Search

Population growth and environmental shifts have elevated the pressure on land use and cover (LULC), necessitating vital management and adaptive strategies to preserve the balance between ecosystem services and human well-being in watersheds. It's pivotal to understand the implications of human-induced shifts from natural to human-dominated surroundings This study utilized Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyze 31 years of LULC changes in Letaba watershed. Using GEE's random forest, LULC classes were mapped with 93% to 99% accuracy across four timeframes (1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021). Trends revealed declining water bodies (-4%), bare surfaces (-2%), natural forest (-3%), and grassland (-3%), while shrublands, plantations, and built-up areas increased at annual rates of 41%, 24%, and 47% respectively. This transformation reflects population-driven shifts, necessitating adaptive strategies. Given the importance of plantations for income, embracing climate-smart agriculture could ensure long-term food and environmental security, thus addressing the evolving dynamics in Letaba watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critically endangered and iconic plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) is phylogenetically distinct and endemic to south eastern Australia, and is a high conservation priority. Furthermore, it relies on critically-endangered native grasslands for its survival, which vary temporally in structure and hence do not always provide suitable habitat. To manage the remaining native grasslands appropriately, it is essential to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of plains-wanderer habitat preferences. We monitored plains-wanderers and habitat measurements for nine years to link habitat preferences to specific elements of grassland structure. We also observed habitat selection by plains-wanderers at two spatial scales – sites (paddocks) and at microsites (immediate vicinity of the birds). The plains-wanderer population declined rapidly after a dramatic increase in native grass cover in 2011, and recovery of the population since then has been slow. In 2015/16, plains-wanderers were generally encountered at microsites with higher bare ground and cryptogam cover. However, at the site scale, paddocks with plains-wanderers had similar cover of native grass and bare ground than those without plains-wanderers. The results suggest that observation of highly-localised habitat components alone may mask aspects of the habitat selection occurring at larger spatial scales. Plains-wanderers may require areas of denser perennial grass for nesting and shelter, as well as access to the open areas where they are commonly encountered. We discuss how private land used for commercial grazing may be crucial to plains-wanderer conservation. The results also prompt consideration of how we measure and interpret habitat selection for grassland birds globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land cover information at national or regional scale is essential for science, monitoring, reporting, and policy making. CORINE Land Cover (CLC) is the most consistent land cover map for the entire European territory, with four repetitions during the period 1985–2012. The long-term consistency of CLC maps is the most appreciated strength and it should be guaranteed. Beyond some common general guidelines, the mapping approaches used in individual countries differ and change over time, leading to inconsistencies that should be known and reported. Through a series of metrics over the Spanish CLC most recent layers (CLC2006 and CLC2012) and comparisons with eight other countries CLC statistics, we demonstrate that the methodological changes recently implemented have introduced some discrepancies with previous CLC versions. The most affected classes in Spain were transitional woodland-shrub, complex cultivation patterns, artificial, grasslands, and forests. Users should be aware of the important implications these discrepancies may have in land use and land cover change studies, trend analysis, and reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progressing spread of urban development into the surrounding fuel-loaded wildland creates a particular landscape structure where the co-occurrence of human activities and flammable fuel greatly increases the fire ignition risk. In this framework, land use and land cover (LULC) maps derived from remotely sensed images represent a useful tool for assessing fire risk. The aim of this letter is thus to use a LULC map derived from QuickBird satellite imagery for assessing ignition risk at the rural-forest interface in Sardinia (Italy). Our results show that fire risk is strongly positively correlated with anthropogenic land use and negatively correlated with semi-natural and natural vegetation cover, such as shrubland or forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study has produced first detailed land‐cover map of Socotra Island. A Landsat 7 ETM+ dataset was used as a main source of remotely sensed data. From numerous reference points (more than 250) coming from the ground data verification the set of training fields and the set of evaluation fields were digitised. As a classification method the supervised maximum likelihood classification without prior probabilities was used in combination with rule‐based post‐classification sorting, providing results of sufficient accuracy and subject resolution. Estimates of the area and degree of coverage of particular land‐cover classes within Socotra Island have brought excellent overview on state of island biotopes. Overall accuracy of the map achieved is more than 80%, 19 terrestrial land‐cover classes (including three types of Shrublands, three types of Woodlands, two types of Forests and Mangroves) have been distinguished. It consequently allows estimates of the current and potential occurrence of endemic plant populations, proposals of management and conservation plans and agro‐forestry planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover classification in heterogeneous east Mediterranean landscapes is challenging, e.g. Jordan. Digital land use/cover maps are needed at an appropriate cost, spatial and temporal coverage. North‐western Jordan is appropriate for exploring the use of Landsat ETM imagery in land use/cover delineations as its biogeographic zones are very diverse and heterogeneous. Supervised and unsupervised classification schemes were used with and without spatial enhancement techniques. Sources of classification errors were inspected statistically. Results indicated that Landsat ETM images are effective in classifying heterogeneous Mediterranean landscapes with an accuracy of up to 83%. Accuracy was enhanced by approximately 9% using supervised classification. Spatial enhancement improved accuracy of certain classes and reduced it for others. Results call for class‐specific classification schemes. Areas of the different land use/cover classes of the study area were estimated from the classified image. Urban, shrubland and rangeland areas were estimated for the first time. There is a growing concern about the governmental census estimates of certain classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a major driver of land surface transformation in California Mediterranean-type shrublands (i.e. chaparral). The re-growth of leaves following fire impacts a wide variety of ecosystem processes and information on the post-fire recovery of leaf area index (LAI) is often required in eco-hydrologic modelling studies. A few studies have reported LAI values for chaparral, but none have tracked LAI dynamics over the entire post-fire recovery sequence. In this study we used a chronosequence approach with satellite imagery to determine the post-fire development sequence of LAI for chaparral shrublands in central California. Moreover, we explored how LAI varied with differences in annual antecedent precipitation conditions (APC) and physical site factors. LAI recovery following fire was most rapid during the first 15 years, after which it remained relatively constant with increasing stand age. For a given stand age, LAI varied nonlinearly with annual APC, while spatial variations in LAI were associated with differences in topographic aspect and landscape wetness potential. However, a better understanding of the nature and interaction of these controls on LAI is needed if realistic post-fire LAI trajectories (for historic, present and future periods) for eco-hydrological modelling studies in chaparral catchments are to be developed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]