Land use and land cover changes have complex linkages to climate variability and change, biophysical resources, and socioeconomic driving forces. To assess these land change dynamics and their causes in the Great Plains, we compare and contrast contemporary changes across 16 ecoregions using Landsat satellite data and statistical analysis. Large-area change analysis of agricultural regions is often hampered by change detection error and the tendency for land conversions to occur at the local-scale.

In the framework of the established long-term monitoring of the Carpathian forest ecosystems, the assessment of changes in the plant species richness, type of plant communities and biometric characteristics and health status of forest trees, for getting relevant insights regarding the effects of the type of management, pollution and climate changes upon forest biodiversity and health, is one of the major objectives.

In human-impacted rivers, nutrient pollution has the potential to disrupt biodiversity organisation and ecosystem functioning, prompting calls for effective monitoring and management. Pollutants, together with natural variations, can modify the isotopic signature of aquatic organisms. Accordingly, we explored the potential of isotopic variations as an indicator of drainage basin influences on river food webs. We assessed stable N and C isotopes within six food webs along a river affected by multiple pollution sources.

Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain broad scale spatial patterns in species richness. In this paper, we evaluate five explanations for geographic gradients in species richness, using South American owls as a model. We compared the explanatory power of contemporary climate, landcover diversity, spatial climatic heterogeneity, evolutionary history, and area. An important aspect of our analyses is that very different hypotheses, such as history and area, can be quantified at the same observation scale and, consequently can be incorporated into a single analytical framework.

Landscape fragmentation and habitat loss are one of the important factors resulting in biodiversity decrease and species extinction. A large amount of Eucalyptus have been introduced into Yunnan Province in China since 2003, replaced the native forest, farmland, wasteland and other ecosystems, leading to natural habitat loss and landscape fragmentation.

Remote sensing is considered the most effective tool for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) over large spatial scales. Global terrestrial ET estimates over vegetated land surfaces are now operationally produced at 1-km spatial resolution using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the MOD16 algorithm. To evaluate the accuracy of this product, ground-based measurements of energy fluxes obtained from eddy covariance sites installed in tropical biomes and from a hydrological model (MGB-IPH) were used to validate MOD16 products at local and regional scales.

Forest harvesting is a major cause of habitat alteration negatively affecting forest-dwelling caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the boreal forest. In order to identify female caribou habitat requirements, we conducted a fine-scale habitat selection analysis in a managed forest of eastern Canada. Five land-cover types used by 8 female caribou during 2 periods (winter and snow-free) were considered to characterize structural attributes, ground cover, and lichen abundance at 320 GPS locations and at 200 random points within home ranges.

CONTEXT: Wildfire is a particular concern in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) of the western United States where human development occurs close to flammable natural vegetation. OBJECTIVES: (1) Assess the relative influences of WUI expansion versus climate-driven fire regime change on spatial and temporal patterns of burned WUI, and (2) determine whether WUI developed in the future will have higher or lower wildfire risk than existing WUI.

CONTEXT: Land use changes and intensification have been amongst the major causes of the on-going biodiversity decline in Europe. A better understanding and description of how different levels of land use intensity affect biodiversity can support the planning and evaluation of policy measures. OBJECTIVES: Our study investigates how land use-related landscape characteristics affect bird diversity, considering different spatial scales and species groups with characteristic habitat use.

Habitat models constitute useful instruments for understanding species-habitat interactions and can constitute helpful conservation tools. The Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest (UPAF) of South America still holds the world’s southernmost jaguar (Panthera onca) population.

Satellite-based estimates of the fire radiative power (FRP) and energy (FRE) emitted from open biomass burning are affected by the spatiotemporal resolution of polar-orbiting and geostationary sensors. Here the impacts of the MODIS sampling design on estimates of FRE are characterized by superimposing the timing and extents of the Terra and Aqua granules onto the SEVIRI active fire product. Results for different land-cover types across Africa indicate that the FRE measured by SEVIRI during eight days is linearly related to the sum of FRP measured by SEVIRI within the MODIS granules.

This paper examines the potential effects of urbanization on streamflow in Maine, USA, from 1950 to 2000. The study contrasts nine watersheds in southern Maine, which has seen steady urban growth over the study period, with nine rural watersheds from northern Maine. Historical population data and current land cover data are used to develop an urbanization score for each watershed. Trends in watershed urbanization over the study period are compared to trends in ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics.