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Meeting the rapidly changing and growing demands and needs of our society and economy in turn assumes that we will mobilize our additional opportunities and redistribute our resources in a suitable way that is, diversify. Today, many problems associated with the formation of mechanisms of land reform are observed in the world. For example, these include escalating land redistribution, preventing land economic productivity from falling and deficits in investment, low economic styles in managing land degradation and preventing agricultural land from leaving the turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tibetan Plateau has important functions, such as water and soil conservation, wind and sand control, carbon fixation, and biodiversity protection. Agricultural development on the Tibetan Plateau not only maintains local food security but is also related to the important ecological functions in China and Asia. This study analyzed the spatial distribution of reclaimed and abandoned cultivated land in the Yarlung Zangbo–Lhasa–Nyangqu River (YLN) region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2000 to 2020 using high-resolution remote sensing data. Additionally, this study explored the factors influencing spatial distribution patterns using a landscape pattern index and correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, cultivated land reclamation and abandonment coexisted in the YLN region. The total areas of reclaimed and abandoned cultivated land were 558.57 and 196.85 km2, and their growth and abandonment rates were 25.47 and 8.29%, respectively. (2) Apparent regional differences existed in the distribution of reclaimed and abandoned lands. The reclaimed land was concentrated in the northeast and southwest of YLN, whereas abandoned land was scattered, with relatively higher fragmentation than in the former. (3) Climate and location affected the spatial distribution of both land types, with precipitation, aspect, and SOM having less influence and temperature, elevation, slope, traffic conditions, and farming radius having relatively prominent influence. (4) Socioeconomic factors were the main factors driving changes in cultivated land area in the region, wherein grain output and the number of livestock positively impacted reclamation and abandonment, relatively more significantly for reclamation. This study helps to understand the land use changes and their impacts in the YLN region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is of great significance for formulating appropriate sustainable development strategies and land management policies, and ensuring the sustainable development of local ecological environment and cultivated land resources utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coastal reclamation, as one of the most extreme transformations of the ocean space by humans, still lacks scientific quantitative evaluating methods to a large extent, compared with the evolution of land use patterns. A cumulative ecological impacts of reclamation (RCEI) was established in our study based on ecological influence characteristics of different reclamation types, and the attenuation effect of reclamation on adjacent areas. It was characterized by spatio-temporal features in decades. Here, we estimated that the cumulative reclamation area in the Bohai Sea from 1985 to 2018 was 5839.5 km2. Under the influence of human activity, proportions of the industrial and urban boundary, marine construction boundaries (e.g., ports, wharves, and bridges), and protective dams were increased significantly, which led to a sharp increase of the RCEI. In addition, spatio-temporal changes of reclamation were affected by the combination of population growth, economic development, urbanization, industrialization, and marine industry development in coastal cities. These results provided an important historical reference for tracking future development of the Bohai Sea by humans and provided basic data support for the development and protection of the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately predicting the reclamation potential of rural settlements is critical for optimizing regional land use patterns. However, many existing approaches lack reliable verification of their predictions. This study proposes a potential prediction model for decision-making on rural settlement reclamation, using Gradient Boosting Regression Tree (GBRT) and spatiotemporal land-use data. Because the reclamation potential of rural settlements is influenced by a complex interplay of physical and socio-economic factors. A systematic analysis was conducted to identify the influencing factors on the release of land reclamation potential in rural areas, integrating them into a system of 35 factors, including topography, location, urban-rural development, government financial pressure, agricultural development, food security, and distribution characteristics of rural settlements and cropland. The spatiotemporal land use data were selected to create the training and test samples for the model. The GBRT also presented the high accuracy, efficiency, and resistance to overfitting. The improved model was used to automatically identify the potential release characteristics of rural settlements under the comprehensive influence of multiple socio-economic factors. A case study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the improved model in the Hunan Province of the South-Central China. The data used in the case study was collected from the 102 county-level units in Hunan, where 70% for training and 30% for validation. The cross-validation experiments show that the better performance was achieved in the improved model, with the determination coefficient of R²=0.976 5 and an average absolute percentage error of 11.64%. The relative error was about 6.6% between the predicted and the actual potential between 2009 and 2019. Therefore, the prediction accuracy of the improved model was fully met the requirements of the planning decisions. According to the prediction, the total reclamation potential of rural settlements from 2020 to 2035 in Hunan was approximately 36 050.26 hm², equivalent to 4.58% of the current rural construction land area in 2020. The predicted potential characteristics and distribution were in line with the actual reclamation potential from 2009 to 2018, indicating the feasibility of the predicted model. The areas with the greatest potential were primarily located in the “Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan” area, while the areas around Dongting Lake and the central Hunan Basin presented relatively fast economic development and urbanization, indicating a large contradiction between the demand and supply of land for construction. Therefore, the rural settlements to be reclaimed were in plain areas with convenient transportation and low difficulty of reclamation, where contiguous operation with surrounding arable land after reclamation could yield better economic benefits. These regions can serve as the major area for comprehensive land consolidation from 2020 to 2035. The improved model can provide accurate and reliable guidance for comprehensive land consolidation and land use planning, benefiting provincial and local governments. In conclusion, the accurate prediction achieved in the reclamation potential of rural settlements will help optimize land use patterns and promote the sustainable development of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal reuse of abandoned mining land is of great practical significance to construct and expand the space that required by the transformation of resource-based towns in China. Taking Mentougou District of Beijing as an example, the 3S technology and field research were integrated to analyze the type, area, distribution, reuse status, as well as the temporal and spatial changes of abandoned mining land. A dynamic environment model of geographical process (Dinamica EGO) was used to simulate the reuse pattern of abandoned mining land under the trend development scenario. The appropriateness of abandoned mining land was evaluated to reuse for the ecological agriculture, ecological tourism, and high-tech industry under the functional positioning of “Capital ecological conservation development area” of Mentougou District using principal component analysis and BP neural network. According to the suitability evaluation and the land needs of industrial transformation, the land conversion rules were established to optimize the quantitative structure using the linear niche programming model and constraint conditions. Dinamica EGO model was then used to optimize the spatial pattern of the abandoned mining land that reused for the industrial transformation. Regulation was conducted to compare the optimization pattern with the trend development. The results showed were as follows: 1) A total of 323.30 hm2 of abandoned mining land was reused in the study area from 2006 to 2018. The abandoned mining land in the western towns was mainly reused as the woodland, cultivated land and orchards, while the abandoned mining land in eastern towns was mainly reused as the woodland, park, residential, and high-tech industrial land. 2) In the trend development scenario pattern, the abandoned mining land reused as ecological agricultural land was mainly distributed in Miaofengshan and Tanzhesi Town, the ecological tourism industry was mainly distributed in Datai Street and Wangping Town, and the high-tech industrial land was in Datai Street and Junzhuang Town. In the optimized pattern of abandoned mining land reuse for the industrial transformation, the area of abandoned mining land reused as the ecological agriculture was 251.75 hm2, mainly concentrated in Junzhuang, and Wangping Town, the reused area of the ecotourism was 67.25 hm2 in Miaofengshan, and Qingshui Town, and the area as the high-tech industry was 84.25 hm2 in Wangping and Miaofengshan Town. 3) In the two scenarios, about 108.5 hm2 of abandoned mining land was reused for the same purpose, indicating no adjustment to need. About 63.75 hm2 of abandoned mining land was reused as the ecological tourism land under the trend development scenario, which should be adjusted to the ecological agriculture land. By contrast, the ecological agriculture land was about 61 hm2 of abandoned mining land under the trend development scenario, which should be adjusted to the ecological tourism land. There was the 12.5 hm2 abandoned mining land should be developed into the high-tech industrial land in the Miaofeng Mountain, Wangping, and Yongding Town, according to the local infrastructure. Consequently, the direct and substantial combination were realized for the reuse of abandoned mine land and the demand for the industrial transformation of mineral resource-based towns. The findings can provide the theoretical support for the reuse and regulation of local abandoned mine land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insensitive manner in which man is utilizing land in the modern era has necessitated a continuous examination of the changing land use pattern all over the world. This study uses geospatial technology to analyse the changing land use land cover pattern of Keecheri-Puzhakkal river basin in Thrissur district, Kerala from 1995 to 2020. The results of analysis revealed that from 1995 to 2020 built up land increased by 86.91 km², whereas the area under forests, paddy wetlands and water bodies declined by 9.32 km², 46.70 km² and 3.31 km² respectively. Area under mixed crops initially increased by 30.40 km² from 1995 to 2008 and then reduced by 52.72 km² from 2008 to 2020. NDVI analysis showed that from 1995 to 2020 land with dense vegetation declined from 36.11% to 14.10% of the total geographical area of the river basin and land without vegetation increased from 32.14% to 46.36% of the total geographical area of Keecheri-Puzhakkal river basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is facing economic losses of $US ~ 3.0 billion annually due to the existence of ~ 6.73 million ha of un‐reclaimed salt‐affected soils (SASs). The losses may go up significantly as future projections indicate an increase in the area of SASs to the extent of ~16 million ha by 2050, due to the impact of faulty irrigation practices and climate change. Managing the SASs is one of the major challenges in achieving land degradation neutrality, increasing crop productivity, and sustaining food security in India. Although the problem of SASs has been reduced to some extent through various technological interventions yet further efforts are needed for developing new avenues to further improve the productivity and restrict the expansion of salinity to new areas. The major interventions including application of various ameliorants, growing salt‐tolerant crops and cultivars, installation of sub‐surface drainage, adoption of alternate land‐use systems, and use of land shaping techniques have made significant impact nation‐wide in term of reclamation and productivity enhancement. Despite the achieved success in restoring the productivity of SASs, several constraints at the regional and national level have plagued the reclamation progress. The objective of this review is to compile relevant information available on the use and success of technological interventions to restore SASs. The emerging challenges, and the strategies that would be needed to address the problem of SASs in India are also discussed. This review may help India achieve the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the UN for land degradation neutrality and food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy development is one of the most rapidly increasing land uses in North America, so understanding how wildlife respond to different types of energy infrastructure is crucial for informing land‐use policies. Effects of energy development on wildlife habitat use and selection can vary depending on infrastructure type, level of industrial activity, and density. I examined seasonal habitat use and selection of greater sage‐grouse in relation to energy development in a high‐elevation oil and gas field in western Colorado by linking spatially and temporally explicit energy infrastructure layers with telemetry locations of marked females from 2006 to 2014. Objectives were to (1) quantify energy infrastructure around seasonal use locations; (2) examine how seasonal resource selection is affected by energy infrastructure with disturbed versus reclaimed surface and different levels of industrial activity; and (3) assess current surface disturbance and infrastructure density caps. Between 92% and 97% of seasonal use locations had <3% disturbed surface within 1000 m. After accounting for landcover and topography, breeding and wintering females selected locations with less disturbed, reclaimed, and total anthropogenic surface. Breeding females selected locations farther from high‐activity well pads and facilities. In contrast, females selected locations with low to intermediate values of disturbed and reclaimed surface and locations closer to pipelines and roads in summer–fall. This is the first evidence that greater sage‐grouse select locations with energy infrastructure in any season and suggests that responses to energy development may differ between mesic and arid sagebrush ecosystems. Females avoided locations with >1.1%–2.5% disturbed surface during breeding and winter and selected locations with lower densities of active energy features during breeding and roads in winter. Density caps of one active energy feature and 1.5 mi (2.41 km) of road per section were adequate to prevent avoidance except during the breeding season. Disturbance caps should be set at 1.1% disturbed surface and 1.8% total anthropogenic surface in breeding habitat and 2.5% disturbed surface and 3.5% total anthropogenic surface in winter habitat to minimize negative impacts on female habitat selection in this population. Results also support timing restrictions on construction and drilling during breeding and rapid transitioning of well pads from drilling to production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Energy development is one of the most rapidly increasing land uses in North America, so understanding how wildlife respond to different types of energy infrastructure is crucial for informing land‐use policies. Effects of energy development on wildlife habitat use and selection can vary depending on infrastructure type, level of industrial activity, and density. I examined seasonal habitat use and selection of greater sage‐grouse in relation to energy development in a high‐elevation oil and gas field in western Colorado by linking spatially and temporally explicit energy infrastructure layers with telemetry locations of marked females from 2006 to 2014. Objectives were to (1) quantify energy infrastructure around seasonal use locations; (2) examine how seasonal resource selection is affected by energy infrastructure with disturbed versus reclaimed surface and different levels of industrial activity; and (3) assess current surface disturbance and infrastructure density caps. Between 92% and 97% of seasonal use locations had 1.1%–2.5% disturbed surface during breeding and winter and selected locations with lower densities of active energy features during breeding and roads in winter. Density caps of one active energy feature and 1.5 mi (2.41 km) of road per section were adequate to prevent avoidance except during the breeding season. Disturbance caps should be set at 1.1% disturbed surface and 1.8% total anthropogenic surface in breeding habitat and 2.5% disturbed surface and 3.5% total anthropogenic surface in winter habitat to minimize negative impacts on female habitat selection in this population. Results also support timing restrictions on construction and drilling during breeding and rapid transitioning of well pads from drilling to production.

Restoration of postmining areas is a frequently addressed topic requiring a comprehensive view. In this article, the recovery process of selected postmining spoil heap sites was evaluated using an approach based on calculation of Nash equilibrium (NE) probability distributions. Many of these sites have been allowed to recover by spontaneous succession, while on others, a variety of restoration procedures have been tested, most of them variants of the forest plantation type. The evaluation was carried out on selected data from each site that reflects four factors: the richness of the vegetation cover, the amount of biomass as soil macrofauna per unit area, the forestry yield, and the attractiveness for recreation use. The analysis was based on permuted game configurations in which these factors were treated as competing entities, adversaries that were differentially successful in each location depending on the conditions of the recovery procedure used. The game strategies that the factors exhibited as theoretically interacting entities had no primary information content, which meant that they could be treated stochastically. The result was a distribution of the NE probability at each location. Considering the fact that this result reflected the degree of optimality of the included factors, the calculation could be considered as a specific type of multicriteria evaluation, which was practically applicable and provided unambiguous results. The NE probability in sites restored by deciduous tree stands was higher, which was therefore assumed to correspond to higher stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the experimental developing of a post-zinc industry spoil heap in Ruda Śląska, Silesia (an industrial region of Poland), that was turned into a recreational area. The