional scenario has been shaped by distinguishable socio-economic changes. The semiarid scrubland ecosystems in the Baja California Peninsula experienced contrasting trends detectable only at site and local scales. Regionally, the replacement of original vegetation (scrubland) for other land cover category is following trends similar to those in the rest of Mexico and most semiarid ecosystems worldwide. These findings support the hypothesis that land use and cover changes must be analyzed at different times and scales to deeply understand underlying forces.     

The net ecosystem carbon exchange of human-modified environments in the Australian Capital Region

As part of a larger study to quantify and map ecosystem services in southeast Australia, we estimated carbon stored in biomass and soils and the net ecosystem carbon exchange between the land surface and the atmosphere in the Australian Capital Region (ACR). Our aim was to understand and quantify how different human-modified landscapes provide an essential ecosystem service: the exchange and storage of carbon in the landscape. Using a remote sensing based modelling methodology, we obtained values of Net Primary Productivity (NPP), total carbon in soil and biomass and carbon turnover from meteorological and terrain inputs and vegetation attributes. We obtained a set of maps of NPP, total carbon (C) storage and C-turnover for the ACR. We superimposed a land use/cover map to assign the uptake, storage and release of carbon to different land use/cover types. Our results support the hypothesis that human-intensive land uses significantly affect the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to provide an important ecosystem service in the form of carbon storage.     

Impacts of future land use/land cover on wildfire occurrence in the Madrid region (Spain)

This paper assesses the relative importance of socioeconomic factors linked to fire occurrence through the simulation of future land use/land cover (LULC) change scenarios in the Madrid region (Spain). This region is a clear example of the socioeconomic changes that have been occurring over recent decades in the European Mediterranean as well as their impact on LULC and fire occurrence. Using the LULC changes observed between 1990 and 2006 as a reference, future scenarios were run up to 2025 with the conversion of land use and its effects model. Simultaneously, the relationship between LULC arrangement (interfaces) and historical fire occurrence was calculated using logistic regression analysis and used to quantify changes in future fire occurrence due to projected changes in LULC interfaces. The results revealed that it is possible to explain the probability of fire occurrence using only variables obtained from LULC maps, although the explanatory power of the model is low. In this context, border areas between some LULC types are of particular interest (i.e., urban/forest, grassland/forest and agricultural/forest interfaces). Results indicated that expected LULC changes in Euro-Mediterranean regions, particularly given the foreseeable increase in the wildland–urban interface, will substantially increase fire occurrence (up to 155 %). This underlines the importance of future LULC scenarios when planning fire prevention measures.     

1991－2001年南昌市土地利用/覆被变化特征研究

土地利用/覆被变化是区域变化的重要组成部分，是短时期内人类活动对自然环境改造的显著表现形式。南昌市地处京广线和沿海地区之间，属于经济欠发达地区的省会城市。近年来，社会经济发展迅速，城镇化进程明显加快，土地利用变化显著。文章利用1991—2001年南昌市土地详查和变更数据，分析南昌市土地利用/覆被变化特征，其基本结论有： （1）土地利用类型构成以耕地、水域和林地为主；（2）建设用地增幅显著，而耕地数量则呈下降态势，土地利用结构的变化与城镇的发展密切相关；（3）从土地利用程度看，不论是单项指标指数还是综合指数，南昌市均高于全国平均水平；（4）从时间序列看，南昌市土地利用/覆被的多样性指数和均匀度指数逐渐增大，而优势度指数逐渐减小，指数变化的趋势还表现为前一时期（1991—1996年）比后一时期（1996—2001年）要大，这表明土地利用/覆被的破碎化程度持续加强，但后期的加强程度呈弱化趋势。     

典型流域土地利用/覆被变化及对水质的影响--以太湖上游浙江西苕溪流域为例

利用1985、1995和20D0年的TM数据及水质资料，运用GIS和水质指数法研究西苔溪流域的土地利用／覆被变化及其水环境效应。结果表明：流域内耕地不断减少，建设用地持续扩大，林地前期减少后期缓慢增加；林地和耕地是流域内的主要土地利用类型，二者面积之和占流域面积的比例在三个时段均在92％以上；空间集中性及斑块碎化是土地利用空间格局变化的主要表现，建设用地斑块数量增多且斑块面积明显增大，饼地面积减少但斑块数量增多。研究时段内流域水质在时间上呈逐步恶化趋势，在空间上则表现为自上游至下游逐渐下降，其中，1996-2000年，研究河段内水质指数下降幅度达30％左右；只治理点污染源仅使水质指数增加6．5％左右，表明影响水质的主要因素是土地利用变化导致的面源污染。     

