基于RS与GIS的武汉城市湖泊演化研究

以武汉市主城区为例,利用1995和2005年Landsat5两期TM影像与2000和2010年Landset7两期ETM＋影像的解译结果,基于景观分形理论与GIS的空间分析功能相结合的研究方法,分别构建湖泊变化强度指数和湖泊分形维数变化指数。从湖泊面积变化和湖泊形态变化,以及湖泊水域和其他土地利用类型的转移变化特点与影响进行综合分析。来丰富湖泊演化的分析方法,并总结高速城市化背景下湖泊的变化规律,从而更深入地了解和认识人类活动因素与湖泊水域动态变化之间的响应关系,同时提出若干城市湖泊治理与管理的方式。研究结果表明,（1）15年间的湖泊水域面积总量的变化呈现萎缩的趋势,年变化量在逐渐减小,湖泊萎缩的速度得到了一定的控制。（2）1995-2010年湖泊分形维数也呈逐期较小趋势,说明湖泊几何形状趋于简单化,人为活动对湖泊的影响加大。（3）15年来主城区28个主要湖泊的变化强度指数均为负值,呈萎缩趋势。但从2000年开始,少数湖泊变化强度指数为正值,萎缩趋势得到初步的控制。（4）1995-2010年间湖泊的水域面积主要转移成为建设用地和耕地。其转移面积占转移总面积的87．02％。围湖造田和城市化率的迅速提高对城市湖泊的演化影响深刻。（5）城市化背景下湖泊面积与形态变化的规律并非完全与城市化发展速率呈正比的关系,当城市化率上升到一定的阶段后,城市内部对生态环境的保护与要求也不断提高。为改善城市环境和城市内部的生态用地,湖泊应得到立法等强制性保护。     

平原城市河流面源污染研究范围及方法的选择与效果比较

由于平原城市地貌起伏不大,较难划分城市河流的流域范围,使得与河道面源污染相关的研究范围的边界确定存在一定的困难。针对这一问题,本文对比了基于缓冲区和排水区的两种研究范围及方法。根据遥感影像,利用GIS提取研究区内土地利用信息并与河流水质进行回归分析,对比两种范围及方法所得出的结果,试图为城市河道污染物的研究及管理提供方法支持和理论依据。本文选取了天津滨海地区11条河流进行研究,结果表明：（1）选取城市排水区作为土地利用数据的方法能够与河流中污染物的发生,迁移的真实情况相符合,能够综合考虑不同的景观格局分布对于水质的影响,结合平原城市的特殊性反映土地利用与河流污染物之间的相关关系,在机理严谨性上优于使用缓冲区范围,在整体性上更为完整;（2）基于缓冲区的研究方法能够在一定程度上解释在地表径流作用下,河流近岸不同距离的土地利用类型对河流污染物的影响,如耕地对污染物的影响,河流近岸100 m缓冲区的联合显著性为0.848,300 m缓冲区的仅为0.165;（3）土地利用类型对河流中污染物类型的贡献和消减趋势基本一致,城市居民点与工矿用地是河流当中重金属污染物如铅、汞的主要输入源;耕地对重金属等污染物有一定的截留消减作用,但在面积较大时增加了河流的有机污染物如氨氮;林地、园地、草地和水体对于城市河流污染物有一定的净化作用。两种方法结合起来可以得出更为详尽、客观的研究结果。     

Land-use dynamics and flood risk in the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta: The case of Foshan City

This study examines land-use change and flood risk in the rapidly urbanizing Foshan City, a typical hinterland city in the Pearl River Delta. On the basis of classification of Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery, and further GIS-based spatial analysis, the paper determines that, between 1988–2003, massive land-use and -cover change (LUCC) occurred in this region. During the drastic land-use change, the loss of river area was much lower than that of other land-use types. In this region, appropriately 57.89% of water area was converted to the other land types; 46.65% was converted to new dyke-ponds, farmland, and built-up area, whereas the proportion of the other land types converted to water was only 42.97%. Nearly 15% of total water loss was in land for human use, which represents the degradation of the buffering capacity of the water systems to rainstorms. Further, driven by the pressure of urbanization, drastic changes in land use have resulted in significant alternation of hydrological conditions of the river systems, which, in turn, have potentially caused the higher flood risk in more populous urban areas in the sub-delta plain. Therefore, rational land-use policies should be implemented to give maximum returns while minimizing adverse impacts of flooding.     