aim of the present article is to analyse the design process and evaluate its effects. The project in question was meant to be a pilot action of the international one entitled Implementation of Sustainable Land Use in Integrated Environmental Management of Functional Urban Areas--LUMAT, whose Polish part was the Action Plan for the Functional Urban Area of Chorzów, Ruda Śląska and Świętochłowice. The Antonia Hill project involved many aspects and fields of study in order to achieve its aims: limiting the health risk of the Hill's users, maximising the safety of its use as a recreational area, educating its users in the local history and their cultural identity, raising their awareness of the natural environment and its protection. The predominant remediation method was the process described by Loures and Vaz with a modified order of the elements so as to obtain the effect of remediation and development at the same time. The first step was carried out in the form of the site analysis and the potential adaptation possibilities. The next stage was the participatory workshops in the form of Enquiry by Design. The implementation was carried out in accordance with the evidence-based design. The multi-layered structure of the area was built by selecting ideas, activities and goals following the Modelling Nature Method. After the implementation, the facility evaluation process was made by means of the POE method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ismailia governorate is one of the most important agricultural governorates in Egypt, which requires work to study the economic return from cultivating the lands of the governorate, and because the governorate of Ismailia is one of the governorates in which there are large areas of agricultural land that are suitable for cultivation of strategic crops as well as crops of high quality and suitable for local use, as well as It can be exported and bring in hard currency that increases the national income, as the cultivated land area is about 475,000 feddans, and the water needed for its cultivation is available through 4 main canals. With the steady population increase, the Egyptian food gap is increasing, and despite the great achievements in the field of land reclamation in the current period, the food gap is increasing year after year, which requires the optimal use of reclaimable lands and obtaining the maximum benefit from it. Estimating the size of the agricultural output resulting from the cultivation of these lands in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand is a key material foundation of modern cities. In Hong Kong, a city founded in British mercantile imperialism, the extraction of sand needed for construction and reclamation projects has always been tied up with violent dispossession. Experimenting with the forms and poetics of postcolonial and new materialist critical theory, and thinking with sand's distinctive materialities and forms of drift, this paper develops a speculative critique of Hong Kong's sandy infrastructure. Hong Kong's colonial and post-colonial authority is legitimized by a continual process of surfacing and resurfacing, claiming and reclaiming. By evoking the process of saltation, one of sand's distinctive mechanisms of movement, the paper uncovers utopian potential in sand's unsettled qualities, searching for a new ethics of ground-down grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion of resiliency in the New York metropolitan area, following the Superstorm Sandy in 2012, is not a new one. The recent shift in policy approach, including the 2017 regional plan released by the Regional Plan Association (RPA), demands new land use definitions and governance strategies for the region's ecological planning. Amidst this colossal undertaking, the study of a historical plan that was made for the New Jersey Meadowlands, one of the grand sites where today's resiliency rebuilding efforts concentrate, sheds light on how policymakers and planners conceptualized an ecosystem problem at the crux of the environmental movement in the 1960s. The plan, known as the 1970 Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of Hackensack Meadowlands, was not only a land use plan but was also a manifesto reflecting a new ethos for a network of wetlands that were deemed ecologically 'unworthy'. Although only partially implemented, the plan not only prefaced a future strategy for the Meadowlands, but it also formed the basis for a one-of-a-kind eco-governance model in the United States. This paper situates this comprehensive episode of planning in the region's history, raising larger questions about governance issues in interconnected ecosystems and land use negotiations across political jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The reclamation area of the Chinese Yellow River Delta (YRD) has experienced frequent land use changes in recent decades. The consequence of such land use changes on the stocks and allocation of ecosystem‐scale carbon is not known. Here, we assessed carbon stocks and allocation of four representative land uses in the YRD area: (1) purple alfalfa (LAL), (2) reed and Aeluropus littoralis (RAE), (3) cotton (ECO), and (4) Chinese tamarisk (CTA). The results showed that the overall carbon stocks, and carbon stocks of aboveground, litter, roots, and soil were notably different among different land uses. The native CTA land had the largest overall carbon stock (belowground and aboveground) and had the strongest potential to allocate the carbon to the soil carbon pool (95.72%), followed by the natural grassland (RAE). Alfalfa grassland (LAL) also had a large carbon stock due to its large aboveground biomass, litter, and roots, but the relative allocation proportion of soil carbon stock was lower than that of the other land uses examined. Cotton (ECO) had the lowest soil carbon and total carbon stocks among four land uses. In combining our data on the carbon pool with changes of land use in the YRD area, we argued that land reclamation in the YRD area was likely to turn this area from a carbon sink to carbon source with the release of soil organic carbon. Therefore, cautions should be taken to reduce carbon release, if the reclaimed land be used to plant crops.

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The reclamation area of the Chinese Yellow River Delta (YRD) has experienced frequent land use changes in recent decades. The consequence of such land use changes on the stocks and allocation of ecosystem‐scale carbon is not known. Here, we assessed carbon stocks and allocation of four representative land uses in the YRD area: (1) purple alfalfa (LAL), (2) reed and Aeluropus littoralis (RAE), (3) cotton (ECO), and (4) Chinese tamarisk (CTA). The results showed that the overall carbon stocks, and carbon stocks of aboveground, litter, roots, and soil were notably different among different land uses. The native CTA land had the largest overall carbon stock (belowground and aboveground) and had the strongest potential to allocate the carbon to the soil carbon pool (95.72%), followed by the natural grassland (RAE). Alfalfa grassland (LAL) also had a large carbon stock due to its large aboveground biomass, litter, and roots, but the relative allocation proportion of soil carbon stock was lower than that of the other land uses examined. Cotton (ECO) had the lowest soil carbon and total carbon stocks among four land uses. In combining our data on the carbon pool with changes of land use in the YRD area, we argued that land reclamation in the YRD area was likely to turn this area from a carbon sink to carbon source with the release of soil organic carbon. Therefore, cautions should be taken to reduce carbon release, if the reclaimed land be used to plant crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yuanmou Dry-hot Valley of the Jinsha River is an ecologically fragile region with severe gully erosion in southwest China. Gullies, with the density of 3 to 5 km/km², erode the farmland and form the erosion badlands, accounting for approximately 70% of the total area and inducing rapid land degradation. However, this valley features extremely hot weather, with annual average temperature of 21.7 °C and annual sunshine of 2 550-2 744 h. The abundant sunshine and heat resources make this valley being a large “natural greenhouse”, which is very favorable for developing off-season agriculture. The vegetable and fruit plantation in this valley have high output and quality. Since 2010, a new land management model to reuse the gully erosion badlands has been carried out in this area, namely the Gully Reclamation Project. This project has played an important role in increasing the cultivated land resources and economic returns, however, with the project implementation, the potential ecological risks cannot be ignored. In this study, visual interpretation methods were employed to identify the area of the Gully Reclamation Projects. Then, we conducted field surveys in 6 villages with the greater project distribution, Laocheng, Pingtian, Huangguayuan, Xinhua, Wumao, and Yuanma. And ultimately, we visited a number of farmer households, and 8 typical projects were selected to analyze the technology and operation modes, and output benefit of this land management project. The potential ecological risks during the project implementation were also discussed. The results showed that the Gully Reclamation Project with the main investors of enterprisers and local farmers significantly improved the land resource utilization efficiency in the area. From 2010 to 2018, the project completed new arable land a total area of more than 6700 hm², accounting for about 5% of the area of the dry-hot valley. Meanwhile, the project brought huge economic benefits for enterprisers and local farmers. The total land construction investment was 33000-180000 yuan/hm², with an average of 106 500 yuan/hm². Taking the mostly planted grapes and tomatoes as examples, the total annual output was 1.4 to 12.7 times and 1.3 to 6.3 times of the average land construction investment, respectively. However, with the implementation of the project, there are also several potential ecological risks, such as the rill erosion in terrace slopes, the imbalance of water resources utilization in new land, and the threat to water safety caused by the massive application of pesticides and fertilizers. In general, the Gully Reclamation Project is a non-governmental organized and successful land management. However, it is of great significance to strengthen the scientific monitoring and researching on the specific ecological benefits and potential ecological risks in the future. This can provide a theoretical basis for the scientific implementation of the project and the sustainable development of economic, ecological and social benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coastal line of Yeonggwang, South Korea, has been continuously changed by reclamation of tidal land to expand the residential and agricultural area, which is critical factor to understand the regional hydrogeochemistry in this area. In this study, we investigate the major factor to influence on the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater in the reclaimed coastal area. Groundwaters from this area can be classified into four groups (A, B, C, and D) by a cluster analysis using their physico-chemical properties. Groups C and D have an enriched NO3– concentration (maximum ~210 mg/L), which is the result of anthropogenic inputs (particularly chemical fertilizers), whereas observations (e.g., high Cl–, Na+, and the correlation between Cl– and major anions/cations) have demonstrated that groups A and B are affected by old seawater intrusion. Agricultural activities also influence Group B because Br–/Cl– ratios vary, and values of the major cations/Cl– of this group are higher than those of seawater and Group A. The underlying organic matter and microbials have been influenced by the reclamation processes and the subsurface environment has experienced sudden changes, which have led to sub-/anoxic conditions that are sufficient to cause redox reactions. Because Mn and Fe reduction processes occur after NO3 reduction finishes, groups A and B have low Eh, dissolved oxygen (DO), and NO3– while they have high Fe2+, Mn2+, and HCO3– with depleted δ13CDIC. Furthermore, SO42– concentrations were very low compared to the estimated values from a simple two-component (seawater and freshwater) mixing model, with the enriched δ34SSO4 values (30.7~57.3‰) in these groups clearly demonstrating the occurrence of SO4 reduction. The reclamation process also appears to affect the recharge time of the regional groundwater system in the study area. Overall, the regional groundwater system in the coastal area of Yeonggwang has been influenced by the reclamation, old seawater intrusion, land use, and reduction process resulting in highly complicated hydrogeochemical characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate shifts in the bacterial community structure and soil enzyme activities during long-term reclamation of different land use types in a freshwater wetland. Materials and methods: Illumina 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing and soil extracellular enzymes were used to evaluate changes in bacterial community structure and potential function under four different land use types after 38 years of reclamation: abandoned wetland (AW), vegetable field (VF), pond sediment (PS), rice field (RF) and natural wetland (NW). Results and discussion: Although bacterial rRNA gene alpha diversity remained unchanged, the bacterial community composition changed significantly under different land uses according to hydrological conditions. Under drying-wetting cycle conditions, RF harbored a similar bacterial community composition as NW, with Acidobacteriales, Holophagae, Planctomycetes, and Spirochaetae being dominant in both. Additionally, AW and VF as upland soil had significantly higher abundance of Gemmatimonadates and Actinobacteria. The composition of permanently flooded soil (PS) had unique features and significantly enriched levels of Chlorobi. The shifts in bacterial community structure were mainly driven by soil moisture content, as well as total organic C and N. However, variations in potential enzyme activities were better explained by soil properties than microbial community composition, suggesting high plasticity of the resident microbial community to environmental conditions. Conclusions: Rice field harbored a similar bacterial community structure as natural wetland, while the responses of enzyme activities for all land use types differed significantly. The distributions of bacterial community might be influenced by hydrology, while extracellular enzyme activities were closely related to soil properties. Our results suggest that the function of the active microbial community should also be considered in environmental risk models as indicators of ecosystem conversion caused by land use and anthropogenic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Johor River is the main source of water in Johor Bahru and Singapore as well as a vital maritime passage in the eastern Straits of Johor. However, the Johor River Estuary (JRE) has been experiencing environmental degradation due to construction land sprawl and reclamation (CLSR), which shows a combined effect of anthropogenic environmental change. In this paper, the spatial and temporal variation of CLSR in the JRE was studied based on twelve multi-temporal Landsat images (Landsat MSS, TM and OLI) obtained from 1973 to 2017. The results showed that the area of construction land increased more than 10-fold from 1973 (13.33 km2) to 2017 (135.46 km2). Each type of construction land showed an increasing tendency, and their area-weighted centroids migrated towards the mouth of the Johor River. Over the last four decades, an increased land area of 40.32 km2 contributed by reclamation was mainly distributed in the Tekong Island and the eastern Singapore Islands, which shortened the minimum distance between lands in the JRE. The largest decrease in minimum distance was 1889 m between Johor Bahru and Tekong Island. CLSR is mainly driven by human activities such as population growth, economic development and policy change. To better protect the coastal environment in the JRE, construction land expansion and reclamation activities should be planned properly by the local government. Highlights • The spatiotemporal variation of construction land sprawl and coastal reclamation in Johor River Estuary had been studied. n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • First attempt to apply concept of corporate memory to study strategic planning. • Original empirical study on reclamation for a small open economy. • Original neo-institutional economic inquiry of reclamation. Abstract Informed by property rights economics, this paper explores some unique advantages of reclamation, as a form of expansionist dynamic zoning, compared to densification of existing built up urban land and conversion of rural and peri-urban land. One major argument is that modern reclamation package, in light of global circulation of capital, can be one comprehensive project that avoids old mistakes and tries out new ideas without upsetting pre-existing development or interests. It then explains, with the help of statistics collected from a historical study of land reclamation of Hong Kong, that the future urban development in this open economy will be arrested if she gives up reclamation. The loss of corporate memory, using civil service staff movements based on the Staff List, seldom used in Hong Kong studies on town planning, as a proxy, in strategic planning is advanced as a factor behind the current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface lignite mines of the Balkan Peninsula face growing pressure due to the CO2 emissions reduction initiatives, rapidly increasing renewable-power capacity, and cheap natural gas. In this frame, the development of a modern mine land rehabilitation strategy is considered as a prerequisite for mitigating the social and economic impacts for the local communities. In the case of western Macedonia lignite mines, these prospects are investigated based on a PEST (political, economic, social, technological) analysis of seven alternative land uses. Urban (industrial) development, green houses, and industrial heritage parks are considered as the most appropriate land uses for mitigating the socioeconomic impacts due to the loss of employments. For the land uses occupying large areas (i.e., agriculture, forestry, livestock farming, and photovoltaic parks), an optimisation algorithm is proposed for determining the mix of land uses that maximise revenue, equity, and natural conservation and minimise investment. The algorithm was applied using the opinions of 10 experts, who were involved in mine land reclamation projects carried out in the western Macedonia region in the recent past. According to the results obtained, photovoltaic parks are rated as a more attractive investment than extensive agriculture, as regards the anticipation of revenues, while livestock farming and forests are necessary to safeguard the ecosystem’s functions.