Legacies,socio-economic and biophysical processes and drivers: the case of future forest cover expansion in the Polish Carpathians and Swiss Alps

Mountain forest areas are key for providing a wide range of ecosystem services and are hot spots for land use change processes, in particular, increase in forest cover at the expense of mountain pastures and meadows. Mountain forest systems in eastern and western Europe have likely similar future socio-economic situations but significantly different socio-economic history. Using a scenario-based land use modelling approach (Dyna-CLUE framework) we model three scenarios (trend, liberalisation and self-sufficiency) of future land use in the Polish Carpathians and the Swiss Alps, focussing on forest cover change. We find that forest cover increase can be expected to continue in European mountainous regions under all likely scenarios, limited only by relatively strict policy interventions. Biophysical factors, rather than socio-economic ones, are key for defining the suitability for, and therefore likely locations of future forest cover, but land use legacy plays a very important role in the spatial patterns of future forest cover, particularly in eastern Europe.

     

不同土地利用类型的地表特征参量的遥感反演研究——以猫跳河流域为例

利用2007年5月Lansat5 TM数据,运用单通道算法,基于全国遥感监测土地利用/覆盖分类体系,对贵州省猫跳河流域的地表特征参量进行了反演,得到不同土地利用类型下的典型地表特征参数值。在3种主要的土地利用类型中,林地的植被指数最高、地表温度最低,农田的植被指数最低而地表温度最高,草地介乎林地和农田之间。城镇建设用地主要表现为热岛效应,而水域则主要表现为地表温度（LST）和归一化植被指数（NDVI）的双低特征。进一步对二级土地利用类型的分析表明,由于结构、功能的不同,土地利用二级类在地表特征参量方面也表现出了有规律地变化。有助于深入认识不同土地利用类型的物理特征,可以丰富主要土地利用类型的影像分类的先验知识,有望将不同土地利用方式的生态环境效应研究推进一步     

Examination of land use/land cover changes,urban growth dynamics,and environmental sustainability in Chittagong city,Bangladesh

As in many other developing countries, cities in Bangladesh have witnessed rapid urbanization, resulting in increasing amounts of land being taken over and therefore land cover changing at a faster rate. Until now, however, few efforts have been made to document the impact of land use and land cover changes on the climate, environment, and ecosystem of the country because of a lack of geospatial data and time-series information. By using open source Landsat data integrated with GIS technologies and other ancillary data, this study attempts to classify land use and create land cover maps, enabling post-classification change detection analysis. By this method, we document the spatial and temporal trajectory of urban expansion in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, over a 36-year period. The findings suggest that, over the study period, 56 % of the land cover has undergone change, mainly because of the expansion of built-up areas and other human activities. During the 36-year period, the built-up area around Chittagong city has expanded by 618 %, with an average annual rate of increase of 17.5 %. As a result of rapid urbanization, the vegetated hills near urban development areas face serious threats of further encroachment and degradation, given that 2178 ha of hills have already been intruded over the study period. Because urbanization processes in Bangladesh have traditionally been viewed as the result of population growth and economic development, very little work has been done to track the potential growth trajectory in a physical or spatial context. This study, therefore, will contribute to the current understanding of urban development in Bangladesh from a temporal and spatial point of view. Findings will be able to assist planners, stakeholders, and policy makers in appreciating the dynamism of urban growth and therefore will facilitate better planning for the future to minimize environmental impacts.     