Role of Prices and Wealth in Consumer Demand for Bushmeat in Gabon, Central Africa

Abstract:  Unsustainable hunting of wildlife for food is often a more immediate and significant threat to the conservation of biological diversity in tropical forests than deforestation. Why people eat wildlife is debated. Some may eat bushmeat because they can afford it; others may eat it because it is familiar, traditional, confers prestige, tastes good, or adds variety. We completed a survey of 1208 rural and urban households in Gabon, Africa, in 2002–2003 to estimate the effect of wealth and prices on the consumption of wildlife and other sources of animal protein. Consumption of bushmeat, fish, chicken, and livestock increased with increasing household wealth, and as the price of these commodities rose, consumption declined. Although the prices of substitutes for bushmeat did not significantly, in statistical terms, influence bushmeat consumption, as the price of wildlife increased and its consumption fell, the consumption of fish rose, indicating that fish and bushmeat were dietary substitutes. Our results suggest that policy makers can use economic levers such as taxation or supply reduction through better law enforcement to change demand for wildlife. These measures will help to regulate unsustainable exploitation and reduce the risk of irreversible loss of large-bodied and slow-reproducing wildlife species. If policy makers focus solely on reducing the unsustainable consumption of wildlife, they may see adverse impacts on the exploitation of fish. Furthermore, policy makers must ensure that raising household wealth through development assistance does not result in undesirable impacts on the conservation status of wildlife and fish.     

Effects of land use on water quality of two high-altitude lakes and catchments in Yunnan Province,China

SUMMARY

Reclaiming farmland from lakes in China in the 1950s damaged the water quality of many lakes. Tremendous efforts have been made since the late 1990s to restore vegetation around the damaged lakes. This paper examines water quality of Fuxian and Qilu Lakes and land-use characteristics within the two catchments in the high-altitude area of Yunnan Province, China. Landsat TM data acquired in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005 were used to extract land use and land cover (LULC) information. Measurements of five water quality indices (WQIs), BOD, COD, pH, TN and TP, for the same period of time were examined. The results showed that the area of residential and forest/shrub increased, whereas that of cropland and barren land decreased from 1989 to 2005 in both catchments. Qilu Lake was much more polluted than Fuxian Lake, and pollution worsened over time for both lakes. The differences in water quality between the two lakes were caused by differences in LULC composition and continued degradation in water quality was caused by intensive farming and urban sprawl. Unless the landscape is converted back to its pre-1950 composition and structure, water quality in both lakes cannot be significantly improved and will continue to threaten sustainable development in the region.     

Rural Development and Sustainable Wildlife Use in Peru

Abstract: Tropical conservation has seen a convergence between conservation projects and rural development, with both approaches promoting participation of local people in sustainable resource use. But there is a discord between rural development and sustainable use of wildlife. Implementing more sustainable use of wildlife usually means decreased economic benefits for rural people, especially over the short term. In contrast, rural-development projects are often mandated to generate income for rural people over the short term. We examined this dilemma through an integrated economic and harvest analysis of the costs associated with converting unsustainable hunting to more sustainable hunting in the Peruvian Amazon. Our analysis suggests that a change in hunting practice would have significant economic costs for rural people and would result in a 36% decrease in the economic benefits they derive from wildlife hunting. In contrast, converting unsustainable hunting to more sustainable hunting would have little effect on meat markets in the urban center of Iquitos, Peru, with markets losing only 3.6% of their economic value. There would be no economic costs for the international pelt trade. If rural-development projects absorb the short-term economic costs, they can help people convert unsustainable wildlife use to more sustainable use and assist rural people in realizing the long-term benefits of more sustainable hunting. But many rural-development projects would need to change their mandate for short-term income generation to incorporate the realities of sustainability.     

