As urbanization can involve multiple alterations to the soil environment, it is uncertain how urbanization effects soil nitrogen cycling.

Large carnivores, with their expansive home range and resource requirements, are a good model for understanding how animal populations alter habitat selection and use as human densities and development increase. We examined the habitat selection of red wolves (Canis rufus) in North Carolina, USA, where the population of red wolves resides in a mosaic of naturally occurring and human-associated land cover. We used locations from 20 GPS-collared red wolves, monitored over 3years, to develop resource selection functions at the landscape level.

Many carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission‐reduction strategies currently under consideration rely on terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration to offset substantial proportions of CO₂ emissions. We estimated C sequestration rates and potential land areas for a diverse array of land‐cover changes in the Upper Midwest of the US, a “best case” region for this study because of its relatively modest CO₂ emissions and the large areas of cropland potentially available for conversion.

System thinking and integrated research are widely applied approaches in environmental management, often facilitating the organization of information from different levels and sources. They are here applied to support the review of (1) political and management instruments and (2) elements that characterize the Bahia de Cádiz Nature Park (Spain). The latter objective is sustained by the DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) framework. A first DPSI conceptual map offers a broader view of the park capturing a range of elements that act at global, national and regional levels.

Retrieval of soil moisture content using the vertical and horizontal polarizations of multiple frequency bands on microwave sensors can provide an estimate of vegetation water content (VWC). Another approach is to use foliar-water indices based on the absorption at shortwave-infrared wavelengths by liquid water in the leaves to determine canopy water content, which is then related to VWC.

AIM: To incorporate changes in alpine land cover (tree line shift, glacier retreat and primary succession) into species distribution model (SDM) predictions for a selection of 31 high‐elevation plants. LOCATION: Chamonix Valley, French Alps. METHODS: We fit linear mixed effects (LME) models to historical changes in forest and glacier cover and projected these trends forward to align with 21st century IPCC climate scenarios. We used a logistic function to model the probability of plant establishment in glacial forelands zones expected to become ice free between 2008 and 2051–2080.

Surface runoff and soil loss from 2007 to 2010 related to land use and rainfall regimes in karst hill slopes in Guizhou Province, southwest China, were analyzed. Using the hierarchical clustering method, sixty-one rainfall events under the subtropical monsoon climate condition were classified into 5 types of rainfall regimes according to the depth, maximum 30-min intensity, and duration of rainfall.

The aggravating urban thermal environment has considerable adverse effects on urban physical environment, energy consumption, and public health. Due to the complexity of factors contributing to the urban thermal environment, traditional statistical methods are insufficient for acquiring data and analyzing the impacts of human activities on the thermal environment, especially for identifying dominant factors.

A reconstruction of land use changes and the implications thereof for landslide occurrence on critical slopes of Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda were undertaken. Aerial photographs taken in 1960 formed the benchmark for the analysis of respective land use changes between 1995 and 2006, using 30m Landsat TM and 20m SPOT MS images. Landslide sites were mapped using a MobileMapper, and terrain parameters were derived using a 15m Digital Elevation Model.

We applied an intermediate disturbance-complexity approach to the land-use change of cultural landscapes in the island of Mallorca from c. 1850 to the present, which accounts for the joint behaviour of human appropriation of photosynthetic capacity used as a measure of disturbance, and a selection of land metrics at different spatial scales that account for ecological functionality as a proxy of biodiversity. We also delved deeper into local land-use changes in order to identify the main socioeconomic drivers and ruling agencies at stake.

Human-induced desertification in the Horqin sandy land in the north-eastern part of China has been reversed since the mid-1970s through re-vegetation. This land cover change affects surface energy and water transfer processes. We employed the Bowen ratio energy balance technique to examine micrometeorological changes following the establishment of artificially established artemisia vegetation on the severely desertified sandy land in Naiman, a county located in the Horqin.

CONTEXT: Integrative mitigation and adaptation strategies are needed to counter climate change. Indicators can be valuable that focus on the specific relevance of cities’ socioeconomic and spatial properties. While previous analyses have identified socioeconomic influences on urban greenhouse gas emissions, information about the role of spatial urban structures and land use and land cover patterns is sparse. OBJECTIVE: This study advances the use of spatial metrics for analyzing the linkages between the spatial properties of a city and its greenhouse gas emissions.