We analyzed the characteristics and trends of land-use change in and near the coastal zone of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) during five periods (1995, 2000 2005, 2010, and 2015) using remotely sensed Landsat imagery. Using automatic supervised classification combined with visual interpretation, we obtained land-use information for five study areas (Nantong, Shanghai, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Zhoushan). Significant land-use changes have occurred in this area between 1995 and 2015, characterized in particular by large reductions in cultivated land and rapid increases in urbanized land. In addition, land reclamation was very active in this period as an effective supplement to the increased demand for land development: since 1995, 1622 km2 of land was reclaimed from near-coastal regions in the study area. This increase in urbanization was jointly driven by population, economic, transportation, and policy factors. Urban areas expanded from the center outward in concentric rings, with infrastructure guiding the radial expansion of development along transportation corridors, thus forming a network of connections. Due to the influence of national land regulation policies, the expansion rate of development in the YRD gradually diminished after 2010. This indicates that the area’s resource and environmental carrying capacity has reached a saturation stage in which urbanization has transitioned from broad and incremental expansion to the intensive use of land resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The main goal of the paper is an evaluation of the dynamics of golf course (hereafter GC[s]) construction in the Czech Republic (hereafter CR) after 1990 and an assessment of the impacts and the consequences of the GCs on the landscape. The construction of the GCs was evaluated from the point of view of the physical-geography with regards to human geography aspects with a focus on an assessment in relation to climatic, soil, hydrological parameters, land use and financial aspects. The paper is to present the localisation and the geographical description of the GCs and their assessment in the different regions of the CR. An original database was created for the purpose of the localisation and complex evaluation of all the GCs in the CR. The analysis was carried out on 114 GCs in the CR. These GCs covered a surface area of ca. 5106 ha, i.e., 0.06% of the total area of the CR in 2016. A significant share of the GCs was built on agricultural land with high quality (more than 34%), which is clearly a negative phenomenon. The reason for the construction of a large number of GCs on some high-yielding soils can be seen: a) in the low land price, b) in the low rent, c) in the negative results of entrepreneurial income (or in the surplus) of agricultural production up to the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU and d) the distance from large cities (location in regions) and spa town with rich clients. By 2004, the majority of the GCs had been built in the CR already. From the point of view land use, a total of 51% of the GCs area was registered as agricultural land in the Cadastre Land Register. Of the agricultural land, the largest share (35%) was registered as arable land and approximately one third of the GCs occupied permanent grassland. On the contrary, the other area, which should form the majority of GCs, because its areas are registered for sport activities, only accounted for 37% of the golf resorts' area in the CR. The GCs were also built on areas affected by human activity (mines, landfills, fly ash). The area of the GCs in the reclaimed territory was approximately 942 ha, i.e., more than 18% of the total GCs area. The reclamation of such territories by the construction of GCs is one of the variants of the use of such territories. Having assessed the climatic characteristics, it was determined that 20 out of the total of 114 GCs were endangered by potential drought. The theoretical and actual water demand for the irrigation of 9 selected GCs in drought-affected areas has been compared. It can be stated that all the selected GCs manage the irrigation water very well, the actual consumption is in line with the theoretical need. The observed difference in water between the calculated theoretical and realised irrigation of the GCs in mm/m2 of irrigated area, ranges from -10.8 mm to + 9.7 mm in 1 month for an individual GC. The study by model "runoff curve numbers" (CN) showed a positive impact of the grassland in the areas of GCs with regards to the direct runoff. The hydrological impact of grassing the arable land is positive, since it contributes to the retention and accumulation of water in the catchment area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abandoned open pits are leftover waste lands after the closure of open-pit mining, and their number and size continue to increase. They have destroyed large quantities of land in the form of excavation and have different degrees of negative impact on ecological security and landscape. Therefore, under the serious population-land-economy contradiction background in China, the reuse of abandoned open pits is necessary and is an important aspect of green development and circular development. In order to better reuse abandoned open pits, the existing case studies of abandoned open pits reuse were summarized and were divided into agricultural production pattern, ecological conservation pattern, tourism entertainment pattern, science education pattern and social service pattern, and each reuse pattern included different reuse ways. Then a method of selecting reuse ways from the perspective of constraints was constructed, which was based on inference conditions and inference rules. The method selected 3 categories of restrictive conditions, which were open pit conditions, natural conditions and other conditions. To be specific, open pit conditions included size, pollution, slope stability, water accumulation in pit, depth and slope; natural conditions included solar radiation, dominant wind direction, irrigation and soil source; other conditions included traffic, distance from settlements, labor resources, technology, ideology and culture, public participation, and regional position relative to urban. Through expert consultation, literature extraction and specification inquiry, 58 inference conditions and 13 inference rules of reuse ways were formed. At last, the restrictive conditions were divided into permanent restrictions and temporary restrictive conditions. The former had strong restrictions while the latter had weak restrictions. The inference order was proposed according to principles of “permanently restrictive conditions first”, “strongly restrictive conditions first”, by which some strongly restrictive reuse ways could be ruled out quickly. Applying the method, reuse ways of 3 open pits in Pingshuo coal mine were selected. The results indicate that: (1) The method based on inference conditions and inference rules can select reuse ways of abandoned open pits. (2) By a preliminary inference, the study area can be used as ecological conservation area, refuse landfill, tourism entertainment area and photovoltaic power generation base, and in the decision-making process, these 4 types of reuse ways for 3 pits can be combined and coordinated to realize comprehensive reuse, considering the existing reclamation landscape, industrial planning, land use planning and economic conditions. (3) The decision result needs more detailed analysis and appraisal of multiple schemes, which is usually a subset of the inference results, may also be empty. The research can provide a reference for the reuse of open pits which have been closed or will be closed. However, the reuse of abandoned open pits is a complex and huge system, involving a variety of subjects and fields such as mining, geology, agriculture, forestry, environment, ecology, landscape, architecture and engineering. Therefore, conditions in this paper may need to be supplemented. In addition, this research is mainly based on reuse ways that are existing or in research worldwide. In practice, we can refer to it, and can go beyond the scope of this study as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reclamation is one of the fastest-growing land use type developed in coastal areas and has caused degradation and loss of coastal wetlands as well as serious environmental problems. This paper was aimed at monitoring the spatiotemporal patterns of coastal wetlands and reclamation in the Yangtze Estuary during the 1960s and 2015. Satellite images obtained from 1980 to 2015 and topography maps of the 1960s were employed to extract changes of reclamation and coastal wetlands. Area-weight centroids were calculated to identify the movement trend of reclamation and coastal wetlands. The results show that from the 1960s to 2015, the net area of natural wetlands declined by 574.3 km2, while man-made wetlands and reclamation increased by 553.6 and 543.9 km2, respectively. During the five study phases, the fastest areal change rate natural wetlands was-13.3 km2/yr in the period of 1990-2000, and that of man-made areas was 24.7 km2/yr in the same period, and the areal change rate of reclamation was 27.6 km2/yr in the period of 2000-2010. Conversion of coastal wetlands mainly occurred in the Chongming Island, Changshu City and the east coast of Shanghai Municipality. Reclamation was common across coastal areas, and was mainly attributed to settlement and man-made wetlands in the Chongming Island, Lianyungang City and the east coast of Shanghai Municipality. Natural wetlands turned into farmlands and settlement, and man-made wetlands gained from reclamation of farmlands. The centroid of natural wetlands generally moved towards the sea, man-made wetlands expanded equally in all directions and inland, and the centroid of reclamation migrated toward Shanghai Municipality. Sea level rise, erosion-deposition changes, and reclamation activities together determine the dynamics of the Yangtze Estuary wetlands. However, reclamation activities for construction of ports, industries and aquaculture are the key causes for the dynamics. The results from this study on the dynamics of coastal wetlands and reclamation are valuable for local government to put forward sustainable land use and land