Impacts of land use and land cover change on the interactions among multiple soil-dependent ecosystem services (case study: Jiroft plain,Iran)

The spatial and temporal distribution pattern is an outstanding feature of the relationship among ecosystem services (ESs) that explains links between human activities and disturbed chemical composition of ecosystems. This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation of land use/cover changes (LUCC) and quantifies the change in four essential ecosystem services with an emphasis on soil (nutrient delivery ratio, carbon storage, crop production, and water yield) and their relationships in the Jiroft plain, Iran, during 1996–2016 through analytical tools including Land Change Modeler, and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoff. During the 20-year concentrate period, there was a considerable overall gain in cropland (5396 km²) and urban (1787 km²), loss of unused land (5692 km²), water (2088 km²), and forest (1083 km²). As a result of LUCC, while crop production and nutrient delivery ratio showed a rising trend, overall carbon storage and water yield decreased. The spatiotemporal trade-off between carbon storage and crop production, the temporal trade-off between crop production and water yield, and synergy between water yield and crop production were widespread in Jiroft plain. These results showed that the interaction among ESs mutates over time and can be changed under planning and policies. This study will enrich the research of the geographical distribution of ESs interaction in dryland ecosystems to provide practical ecosystem management under local conditions.

     

The rise of glyphosate and new opportunities for biosentinel early‐warning studies

Glyphosate has become the most commonly used herbicide worldwide and is reputedly environmentally benign, nontoxic, and safe for use near wildlife and humans. However, studies indicate its toxicity is underestimated and its persistence in the environment is greater than once thought. Its actions as a neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor indicate its potential to act in similar ways to persistent organic pollutants such as the organochlorines dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin. Exposure to glyphosate and glyphosate‐based herbicides for both wildlife and people is likely to be chronic and at sublethal levels, with multiple and ongoing exposure events occurring in urban and agricultural landscapes. Despite this, there has been little research on the impact of glyphosate on wildlife populations, and existing studies appear in the agricultural, toxicology, and water‐chemistry literature that may have limited visibility among wildlife biologists. These studies clearly demonstrate a link between chronic exposure and neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, cell damage, and immune suppression. There is a strong case for the recognition of glyphosate as an emerging organic contaminant and substantial potential exists for collaborative research among ecologists, toxicologists, and chemists to quantify the impact of glyphosate on wildlife and to evaluate the role of biosentinel species in a preemptive move to mitigate downstream impacts on people. There is scope to develop a decision framework to aid the choice of species to biomonitor and analysis methods based on the target contaminant, spatial and temporal extent of contamination, and perceived risk. Birds in particular offer considerable potential in this role because they span agricultural and urban environments, coastal, inland, and wetland ecosystems where glyphosate residues are known to be present.     

The impact of storm Xynthia in 2010 on coastal flood prevention policy in France

Storm Xynthia occurred on 28 February 2010. It was one of the most destructive climatic events to hit metropolitan France for several decades, causing 47 victims in France, among whom more than half died in the department of Vendée. The occurence of various natural phenomena (atmospheric pressure, strength and orientation of the wind, tidal range) at the same time caused a major coastal flood in several urban areas from Vendée and Charente-Maritime (central Atlantic region of France). The evaluation of the disaster highlighted a number of problems, especially delays in approving the PPR-L (Plan de Prévention des Risques Littoraux) that allowed urbanization in the coastal flood plain that exposed population to major natural risks, such as sea level rise and floods. Since 28th February, 2010, the French government has focused on these issues and tried to define in a more accurate way the criteria used for the flood zonings of the PPR-L. A number of circulars and recommendations have been produced and they all specified rules of protection for properties against the risk of flood and the necessary measures for adapting or building current or future houses (e.g. height of the upper floor, presence of an upper floor refuge) in accordance with the level of risk. The objective of this paper is twofold: we wish to highlight the impact of the disaster Xynthia on the production of PPR-L in the short and medium terms while focusing on the example of the town of La-Faute-sur-Mer. We will also analyze the evolution of the regulations since 28 February 2010, with special attention paid to the proposed criteria to define the hazard.     

Impacts of rural to urban migration,urbanization, and generational change on consumption of wild animals in the Amazon

For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend is likely to continue, driven largely by rural-to-urban migration. We investigated how rural-to-urban migration, urbanization, and generational change affect the consumption of wild animals. We used chelonian (tortoises and freshwater turtles), one of the most hunted taxa in the Amazon, as a model. We surveyed 1356 households and 2776 school children across 10 urban areas of the Brazilian Amazon (6 small towns, 3 large towns, and Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon Basin) with a randomized response technique and anonymous questionnaires. Urban demand for wild meat (i.e., meat from wild animals) was alarmingly high. Approximately 1.7 million turtles and tortoises were consumed in urban areas of Amazonas during 2018. Consumption rates declined as size of the urban area increased and were greater for adults than children. Furthermore, the longer rural-to-urban migrants lived in urban areas, the lower their consumption rates. These results suggest that wild meat consumption is a rural-related tradition that decreases as urbanization increases and over time after people move to urban areas. However, it is unclear whether the observed decline will be fast enough to conserve hunted species, or whether children's consumption rate will remain the same as they become adults. Thus, conservation actions in urban areas are still needed. Current conservation efforts in the Amazon do not address urban demand for wildlife and may be insufficient to ensure the survival of traded species in the face of urbanization and human population growth. Our results suggest that conservation interventions must target the urban demand for wildlife, especially by focusing on young people and recent rural to urban migrants. Article impact statement: Amazon urbanite consumption of wildlife is high but decreases with urbanization, over time for rural to urban migrants, and between generations. Impactos de la Migración del Campo a la Ciudad, la Urbanización y del Cambio Generacional sobre el Consumo de Animales Silvestres en el Amazonas     

新疆阿克苏地区平原区高砷地下水分布特征及富集因素分析

地下水砷污染是全球化环境问题.本文基于阿克苏地区平原区2017年75个地下水砷实测含量进行分析.结果表明,研究区地下水砷含量变化范围为ND-98.70 μg?L-1,平均值为9.42μg?L-1,超标率达26.7％.水平方向上,高砷地下水主要集中在研究区的中部偏南一带;垂直方向上,山麓斜坡冲洪积砾质平原潜水区地下水砷含...     

Urban land use predicts West Nile virus exposure in songbirds

Urbanization is a widespread phenomenon that is likely to influence the prevalence and impact of wildlife pathogens, with implications for wildlife management and public health policies toward zoonotic pathogens. In this study, wild songbird populations were sampled at 14 sites along an urban rural gradient in the greater metropolitan Atlanta (Georgia, USA) area and tested for antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV). The level of urbanization among sites was quantitatively assessed using a principal component analysis of key land use characteristics. In total, 499 individual birds were tested during the spring and summer over three years (2004-2006). Antibody prevalence of WNV increased from rural to urban sites, and this trend was stronger among adult birds relative to juveniles. Furthermore, antibody prevalence among Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) was significantly higher than in other songbird species along the urban gradient. Findings reported here indicate that ecological factors associated with urbanization can influence infection patterns of this vector-borne viral disease, with likely mechanisms including changes in host species diversity and the tolerance or recovery of infected animals.     

Ecosystem ecology meets adaptive management: food web response to a controlled flood on the Colorado River, Glen Canyon

Large dams have been constructed on rivers to meet human demands for water, electricity, navigation, and recreation. As a consequence, flow and temperature regimes have been altered, strongly affecting river food webs and ecosystem processes. Experimental high-flow dam releases, i.e., controlled floods, have been implemented on the Colorado River, U.S.A., in an effort to reestablish pulsed flood events, redistribute sediments, improve conditions for native fishes, and increase understanding of how dam operations affect physical and biological processes. We quantified secondary production and organic matter flows in the food web below Glen Canyon dam for two years prior and one year after an experimental controlled flood in March 2008. Invertebrate biomass and secondary production declined significantly following the flood (total biomass, 55% decline; total production, 56% decline), with most of the decline driven by reductions in two nonnative invertebrate taxa, Potamopyrgus antipodarum and Gammarus lacustris. Diatoms dominated the trophic basis of invertebrate production before and after the controlled flood, and the largest organic matter flows were from diatoms to the three most productive invertebrate taxa (P. antipodarum, G. lacustris, and Tubificida). In contrast to invertebrates, production of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) increased substantially (194%) following the flood, despite the large decline in total secondary production of the invertebrate assemblage. This counterintuitive result is reconciled by a post-flood increase in production and drift concentrations of select invertebrate prey (i.e., Chironomidae and Simuliidae) that supported a large proportion of trout production but had relatively low secondary production. In addition, interaction strengths, measured as species impact values, were strongest between rainbow trout and these two taxa before and after the flood, demonstrating that the dominant consumer-resource interactions were not necessarily congruent with the dominant organic matter flows. Our study illustrates the value of detailed food web analysis for elucidating pathways by which dam management may alter production and strengths of species interactions in river food webs. We suggest that controlled floods may increase production of nonnative rainbow trout, and this information can be used to help guide future dam management decisions.     

