Land use and cover dynamics in Africa since the nineteenth century: warped terrestrial photographs of North Ethiopia

Quantitative research on land use and land cover (LUC) in Africa usually addresses the second half of the twentieth century, by using remote sensing data. Terrestrial photographs, which are available since 1868 in Ethiopia, are seldom used in a quantitative way. This paper presents a methodology that allows to produce land use and land cover (LUC) maps on the basis of old terrestrial photographs. Therefore, land use and land cover was investigated on historical and present-day photographs, and these interpretations were warped to the horizontal plane of the map. The resulting maps allow to gain better insights into LUC changes over a period of 140 years. The results show that woody vegetation increased strongly, together with an increase in built-up area. This occurred especially at the expense of bushland. The study validates pervious findings and shows that improved land management strategies in one of the world’s most degraded areas can lead to environmental rehabilitation.     

Adaptation planning and the use of climate change projections in local government in England and Germany

Planning for adaptation to climate change is often regarded to be a local imperative and considered to be more effective if grounded on a solid evidence base and recognisant of relevant climate projections. Research has already documented some of the challenges of making climate information usable in decision-making but has not yet sufficiently reflected on the role of the wider institutional and regulatory context. This article examines the impact of the external institutional context on the use and usability of climate projections in local government through an analysis of 44 planning and climate change (adaptation) documents and 54 semi-structured interviews with planners in England and Germany conducted between July 2013 and May 2014. We show that there is little demand for climate projections in local adaptation planning in either country due to existing policy, legal and regulatory frameworks. Local government in England has not only experienced a decline in use of climate projections, but also the waning of the climate change adaptation agenda more widely, amidst changes in the planning and regulatory framework and severe budget cuts. In Germany, spatial planning makes substantial use of past and present climate data, but the strictly regulated nature of planning prevents the use of climate projections, due to their inherent uncertainties. Findings from the two countries highlight that if we are to better understand the usability of climate projections, we need to be more aware of the institutional context within which planning decisions are made. Otherwise we run the risk of continuing to provide tools and information that are of limited use within their intended context.     

Climate change, drought risk and land capability for agriculture: implications for land use in Scotland

Land capability classification systems define and communicate biophysical limitations on land use, including climate, soils and topography. They can therefore provide an accessible format for both scientists and decision-makers to share knowledge on climate change impacts and adaptation. Underlying such classifications are complex interactions that require dynamic spatial analysis, particularly between soil and climate. These relationships are investigated using a case study on drought risk for agriculture in Scotland, which is currently considered less significant than wetness-related issues. The impact of drought risk is assessed using an established empirical system for land capability linking indicator crops with water availability. This procedure is facilitated by spatial interpolation of climate and soil profile data to provide soil moisture deficits and plant available water on a regular 1-km grid. To evaluate potential impacts of future climate change, land capability classes are estimated using both large-scale ensemble (multi-simulation) data from the HadRM3 regional climate model and local-scale weather generator data (UKCP09) derived from multiple climate models. Results for the case study suggest that drought risk is likely to have a much more significant influence on land use in the future. This could potentially act to restrict the range of crops grown and hence reduce land capability in some areas unless strategic-level adaptation measures are developed that also integrate land use systems and water resources with the wider environment.     

城市地表形态对热环境的影响——以上海市为例

基于遥感与GIS技术,利用Landsat7-ETM+影像反演地表温度,用社会经济统计数据、土地利用现状数据和道路交通网络数据计算城市景观形态参数以表征地表特征,从行政区(县)、5km间距同心环带和局部区块3个水平上划分空间单元建立数据样本,分析城市地表形态对热环境空间分布格局的影响。结果表明:(1)景观混合度和景观分裂度对地表温度有恒定的负向影响,区块连通性与地表温度负相关;(2)景观分裂度对热环境的影响取决于地类属性:分裂度大的增温地类,地表增温效应弱;分裂度大的降温地类,地表降温效应强;(3)人口密度和经济密度可对地表温度产生恒定正向影响;(4)人口密度、建设用地比例和房屋建筑比例是分布在区(县)尺度、同心圆环尺度和典型区块尺度上影响地表热环境最显著的地表形态要素。     

Sensitivity of typical Mediterranean crops to past and future evolution of seasonal temperature and precipitation in Apulia

The region of Apulia, which is located in the south-east tip of the Italian Peninsula, has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot-dry summers. Agriculture, an important sector of its economy, is potentially threatened by future climate change. This study describes the evolution of seasonal temperature and precipitation from the recent past to the next decades and estimates future potential impacts of climate change on three main agricultural products: wine, wheat and olives. Analysis is based on instrumental data, on an ensemble of climate projections and on a linear regression model linking these three agricultural products to seasonal values of temperature and precipitation. In Apulia, precipitation and temperature time series show trends toward warmer and marginally drier conditions during the whole analyzed (1951–2005) period: 0.18 °C/decade in mean annual minimum temperature and ?14.9 mm/decade in the annual total precipitation. Temperature trends have been progressively increasing and rates of change have become noticeably more intense during the last 25 years of the twentieth century. Model simulations are consistent with observed trends for the period 1951–2000 and show a large acceleration of the warming rate in the period 2001–2050 with respect to the period 1951–2000. Further, in the period 2001–2050, simulations show a decrease in precipitation, which was not present in the previous 50 years. Wine production, wheat and olive harvest records show large inter-annual variability with statistically significant links to seasonal temperature and precipitation, whose strength, however, strongly depends on the considered variables. Linear regression analysis shows that seasonal temperature and precipitation variability explains a small, but not negligible, fraction of the inter-annual variability of these crops (40, 18, 9 % for wine, olives and wheat, respectively). Results (which consider no adaptation of crops and no fertilization effect of CO₂) suggest that evolution of these seasonal climate variables in the first half of the twenty-first century could decrease all considered variables. The most affected is wine production (?20 ÷ ?26 %). The effect is relevant also on harvested olives (?8 ÷ ?19 %) and negligible on harvested wheat (?4 ÷ ?1 %).     

Climate change impacts on vegetation and water cycle in the Euro-Mediterranean region,studied by a likelihood approach

Scientific community and policy-makers share the common interest in identifying and evaluating potential impacts of climate change on ecosystems, relying mainly on probabilistic methods of exploring the risks. In this perspective, the concept of ensemble forecasting makes possible to handle uncertainties associated with climate risk analysis by focusing on a range of potential or probable impact scenarios rather than actualizing a single case. In this paper, an ensemble of simulations based on the Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) model was used to investigate the uncertainty upon predictions of the future Euro-Mediterranean vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics, and water budget. Twenty simulations from past to future were based on the combination of different climate inputs, vegetation model parameterizations, and configurations. The evaluation of results combined the separate deterministic future projections from the LPJ model into a single probabilistic projection, associating a likelihood degree in accordance with the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change terminology. Results projected a general critical situation in terms of water availability, made more serious if considering that also the occurrence of extreme-related events, e.g., fires, is expected to become more frequent as favored by more recurrent drought episodes. Although more uncomfortable climate conditions were projected for vegetation, net primary production (NPP) was predicted to increase due to the potential enrichment of CO₂ in atmosphere and its fertilization effects on vegetation. The combination of rising NPP and fire frequency may shape the carbon cycle components, as the carbon losses by fire also were projected to increase.     

2000～2015年丹江口库区植被覆盖时空变化趋势及其成因分析

基于MODIS NDVI、Landsat遥感影像及气象观测数据,应用趋势分析、偏相关分析和土地利用转移矩阵等方法,阐明了2000~2015年丹江口库区植被覆盖时空变化趋势,并探讨了气候变化和人类活动对库区植被覆盖的影响。结果表明：（1）近16 a来丹江口库区植被覆盖度呈增加的趋势,增速为4.73%/10 a（p < 0.001）;（2）40.94%的区域植被覆盖度增加显著,主要分布在库周丘陵和平原地带;10.04%的区域植被覆盖度减少显著,主要位于西北部伏牛山区及库区建成区周边;49.02%的区域变化不显著;（3）丹江口库区植被覆盖度受气候变化影响不显著,但受人类活动影响较大,其中灌草地和农业用地转变为林地是库区植被覆盖度升高的主要原因,农业用地转变为水体和建设用地是部分区域植被覆盖度降低的重要因素,这些土地利用/覆被变化主要受造林、退耕还林、水库蓄水以及建设活动的驱动;（4）生态建设工程和项目的实施对库区植被覆盖度的稳步增加起到了积极作用。 关键词： 植被覆盖度;变化趋势;土地利用;丹江口库区     

Air quality research: perspective from climate change modelling research

A major component of climate change is a manifestation of changes in air quality. This paper explores the question of air quality from the climate change modelling perspective. It reviews recent research advances on the cause-effect relationships between atmospheric air composition and climate change, primarily based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of climate change over the past decade. There is a growing degree of confidence that the warming world over the past century was caused by human-related changes in the composition of air. Reliability of projections of future climate change is highly dependent on future emission scenarios that have been identified that in turn depend on a multitude of complicated interacting social-economic factors. Anticipated improvements in the performance of climate models is a major source of optimism for better climate projections in the future, but the real benefits of its contribution will be closely coupled with other sources of uncertainty, and in particular emission projections.     

农村税费改革对农业土地利用的影响:一个宏观评价

以取消农业税和加大农业补贴力度为主要特征的农村税费改革，是近年来中国农村地区的一次重大制度改革。为探讨其对农业土地利用的影响，在简要回顾农村税费改革主要历程的基础上，通过构建计量经济模型，从宏观层面分析验证了农村税费改革对农业土地利用规模和利用效率的具体影响。结果表明: 农村税费改革对农业土地利用的影响主要体现为农户行为响应产生的引致效应；无论是农业税的取消还是财政支农政策的加强都对农业土地利用规模的扩大产生了显著影响；而农村税费改革对农业土地利用效率的影响则并不明显。为此，中国政府今后仍需在农业补贴支出结构以及相关配套政策创新方面进一步优化     

Towards a spatially explicit and quantitative vulnerability assessment of environmental change in Europe

Over the next century, society will increasingly be confronted with the impacts of global change (e.g. pollution, land use changes, and climate change). Multiple scenarios provide us with a range of possible changes in socio-economic trends, land uses and climate (i.e. exposure) and allow us to assess the response of ecosystems and changes in the services they provide (i.e. potential impacts). Since vulnerability to global change is less when society is able to adapt, it is important to provide decision makers with tools that will allow them to assess and compare the vulnerability of different sectors and regions to global change, taking into account exposure and sensitivity, as well as adaptive capacity. This paper presents a method that allows quantitative spatial analyses of the vulnerability of the human-environment system on a European scale. It is a first step towards providing stakeholders and policy makers with a spatially explicit portfolio of comparable projections of ecosystem services, providing a basis for discussion on the sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources.

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.     

Landscape changes and environmental quality: the evolution of land vulnerability and potential resilience to degradation in Italy

Resilience, considered as the ability of a system to absorb and compensate pressures derived from human and natural systems, is a topic of interest in the Mediterranean region whose landscape is the joint result of social, economic and environmental factors. The present study analyses the changes in the Italian landscape over two periods (1960–1990 and 1990–2010) of the last 50 years through a composite index of environmental resilience and vulnerability to land degradation. Results indicate that the spatial distribution of this index has been considerably changed from a relatively simple geography (mainly reflecting a latitude gradient) to a more complex pattern. The level of vulnerability of southern Italian land maintained quite stable while increasing significantly in Northern and Central Italy. The (potential) resilience level decreased over time in Central and Northern Italy while growing moderately in Southern Italy. This means that important processes of environmental changes impacting landscape resilience occurred with a different spatial trend in Italy. The composite index derived from vulnerability and potential resilience estimates at the regional scale revealed crucial to map over time the increase of surface land exposed to desertification risk. Results support the adoption of measures promoting a sustainable land management in environmentally vulnerable land with low potential to resilience.     

洪泽湖地区土地利用与景观格局演变

基于多时点 TM/ETM影像解译数据,运用遥感、GIS和景观生态学方法,分析洪泽湖地区近 18 a的土地利用变化和景观格局演变过程,揭示该地区内各种土地利用时空变化特征,并得出3个时期景观类型分布特征、景观格局变化的趋势及特征。结果表明：（1）区域内土地利用变化显著,整体处于不平衡的状态,主要表现为耕地持续减少、建设用地迅速增加、林地先增后减及草地和水域略有增加;（2）研究区景观结构和景观异质性发生了较大变化,斑块数目增加、平均斑块面积减少,景观多样性指数、景观均匀度指数总体上升,在区域景观破碎化程度加剧的同时,各景观类型间差异缩小,景观结构趋于多样化、均匀化和破碎化。最后,指出人类活动,尤其是经济建设是土地利用景观格局变化的主要因素,并对地区的生态可持续发展提出了相应建议     

洞庭湖区生态服务价值变化区域差异研究

为了定量分析和比较区域生态服务功能及其价值变化,运用中国生态系统服务价值当量因子表和洞庭湖流域单位面积农田生态系统提供的食物生产服务的经济价值,以及分析20世纪70年代末、80年代末和90年代末的TM遥感影像所得到的土地利用情况,对洞庭湖区17个县市不同年代的生态服务价值及其20年间的变化进行了估算和比较。采用变异系数来测度区域之间的差异,并初步分析了各县市生态服务价值变化差异的原因。结果表明：洞庭湖区土地利用变化明显,生态服务价值总量达到了934亿元,但区域变异系数较大,各县市之间差异明显;湖区各县市20年生态服务价值变化差异较大,变异系数为108.27%。其中变化最大的是华容县,超过了2.0亿元,最小的是津市,仅为0.12亿元。     

Framework for high-resolution climate change impact assessment on grapevines at a regional scale

Understanding the impacts of climate change on viticulture is especially essential in those areas producing high-quality wines. In this work, we create an operational framework to investigate climate change impact on viticulture in the Tuscany region (central Italy) the viticulture industry of which relies on producing high-quality wines to compete in a global market. The framework includes (i) statistical downscaling of General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs for the period 1975–2099 to a local scale; (ii) the use of downscaling outputs as driving variables in specific simulation models; (iii) the spatial interpolation of model outputs to feed an economic and (iv) a quality model. The results show that as a consequence of a progressive increase in temperature and a decrease in rainfall, (a) the area potentially suitable for grapevine cultivation increases; (b) the grapevine growth cycle becomes shorter; (c) the final yield is gradually reduced, particularly in those areas characterised by quality cultivation regulation; and d) the premium wine quality production areas shift towards higher elevations. The proposed framework revealed itself to be an effective tool for climate change impact assessment at a very local scale. Additionally, this approach may be easily extended to testing the effect of different adaptation strategies in terms of management practices (e.g. irrigation) and grape varieties (e.g. longer or shorter cycle, advanced or delayed bud burst).     

The relationship between climate and streamflow in the Namoi Basin

The Namoi River Basin (42 000 km²) is located in the Murray-Darling Basin, west of the Great Australian Dividing Range in northeast New South Wales (NSW), and includes some of the most fertile agricultural lands in Australia. One of the environmental concerns for this basin is erosion and its effects on downstream water quality. Models that relate climate, land use, and these concerns require measurements of climate (rainfall and temperature) and streamflow. These measurements were examined as a preliminary to the modelling. The residual mass technique was used to examine the temporal variation of annual rainfalls over the approximately 100 years of available data, and significant spatial variations were found in annual rainfall trends over the catchment. Streamflow was examined at key river gauging stations. The impact of recent large-scale irrigation operations was clearly observed. The impact of changing land use and land management on runoff ratios was examined for eight subcatchments. Temperature variations were examined for the four major towns in the catchment. The duration of the temperature data is too short to make any comments about long-term trends. Significant variations were observed in an east to west direction.     

24个CMIP5模式对长江流域模拟能力评估

根据1961~2005年长江流域气象站点的实测月降水量和气温数据,采用第5期全球耦合模式比较计划CMIP5(the Fifth Phase of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project)中24个全球气候模式(GCM)的模拟结果,通过计算模拟变量和观测变量平均值的相对误差、归一化的均方根误差、时间和空间相关系数,采用M-K趋势分析方法,分别选用在长江流域模拟气温和降水较好的5个模式进行集合平均,从时间的演变规律和空间的分布特征两方面,检验该模式集合对长江流域模拟气温和降水的能力。研究结果表明:各个模式模拟气温的能力要明显好于模拟降水的能力,但模拟气温较好的模式模拟降水的能力并不一定突出;模式集合的结果表明:在时间尺度上,模式集合平均结果与观测值拟合程度较好,且模式集合的结果振荡幅度较观测值小;在空间尺度上,模式集合的空间分布趋势与观测值大致相同,说明采用的模式集合结果用于预估未来长江流域降水的时空分布特征和演变规律是可行的。     

Mid-21st century climate and weather extremes in Cyprus as projected by six regional climate models

