Climate change is a fundamental aspect of the Anthropocene. Climate assessments are frequently undertaken to evaluate climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity. Assessments are complex endeavors with numerous challenges.

Denitrification is an anaerobic respiration that reduces nitrogen (N) oxides (NO₃ ⁻, NO₂ ⁻) to N gases (N₂O, N₂). Our hypothesis suggests that this process might be an important process in depleting nitrogen in dryland soils, based on the idea that the intensity of microbial respiration following infrequent rainfall events and floods, is high enough to deplete soil O₂ concentrations and allow denitrification to occur. We tested our hypothesis by analyses of soil surface samples, collected along a rainfall gradient.

This paper demonstrates a systems framework for assessment of environmental impacts from ‘green initiatives’, through a case study of meso-scale, anthropogenic–biogenic interactions. The following cross-sectoral green initiatives, combining the emerging trends in the North East region of the United Kingdom, have been considered – increasing the vegetation cover; decarbonising road transport; decentralising energy production through biomass plants.

A critical challenge for range scientists is to provide input to management decisions for land units where little or no data exist. The disciplines of range science, basic ecology, and global ecology use different perspectives and approaches with different levels of detail to extrapolate information and understanding from well-studied locations to other land units.

Ecosystem goods and services have been brought to the forefront of policy making all over the world. It is acknowledged that these goods and services underpin human well-being. The provision of water resources is amongst those services that have raised more attention, given its unquestionable value and global threats like climatic change. Nevertheless, the biophysical basis that determines the land-use/water interactions has been often ignored. For the formulation of sound decisions, it is necessary to extend the empirical basis that determines these complex relations.

Variations of forest area and vegetation activity in China from 2001 to 2009 were investigated using the IGBP land-cover data and the EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) dataset derived from Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products in the 3 years of 2001, 2005, and 2009. The area of forests in China had increased by about 10%, and the changes in EVI-indicated vegetation activity showed large regional differences. The EVI decreased between 2001 and 2005 while it increased between 2005 and 2009 in most areas of southern China.

Due to the progressive increase in population, sustainable development of desert land in Egypt has become a strategic priority in order to meet the increasing demands of a growing population for food and housing. Such obligations require efficient compilation of accurate land-cover information in addition to detailed analysis of archival land-use changes over an extended time span. In this study, we applied a methodology for mapping land cover and monitoring change in patterns related to agricultural development and urban expansion in the desert of the Kom Ombo area.

The territorial approach to rural development highlights the role of local actors, networks, culture, nature and landscape amenities. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition of rurality is, however, not capable of dealing with local and community definitions of rurality, which vary from study to study. In everyday life, physical planners, rural policymakers and local rural actors need a consistent definition of rurality.

Rapid and periodic assessment of the impact of land cover change and climate variability on ecosystem services at regional levels is essential to understanding services and sustainability of ecosystems. This study focused on quantifying and assessing the changes in multiple ecosystem services in the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR), China in 2000–2012.

In 2013-2014 field research, during which 56 full-height cuts of 5 soil regions of a subband of moderately droughty steppe and steppe with kolkis of Altai Region were put and analysed, was conducted. In the soil cover structure (SCS) the share of chernozem soils is from 65.8% to 68.0%, with prevalence of ordinary chernozems (40.1-48.0%) over lixivious chernozems (17.5-25.7%). Chernozem and meadow and meadow and chernozem soils takes from 13.4% to 18.3%, and the soil of the salted row - from 2.8% to 8.1%.

Bird aircraft collisions (bird strikes) are a recognized safety hazard and land uses that attract birds hazardous to aircraft should be avoided on and near airports. Many airfields contain large areas of anthropogenic grassland habitats, often dominated by cool season grasses. Land managed as native warm season grasses (NWSG) potentially could increase bird strike hazards on and near airports by attracting hazardous birds and harboring small mammals that are prey for hazardous raptors.

The habitat preferences of the endemic Vietnam Crocodile Newt, Tylototriton vietnamensis were investigated on two scales: (1) at Yen Tu Nature Reserve, Bac Giang Province, Vietnam, while compiling information about pond occupancy and developing a qualitative comparison among breeding sites and (2) by developing a Species Distribution Model based on climate and land cover data identifying further suitable habitats in northern Vietnam. A factor analysis followed by a multiple linear regression showed 94% support for our occupancy ranking model. Our results suggest that T.