Payments for Ecosystem Services as a Framework for Community-Based Conservation in Northern Tanzania

Abstract:  Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are an increasingly promoted approach to conservation. These approaches seek to develop financial mechanisms that create economic incentives for the maintenance of ecosystems and associated biodiversity by rewarding those who are responsible for provision of ecological services. There are, however, few cases in which such schemes have been used as a strategy for conserving wildlife in developing countries and very few operational examples of such schemes of any sort in sub-Saharan Africa. In savannah ecosystems, large mammal populations generally depend on seasonal use of extensive areas and are widely declining as a result of habitat loss, overexploitation, and policies that limit local benefits from wildlife. Community-based conservation strategies seek to create local incentives for conserving wildlife, but often have limited impact as a result of persistent institutional barriers that limit local rights and economic benefits. In northern Tanzania, a consortium of tourism operators is attempting to address these challenges through an agreement with a village that possesses part of a key wildlife dispersal area outside Tarangire National Park. The operators pay the community to enforce voluntary restrictions on agricultural cultivation and permanent settlement in a defined area of land. The initiative represents a potentially cost-effective framework for community-based conservation in an ecologically important area and is helping to reconcile historically conflicting local and national interests relative to land tenure, pastoralist livelihoods, and conservation. Wider adaptation of payments for ecosystem services approaches to settings where sustaining wildlife populations depends on local stewardship may help address current challenges facing conservation outside state-protected areas in savannah ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world.     

基于CVM的南昌城市河湖生态服务功能价值评估

条件价值评估法(CVM)是当前可用于确定环境物品非市场的和非使用价值的有效方法.在分析南昌市城市河湖生态环境问题的基础上,采用条件价值评估法,共回收194份单边界二分式CVM有效问卷,研究了南昌城市河湖生态系统服务改善的支付意愿及其经济价值.研究表明:1)南昌市城区河湖生态系统服务改善的平均支付意愿约为105.83元/...     

Long‐term spatio‐temporal changes in a West African bushmeat trade system

Landscapes in many developing countries consist of a heterogeneous matrix of mixed agriculture and forest. Many of the generalist species in this matrix are increasingly traded in the bushmeat markets of West and Central Africa. However, to date there has been little quantification of how the spatial configuration of the landscape influences the urban bushmeat trade over time. As anthropogenic landscapes become the face of rural West Africa, understanding the dynamics of these systems has important implications for conservation and landscape management. The bushmeat production of an area is likely to be defined by landscape characteristics such as habitat disturbance, hunting pressure, level of protection, and distance to market. We explored (SSG, tense) the role of these four characteristics in the spatio‐temporal dynamics of the commercial bushmeat trade around the city of Kumasi, Ghana, over 27 years (1978 to 2004). We used geographic information system methods to generate maps delineating the spatial characteristics of the landscapes. These data were combined with spatially explicit market data collected in the main fresh bushmeat market in Kumasi to explore the relationship between trade volume (measured in terms of number of carcasses) and landscape characteristics. Over time, rodents, specifically cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus), became more abundant in the trade relative to ungulates and the catchment area of the bushmeat market expanded. Areas of intermediate disturbance supplied more bushmeat, but protected areas had no effect. Heavily hunted areas showed significant declines in bushmeat supply over time. Our results highlight the role that low intensity, heterogeneous agricultural landscapes can play in providing ecosystem services, such as bushmeat, and therefore the importance of incorporating bushmeat into ecosystem service mapping exercises. Our results also indicate that even where high bushmeat production is possible, current harvest levels may cause wildlife depletion.     

The impact of the Jonglei Canal on the economy of the local people

The idea of saving the water lost in the ‘Sudd’ swamp through evaporation was conceived by Egypt and Sudan for their own interests, but not for those of the Nilotic peoples living in the flood plain. Concern for the local development was only taken into consideration after the 1974 Juba riots, when three people were killed and 200 arrested. The canal has caused displacement of people from their settlements and is blocking the seasonal movement of livestock and wildlife. Conflict may arise over the use of land for grazing or irrigation. The Nilotics are concerned about the possible negative environmental impact, and the loss of their cultural identity. They maintain that Egypt should pay them monetary compensation for the disruption that the canal has caused to their livelihood.

This paper assesses the impact that the Jonglei canal project will have on the economy of the Nilotics; traces the historical development of the project; outlines the social, political and economic organization of the Nilotics; and assesses the impact the project will have on the local population. The paper concludes by casting doubt on the benefits the canal will bring to the Nilotics.     

北京城市热岛的定量监测及规划模拟研究

为定量地评估北京城市热岛现状并预测未来北京城市热岛发展趋势,分别采用气温资料、遥感资料和城市规划资料进行了研究分析。对北京20个气象台站按照台站距离城市中心的距离划分为远郊、近郊和城市三类,分别计算三种类型站点经过海拔订正后的年平均气温,利用1971-2012年城市站和远郊站的年平均气温差值估算北京气温热岛的时间变化;利用1987-2012年的NOAA/AVHRR和Landsat-TM两种不同分辨率的卫星资料,采用定量化的指标--地表热岛强度和热岛比例指数分别估算了不同时期北京地区和城六区热岛强度和范围,并对北京平原地区的城市热岛状况进行了评估;利用2020年的北京城市规划土地利用资料,结合2008年的城市热岛现状监测结果对2020年的北京热岛状况进行了模拟分析。研究结果表明,北京城市的气温热岛与遥感监测地表热岛在时间变化趋势上具有一致性,不同分辨率卫星资料监测地表热岛在时空分布上也具有一致性。其中1971-2012年,以年平均气温计算的北京城市热岛强度增温率为0.33℃·（10 a）-1,近5年（2008-2012）平均热岛为1.12℃。遥感监测结果显示1987-2001年北京地区的热岛持续增强,2001年之后由于北京申奥的成功进行了大面积的旧城改造和绿化,使得城市热岛强度和范围在2004年和2008年有所降低,2008年之后城市热岛继续向东、南和北方向扩展,并出现了中心城区热岛与通州、顺义、大兴、昌平热岛连成片的趋势,到2012年城六区热岛面积百分比已从1990年的31%增加到77%。由热岛比例指数确定的北京各区县热岛强度排名前三分别是城区、海淀和丰台,延庆县最低。对2020年城市规划图热岛模拟结果显示北京热岛已由“摊大饼”演变为“中心＋周边分散”模式,中心城区热岛强度和范围明显减弱,周边广大远郊区将出现分散?     

On the conflicts of wildlife management in Africa

SUMMARY

The paper analyses the conflict between wildlife conservation and the costs and benefits obtained from it in an East African context. A well defined agency is managing a national park of fixed area. Wildlife is also assumed to be ‘owned’ by the park authority. The park owner has therefore economic incentives to conserve the wildlife. The management policy, however, does not take into account the damage caused to the production of the agropastoralists living in the proximity of the park by the wildlife roaming freely in and out of the park. The conflict is first analysed in a one-species framework. Next, the model is extented to a two-species framework where the species compete for grazing lands.     

How dynamics and drivers of land use/land cover change impact elephant conservation and agricultural livelihood development in Rombo,Tanzania

Land use/land cover (LULC) change affects the provision of ecosystem services for humans and habitat for wildlife. Hence, it is crucial to monitor LULC particularly adjacent to protected areas. In this study, we measured LULC change in Rombo, Tanzania, an area with high-potential agro-ecological zones that is dominated by human–elephant conflicts (HECs). We used remote sensing and geographical information system techniques, questionnaires and village meetings to assess spatio-temporal patterns of the LULC changes in the study area. Using Landsat imagery, digital elevation model (DEM) and ground truthing, we classified and monitored changes in LULC from the years 1987 to 2015. We found that within Rombo, settlements were increasing, while agricultural and agroforestry lands were decreasing and respondents’ perceptions varied along the altitudinal gradient. Patterns of HEC and LULC were observed to change along the gradient and the later threatened the agricultural land and ecological integrity for elephant habitat, leading to high tension and competition between elephants and people. This research offers baseline information for land use planning to balance wildlife conservation with livelihood development in Rombo and highlights that managing the impacts of LULC changes on HEC and elephant habitat loss is a matter of urgency.