We present climate change projections and apply indices of weather extremes for the Mediterranean island Cyprus using data from regional climate model (RCM) simulations driven by the IPCC A1B scenario within the ENSEMBLES project. Daily time-series of temperature and precipitation were used from six RCMs for a reference period 1976–2000 and for 2026–2050 (‘future‘) for representative locations, applying a performance selection among neighboring model grid-boxes. The annual average temperatures of the model ensemble have a ±1.5°C bias from the observations (negative for maximum and positive for minimum temperature), and the models underestimate annual precipitation totals by 4–17%. The climatological annual cycles for the observations fall within the 1σ range of the 6-model average, highlighting the strength of using multi-model output. We obtain reasonable agreement between models and observations for the temperature-related indices of extremes for the recent past, while the comparison is less good for the precipitation-related extremes. For the future, the RCM ensemble shows significant warming of 1°C in winter to 2°C in the summer for both maximum and minimum temperatures. Rainfall is projected to decrease by 2–8%, although this is not statistically significant. Our results indicate the shift of the mean climate to a warmer state, with a relatively strong increase in the warm extremes. The precipitation frequency is projected to decrease at the inland Nicosia and at the coastal Limassol, while the mountainous Saittas could experience more frequent 5–15 mm/day rainfall. In future, very hot days are expected to increase by more than 2 weeks/year and tropical nights by 1 month/year. The annual number of consecutive dry days shows a statistically significant increase (of 9 days) in Limassol. These projected changes of the Cyprus climate may adversely affect ecosystems and the economy of the island and emphasize the need for adaptation strategies.     

长江经济带城市土地价格空间分异特征及其影响因素

以2016年长江经济带129个城市的土地出让平均单价为基本数据,采用趋势分析与空间自相关分析探索长江经济带城市土地价格的空间分布和关联特征,并运用在分析共线性因素方面具有优势的地理探测器模型来测算长江经济带及其东、中、西部三大区域子市场中各地价影响因素的强弱差异,进一步探讨区域内城市地价空间分异的形成机制。结果表明:(1)以长江经济带城市地价分级为统计依据,城市数量与城镇人口呈现出中间大两头小的"纺锤型"等级分布;(2)长江经济带城市地价的行政等级差异明显,地价水平按"直辖市—副省级城市—非副省级省会城市—地级市—地级州"逐级递减;(3)从整体来看,长江经济带城市地价在东西方向上呈现出东部高、中西部低的趋势,在南北方向上呈现近江区域高、远江区域低的"倒U型"结构。从局部来看,长三角城市群高值聚集、武汉城市圈高低异质等空间聚集和异质的特征丰富;(4)影响东、中、西部城市地价空间分异的主导因素各不相同。房地产开发投资、第三产业增加值与城镇常住人口对东部地区地价的影响较大;第三产业增加值是中部地区地价分异的核心因素,城市等级的作用也在中部凸显;西部地区地价主要受到城市等级、第二产业增加值与城镇常住人口的影响。     

浙江省土地利用非农化与城市化的空间关系计量

Land use is an important carrier and intuitive result of urbanization process. Driven by the dual transformation of China’s land system and developed regional economy, the interrelationship between urbanization and land use non agriculturalization in coastal areas and its evolution are uniquely explored. Based on the county land use information of Zhejiang Province in 2005, 2010 and 2015, this paper quantitatively analyzes the differentiation of county comprehensive urbanization, land use non agriculturalization and the conversion source and flow of key county construction land in 2005-2015. Then use the Theil index and the bivariate spatial autocorrelation method to explore the spatial correlation model of urbanization level and land use non agriculturalization in Zhejiang Provinces. (1) The level of urbanization in Zhejiang County is rapidly increasing and gradually achieving spatial balance and forming a group like urbanization situation centered on Hangzhou, Ningbo,Jinhua, Wenzhou and other municipal districts; the focus of construction land changes from the central and northern plains to the southeast coastal plains. However, the increase in the municipal area is still the most obvious. The increase or decrease of land for agricultural conversion is the key reason for the large scale change in construction land in Zhejiang County; (2) The spatial positive correlation between land non agriculturalization and urbanization in Zhejiang Province has increased significantly, and the spatial differentiation situation has been highlighted. It has shown that the high aggregation area has shifted from the middle part to the east coast of Zhejiang and the islands. In general, the high high type is mostly distributed in the northern Zhejiang Plain, while the low low type extends from the coastal to the inland. (3) There is a significant scale effect of comprehensive urbanization and land use non agriculturalization in Zhejiang Province, and the correlation difference increases with spatial scale. This study reveals the spatial correlation between urbanization and land non agriculturalization in the period of urbanization of economically developed provinces. It has important guiding value for promoting the synergy of land use planning and urban planning, and implementing land transfer and trans administrative area replacement according to local conditions.