基于知识与规则的土地利用信息分层提取研究——以南京市都市区为例

为了克服利用统一分类模型难以有效提高土地利用分类精度的问题,为土地利用/覆被定性、定量信息的提取提供一种高精度、高效率的提取方法,将分层信息提取法和基于知识规则的信息提取方法相结合,基于对南京市都市区的土地利用时空特点和研究区TM影像数据中各地类波谱信息的分析,结合了地类提取指数模型、DEM数据、城市建成区边界等,充分利用地学先验知识,设计了一套土地信息分层提取的流程,对土地利用信息进行了提取。利用该方法对2012年南京市都市区的土地利用/土地覆被信息提取的总体精度达到了88.67%,Kappa系数达到了0.85。实践证明,基于知识与规则的土地利用信息分层提取方法提取精度较高,适用性强,对其他地区的土地利用/覆被信息分类提取也有一定的借鉴意义。     

Uncertainty in the difference between maps of future land change scenarios

It is essential to measure whether maps of various scenarios of future land change are meaningfully different, because differences among such maps serve to inform land management. This paper compares the output maps of different scenarios of future land change in a manner that contrasts two different approaches to account for the uncertainty of the simulated projections. The simpler approach interprets the scenario storyline concerning the quantity of each land change transition as assumption, and then considers the range of possibilities concerning the value added by a simulation model that specifies the spatial allocation of land change. The more complex approach estimates the uncertainty of future land maps based on a validation measurement with historic data. The technique is illustrated by a case study that compares two scenarios of future land change in the Plum Island Ecosystems of northeastern Massachusetts, in the United States. Results show that if the model simulates only the spatial allocation of the land changes given the assumed quantity of each transition, then there is a clearly bounded range for the difference between the raw scenario maps; but if the uncertainties are estimated by validation, then the uncertainties can be so great that the output maps do not show meaningful differences. We discuss the implications of these results for a future research agenda of land change modeling. We conclude that a productive approach is to use the simpler method to distinguish clearly between variations in the scenario maps that are due to scenario assumptions versus variations due to the simulation model.     

Evaluating land cover change and its impact on hydrological regime in Upper Shire river catchment, Malawi

A study was conducted to investigate hydrological impacts of land cover changes in the degradation of the hydrological on flow regimes of the Upper Shire river, Malawi. Remote sensing techniques were used to inventory temporal changes of land cover changes in the catchment. Hydrological data were analyzed to reveal the alterations and trends for two periods; 1989 and 2002. The study revealed significant changes in magnitude and direction that have occurred in the catchment between 1989 and 2002, mainly in areas of human habitation. Trends in land cover change in the Upper Shire river catchment depict land cover transition from woodlands to mostly cultivated/grazing and built-up areas. The land cover mapping showed that 23% of the land was covered by agricultural land in 1989. Subsistence agricultural area has increased by 18%, occupying 41% of the study area in 2002. The effects of the derived land cover changes on river flow in the Upper Shire river were investigated using the semi distributed soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model. River flows were found to be highly variable and sensitive to land cover changes. Simulation results show that 2002 land cover data produces higher flow peaks and faster travel times compared to the 1989 land cover data. The changes detected indicate the effects of land use pressure in the catchment. The study highlights the importance of considering effects of land use and land cover changes on ecosystems, and water resources for an informed decision on proper catchment planning and management.     

长江上游不同地形条件下的土地利用/覆盖变化

基于1〖DK〗∶10万的1980、2000和2005年的土地利用/覆盖数据和90 m分辨率的DEM数据，采用转移概率矩阵和地形 面积频度方法，分析了1980~2005年长江上游地区不同地形因子条件下的土地利用/覆盖变化。结果表明：1）1980~2000年，草地、林地和农业用地面积变化趋势与2000~2005年相反。后5 a，可能由于退耕的土地出现反弹现象增多，草地和林地面积出现缩减而农业用地面积增加。两个分析时段主要的土地利用/覆盖类型变化趋势类似，包括农业用地向林地和草地的转化，林地向农业用地的转化以及草地向裸地的转化。2）农业用地和城镇用地主要分布于低海拔区而林地、草地则主要分布于高海拔区。低海拔区主要是退耕还林和城市化过程。高海拔区主要是林地的退化消失和草地退化沙化过程。3）农业用地在坡度段10~25°所占面积比例最大。林地用地面积比例随坡度变陡呈现规则递增，城镇用地分布趋势与之相反。近年裸地趋向分布于缓坡区。坡度0~5°的区域主要是草地退化沙化过程；5~10°坡度段主要是退耕还林过程；大于10°的区域造林工程与森林退化并存。4）各种土地利用/覆盖类型对不同坡向的适宜性相差不大。各种坡向上土地利用/覆盖类型变化类似.