development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining areas with intensive resources exploitation and utilization have undergone different kinds of environmental influences, such as water pollution and land use and land cover change (LUCC). The extensive coal mining in China has led to significant regional land use change resulting in major ecological damage. In order to research the impact of coal exploitation on landscape pattern change in coal mining area, taking Peibei mining area in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Provinces, China as an example, the changes in land use and landscape pattern were analyzed quantitatively based on remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS), landscape ecology and mathematical statistics. Influence of the scale and intensity of coal mining on variation process of land use structure and landscape pattern was mainly studied from the perspective of coal industry life cycle. At the same time, the driving factors of land use and landscape pattern change were analyzed from coal mining, economy, urbanization and land reclamation policy. The results were as follows: 1) Over the last 20 years the landscape structure and landscape pattern of land use in the mining area have changed significantly with the continuous exploitation of coal resources, which were mainly manifested by the decrease of cultivated land, forest land and unused land and the rapid increase of industrial and mining construction land and subsidence water. In particular, the subsidence water increased from 56.38 hm2 in 1994 to 1254.31 hm2 in 2014, and increased by about 22 times. The process of farmland transformed into construction land and subsidence water has become intense and frequent since 2000, in which the coal mining area has been in stable exploitation period. 2) Landscape type index showed a rising trend in fluctuation and landscape fractal characteristics tended to be simplified and regularized. The patch type index of cultivated land, forest land and garden plot overall declined, but that of industrial and mining construction land and the subsidence water increased continuously, which indicates the landscape of mining area tended to be simple and uniform. 3) Furthermore, correlation analysis and Mann-Kendall abrupt change test show that there is a strong correlation between coal resources exploitation and landscape index change. The abrupt changes of largest patch index (LPI) and aggregation index (AI) of cultivated land occurred in 1999 and 2001 respectively, and showed a rapid downward trend in 2003, which shows that the coal resource exploitation first affects the landscape dominance of cultivated land and then influences the aggregation degree of cultivated land patches with the increase of coal mining intensity. The AI of subsidence water area had a significantly rising trend in 2 periods, 1997-2006 and 2011-2013, but no significant change in 2006-2011, and the LPI of subsidence water area was increasing gradually over the whole period. The main reason is that continuous large-scale exploitation of coal resources seriously resulted in ground subsidence, damage and loss of arable land, vegetation field reduction and landscape fragmentation, and that the management of subsidence area got some effects through land reclamation and landscape restoration in mining area, which were showed as the increase of cultivated land and water area, and the decrease of landscape fragmentation. These results provide an important guide for land reclamation and ecological restoration of damaged landscape in coal mining areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of land damage degree is an important basis for the formulation of land reclamation plan and the establishment of compensation standard for farmers in coal mining subsidence area. Mining subsidence area with high groundwater level has the characteristics of flat terrain, lower phreatic water depth, more recoverable coal seams, large thickness and big surface subsidence coefficient which lead to severe surface subsidence and seeper. Land is seriously destroyed. Thus, this paper takes Dongtan coal mine as an example to evaluate land damage degree of subsidence area with high groundwater level that will be damaged by coal mining from 2014 to 2018. The underground water level more easily rises above the surface elevation after mining, which leads to surface seeper in coal mining area with high groundwater level and when the perennial seeper is formed, there will be total crop failure for farmland. In Dongtan coal mine, the maximum buried depth of groundwater is 4 m. When the surface subsidence depth is more than 4 m, there will be perennial seeper, and therefore, the area with sinking depth of more than 4 m is designated as severely damaged area by the limit condition method. Based on a systematic review of existing research, the evaluation index system of other areas with sinking depth of no more than 4 m is constructed and evaluation units are divided with proper method. The weights of the indices are determined by the method of relationship of the order based on centralized decision-making of fuzzy opinions. Damage degrees are evaluated by the extension method. The final evaluation results show that the total damaged area of land is 1 675 hm2, of which the slightly damaged area is 968.2 hm2, the moderately damaged area is 379.53 hm2, and the severely damaged area is 327.27 hm2. The comparison with the simple empirical method of determining damage degree by means of surface seeper shows that the empirical method often underestimates the level of land damage in the mining area with high groundwater level. Areas where differences occur are concentrated in the middle and lower slopes of subsidence basins. Tilt deformation causes the slope of the land to become larger, and increases soil erosion; the area is under tensile force, and soil compaction is reduced, which is not conducive to the growth of crops, so the region near middle slopes can also be moderately damaged area. For the subsidence basin in downhill region, squeezed effect improves the land compaction, which is not conducive to the absorption of water and fertilizer for crops, and the area is prone to salinization and swamping, which is not conducive to the growth of crops. Although there is no perennial water area, the extent of the damage can be severe. Therefore, when determining damage degree of the land in coal mining subsidence area with high groundwater level, the condition of surface seeper should not be deemed as the only standard. The method proposed in this paper provides a reference for this type of subsidence area: The perennial water area is designated as severe damage area by the limit condition method, and comprehensive evaluation index system should be constructed to evaluate damage degree of land in other areas. The study provides theoretical support for the development of land reclamation plan and the establishment of compensation standards of farmers in Dongtan coal mine, and provides a reference for the evaluation of land damage degree in the same type of coal mining subsidence areas with high groundwater level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article attempts to classify and standardize the terminology used in the literature related to a post-mining land use. The following terms were discussed: restoration, reclamation, rehabilitation, land development and revitalization as well as their explicitness enabling one to understand the essence of a certain process properly. On the basis of the existing methods of post-mining areas development found in the literature on the subject, certain inaccuracies related to the terminology of ways of reclamation and methods of development were shown. This situation enables one to offer a new, developed and flexible classification of ways of reclamation including all the possible forms of post-mining land use. This classification considers methods of reclamation and restoration of utility value to post-mining areas on the basis of 6 general (ngen) and 23 specific ways (nspec), which terminology is unambiguous and leaves no space for doubts as to the interpretation. The essence of the offered classification is a possibility of joining general and specific ways into semantic combinations excluding possible inaccuracies in understanding. A possible form of notation of general and specific ways is as follows: , and, possibly, . This kind of approach enables one to consider each place individually, step out of the box and increase a number of semantic combinations from number n to number n * n . The offered classification may also be successfully used in determining ways of rehabilitation, revitalization or land development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Widespread loss of wetland ecosystems resulting from human land use highlights the need for a reclamation strategy that can sustain wetland ecosystem services. Since wetland function partly depends on landscape structure, reclamation and monitoring can be aided by knowing the differences in wetland configuration between undisturbed and disturbed landscapes. Objectives: Identify a parsimonious set of landscape metrics for quantifying wetland configuration and land-cover composition, and quantify how these metrics vary with anthropogenic disturbance. Methods: A large suite of landscape metrics quantifying area/edge, shape, aggregation, and diversity were calculated for landscapes in the Grassland, Parkland, and Boreal Natural Regions of Alberta. Variable reduction techniques were applied to identify representative metrics. These representative metrics were related to anthropogenic disturbance using non-parametric tests. Results: The spatial configuration of wetlands in low-disturbance and high-disturbance landscapes were significantly different from other landscapes. Aggregation metrics were the most commonly identified measures of wetland configuration independent of wetland-proportion in the landscape. Conclusions: Our findings provide insight for reclamation and monitoring by showing that some aspects of wetland configuration vary independently of composition, and therefore both need to be considered when parameterizing the design of reclaimed landscapes. We suggest that using landscape metrics in a reference condition approach is appropriate for evaluating landscape degradation and for setting landscape reclamation targets and monitoring programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural residential land consolidation is not only the main way to improve the rural construction land use efficiency and farmers’ production and living conditions, but also the policy tool to promote the construction land reduction. In the face of the inefficient use of stock land, Shanghai put forward construction land reduction in the whole domain first in China, and Fengxian was the important suburban agricultural region with a large amount of rural residential land. This study took 374 natural villages of 8 towns in Fengxian District, Shanghai City as the example, and ArcGIS technology and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were employed. Firstly, integrating top-bottom towns domain partition of consolidation potential and bottom-up natural villages classification of consolidation efficiency, the town with greater potential or stronger capacity was prior to consolidate, and the village with inadequate public services or backward education facilities or transportation inconvenience was prior to consolidate. Meanwhile we got the town domain partition and village classification results: The rural residential land area of high potential, middle potential and low potential accounted for 34.6%, 41.9% and 23.5% respectively, and high efficiency, middle efficiency and low inefficiency accounted for 31.2%, 63.0% and 5.8% respectively. Then, overlaying spatially the above results and construction land reduction region inside the concentrated construction area, the area was divided into 5 types: Long distance migration with rural residential land area accounting for 12.1% of the total rural residential land area outside the concentrated construction area, adjusted merging with rural residential land area accounting for 21.5%, reduction reserve with rural residential land area accounting for 22.7%, group reservation with rural residential land area accounting for 43.7%, and vacating and merging involving about 16 villages. Finally, based on the objectives of construction land reduction that were increasing the cultivated land area and optimizing land spatial layout, we got the mode of rural land consolidation: Long distance migration and reduction reserve regions chose reclamation and cultivation mode to promote the construction of clusters of basic farmland; adjusted merging and group reservation regions chose central village construction to increase the construction land index and optimize the land layout; and vacating and merging regions implemented town domain strengthening mode to improve land use efficiency. Land consolidation was a huge project, and the local government should realize the gap between interest driver and actual resistance, balance the macro decision-making and micro operation, and avoid blind and excessive construction land reduction. The research intended to form a gradual consolidation process of arrangement, reservation, and retaining and promote the economical and intensive reduction practices. The study can improve the feasibility of the rural land consolidation, and provide a more comprehensive view of practice for the rural land consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The minimum data set was obtained using principal component analysis and Norm value. • The optimal value was the 75th percentile of the trace element background value. • The urban–rural fringe had a lower soil quality than the other three land use types. The expansion of the urban–rural fringe (URF) has greatly boosted the economy, but haphazard building and chaotic management have severely harmed the soil, particularly valuable arable land resources. The majority of studies have focused on the regional identification of URF, with little research on the influence of URF on soil quality. The soil quality index (SQI) method was used in this study to compare the soil quality of reclaimed land (FKD) in the URF to nearby grain fields (GD), open-air vegetable plots (CD), and facility vegetable plots (DP) in Daxing District, Beijing, China. The results indicated that the SQI of FKD was much lower than that of other land utilization types. Soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen, and phosphorus levels were low in FKD and might be improved with proper fertilization in subsequent management. The contents of Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, and total potassium (TK) in FKD were not statistically different from those in GD and CD, but the urease and sucrase activities in FKD were significantly lower than those in the other three land use patterns. A minimum data set including SOC, available phosphorus, TK, clay, Mn, and Zn was obtained for soil quality assessment using principal component analysis with Norm value and correlation analysis. Soil trace elements were standardized using an "optimum is better" scoring function using the 75th percentile of the element background values as the threshold. To our knowledge, this is the first time in soil quality assessment that the 75th percentile of the element background value for a specific soil type has been chosen as the optimum value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity is the main limiting factor for agriculture development in coastal areas. Knowledge of the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of soil salinity following reclamation is of great importance for agricultural management in the coastal area of Eastern China, where reclamation of tidal flats is a common practice to expand land resources. In this study, 241 samples of tidal flat sediment and reclaimed soil samples from different reclamation years and under different land uses in a typical coastal field of the Jiangsu Province, Eastern China, were collected and analyzed for salt content and ion composition. The soil salinity decreased gradually with reclamation time. The salt contents decreased from an average of 7.57 g kg in the tidal flat sediments to 0.61 g kg after 60 years reclamation and reached a level acceptable for most crop plants. Decreases in Na and Cl and relative increases in Ca and SO were also observed with increases in reclamation time. Land use played a key role in the desalination process. Conversion of a tidal flat to a fish farm followed by dominant plant farming practices in the region proved to be an efficient strategy for desalination. The results of this study also proved that cokriging interpolation with Cl content is a robust way to obtain more precise salinity predictions in coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced land-use changes are among the primary causes of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. Across central Appalachia (USA), mountaintop removal mining and valley filling (MTR/VF) is the prevailing form of land-use change and represents a stressor to stream ecosystems. Salamanders are the dominant vertebrate in Appalachian headwater streams. Thus, we addressed the question: Is salamander occupancy and conditional abundance reduced in streams impacted by MTR/VF?, We conducted repeated counts of adult and larval salamanders within 10-m reaches in 11 valley-filled streams and 12 reference streams in south-eastern Kentucky. Relationships between occupancy, conditional abundance, and site type (MTR/VF vs. reference) were modelled using the hurdle model (Ecology, 94, 2013 and 1472), where occupancy is modelled separately from abundance while accounting for differences in per-individual detection probabilities among groups., We found mean occupancy probabilities were >0·85 for all groups in reference reaches, whereas mean occupancy probabilities were relatively lower in MTR/ VF reaches (ranging from 0·23 to 0·66). Posterior means of the difference in occupancy between site types were negative across all groups, although MTR/ VF stream reaches were at least 95% less likely to be occupied by spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, adult southern two-lined salamander Eurycea cirrigera and larval dusky salamanders Desmognathus compared to reference reaches., Posterior means of the difference in conditional abundance between MTR/ VF and reference stream reaches were negative across all groups; 95% credible interval for difference in conditional abundance covered zero for only one species (red salamander Pseudotriton ruber). After adjusting for goodness-of-fit, point estimates of differences in occupancy and conditional abundance still remained below zero for most species. Additionally, MTR/ VF reaches had higher ion concentrations, total organic carbon and specific conductance compared to reference reaches., Synthesis and applications. Our study concludes that mountaintop removal mining and valley filling (MTR/VF) reduces salamander occupancy and conditional abundance. Although the potential mechanisms responsible for reduction are numerous, our findings suggest a change in the current regulatory framework is needed to offset the impacts of MTR/VF on stream ecosystems and biota. Reclamation techniques that enhance conditions for vegetative succession within catchments may improve habitat on reclaimed surface mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mine reclamation has become a worldwide problem recently and has similar research directions both in China and abroad, including ecological restoration, mining technology, bioremediation technology, soil reconstruction techniques, soil quality testing, plant species selecting. The key target is to restore the ecological system and improve the environment. One of the main purposes of reclamation is to restore farmland, which is scarce in China. In addition, resettlement of residents and their living environment need to be taken into account. In this paper, the study area is the Pingshuo open-pit mine, which is located in Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, China, and belongs to super-large open-pit mine with modern production. Mining activities began in 1987, and have lasted for 28 years until now. Fourteen rural settlements have moved, and resettlement population has reached 8400 by 2013. From the perspective of farming radius, buffer analysis of rural settlements was used to contrast the difference of farming radius before and after the open-pit mining by geographic information system (GIS) technology. Considering the impact of topography on farming radius, this paper calculated the terrain correction coefficient of farming radius in the study area using the achievements about relief amplitude, and the mean change-point analysis method was adopted to determine the best statistics grid unit to reflect terrain. Through buffer analysis, the result of spatial farming radius showed that the farming radius had a great change from 1986 to 2013 because of open-pit mining. Therefore, the best farming radius should be determined based on the result in 1986. Using the equation of farming radius, per capita arable land and the number of population were calculated through combining the method of "the ratio of arable land area to settlements land area" Finally, optimal farming radius was determined according to the calculation result about the terrain correction coefficient and the scale of arable land. We predicted the size and number of rural settlements after completing reclamation. The results showed that: 1) Affected by mining, the farming radius has expanded by 1500 m from 1986 to 2013, and the largest farming radius was 4500 m; 2) Determining the optimal statistics grid unit to calculate the value of relief amplitude, the result showed that 550 m × 550 m was the optimal statistics grid unit to reflect terrain in study area; 3) Based on the buffer analysis, digital elevation map neighbourhood analysis and forecasting, the terrain correction coefficient of farming radius was 1.6836, and the optimal actual farming radius was 1500 m, and therefore, the optimal spatial farming radius was 891 m. 4) On the premise of guaranteeing the arable land quantity unchanged, the total area of relocated rural settlements was about 651.24 hm2, and there were 67 rural settlements in total. Individual rural settlement area was predicted to be 9.72 hm2, and the control area of arable land was about 109.68 hm2. 5) The total relocated population would be about 29521 (7380 families). The results of this study can provide the reference for the implementment of relocating rural settlements and the reuse of reclaimed arable land in Pingshuo mining area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As coastal development becomes a national strategy in Eastern China, land use and landscape patterns have been affected by reclamation projects. In this study, taking Rudong County, China as a typical area, we analyzed land use change and its landscape ecological security responses in the tidal flat reclamation zone. The results show that land use change in the tidal flat reclamation zone is characterized by the replacement of natural tidal flat with agricultural and construction land, which has also led to a big change in landscape patterns. We built a landscape ecological security evaluation system, which consists of landscape interference degree and landscape fragile degree, and then calculated the landscape ecological security change in the tidal flat reclamation zone from 1990 to 2008 to depict the life cycle in tidal flat reclamation. Landscape ecological security exhibited a W-shaped periodicity, including the juvenile stage, growth stage, and maturation stage. Life-cycle analysis demonstrates that 37 years is required for the land use system to transform from a natural ecosystem to an artificial ecosystem in the tidal flat reclamation zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, land reclamation activities have been developed rapidly in Chinese coastal regions, especially in Bohai Bay. The land reclamation areas can effectively alleviate the contradiction between land resources shortage and human needs, but some idle lands that left unused after the government making approval the usage of sea areas are also supposed to pay attention to. Due to the particular features of land coverage identification in large regions, traditional monitoring approaches are unable to perfectly meet the needs of effectively and quickly land use classification. In this paper, Gaofen-1 remotely sensed satellite imagery data together with sea area usage ownership data were used to identify the land use classifications and find out the idle land resources. It can be seen from the result that most of the land use types and idle land resources can be identified precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study area, located in the western side of Kerala State, South India, is a part of Vembanad-Kol wetlands – the largest estuary in India's western coastal wetland system and one of the Ramsar Sites of Kerala. Major portion of this estuary comes under the Ernakulam district which includes the Cochin City – the business and Industrial hub of Kerala, which has seen fast urbanization since independence (1947). Recently, this region is subjected to a characteristic fast urban sprawl, whereas, the estuarine zone is subjected to tremendous land use/land cover changes (LULC). Periodic monitoring of the estuary is essential for the formulation of viable management options for the sustainable utilization of this vital environmental resource. Remote sensing coupled with GIS applications has proved to be a useful tool in monitoring wetland changes. In the present study, the changes this estuarine region have undergone from 1944 to 2009 have been monitored with the help of multi-temporal satellite data. Estuarine areas were mapped with the help of Landsat MSS (1973), Landsat ETM (1990) and IRS LISS-III (1998 and 2009) using visual interpretation and digitization techniques in ArcGIS 9.3 Environment. The study shows a progressive decrease in the estuarine area, the reasons of which are identified chronologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface mining followed by reclamation to pasture is a major driver of land use and cover change in Appalachia. Prior research suggests that many aspects of ecosystem recovery are either slow or incomplete. We examined ecosystem structure-including soil physical and chemical properties, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) infectivity and community composition, and plant diversity and community composition-on a chronosequence of pasture-reclaimed surface mines and a non-mined pasture in northern West Virginia. Surface mining and reclamation dramatically altered ecosystem structure. Some aspects of ecosystem structure, including many measures of soil chemistry and infectivity of AMF, returned rapidly to levels found on the non-mined reference site. Other aspects of ecosystem structure, notably soil physical properties and AMF and plant communities, showed incomplete or no recovery over the short-to-medium term. In addition, invasive plants were prevalent on reclaimed mine sites. The results point to the need for investigation on how reclamation practices could minimize establishment of exotic invasive plant species and reduce the long-term impacts of mining on ecosystem structure and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the mutually enforcing processes of enclosure of land and entanglement of labour have been central to the development of state and capitalism in Kuttanad, a protected Ramsar site in the south Indian state of Kerala. The driving force of epochal changes in Kuttanad was the transformations of the commons; different regimes that ruled Kuttanad have actively engaged in the appropriation, distribution and production of commons along with and for the dominant sections in the region. Reclamation and re-reclamation of backwater lands, spanning over one and half centuries, are thus carried out by the distributive state apparatus in collaboration with its constituent class sections. The resultant shifts in land, crop, labour, technology and resources are what define the crisis of commons in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reclamation of industrial and mining wasteland can help to address the current urgent challenge of land resource needs in China. In order to ensure well-developed reclamation planning, a large number of field surveys of industrial and mining wasteland were undertaken in Daye County, which is located in the south-east of Hubei province. Through a series of indexes, the reclamation potential of the industrial and mining wasteland was determined. Based on the surveys and evaluation, a specific reclamation plan was then produced, and it is shown on four major maps, which are the industrial and mining wasteland status map, the reclamation planning map, the reclamation potential distribution map, and the major reclamation project distribution map. The scale of the first two maps is 1:250,000, and the scale of the latter two maps is 1:300,000. The main purpose of this project is to provide a detailed planning scheme for local government, which will assist with important decision making in land-use policy, and to provide a unique perspective and experience for scholars all over the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]