Change detection is one of the primary applications of remote-sensing data, and many techniques have been developed during the past three decades. Although frequently criticized and despite many alternatives, due to its simplicity and intuitive manner, post-classification change detection still remains one of the most applied techniques. Many studies in the field of change detection analysis acknowledge, for instance, the impact of misregistration, inconsistencies in classification schemes or differences in methods for image interpretation.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of pastoral grazing resources influences the pastoral production system. Obtaining timely and reliable information on the status of these resources will support planning and early response to climatic variability.

Modern global temperature and land cover and projected future temperatures suggest that tropical forest species will be particularly sensitive to global warming. Given a moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario, fully 75% of the tropical forests present in 2000 will experience mean annual temperatures in 2100 that are greater than the highest mean annual temperature that supports closed-canopy forest today. Temperature-sensitive species might extend their ranges to cool refuges, defined here as areas where temperatures projected for 2100 match 1960s temperatures in the modern range.

Estuaries provide vital habitat to a wide variety of fish species, so understanding how human activities impact estuarine habitats has important implications for management and conservation of fish stocks. We used nationwide datasets on anthropogenic disturbance to perform a quantitative assessment of habitat stressors in US estuaries. Habitat stressors were characterized by four categories of indicator datasets: (1) land cover/land use, (2) alteration of river flows, (3) pollution sources, and (4) eutrophication.

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of forest types in tropical regions is important for implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), better understanding of the global carbon cycle, and optimal forest management. Frequent cloud cover in moist tropical regions poses challenges for using optical images to map and monitor forests. Recently, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) released a 50m orthorectified mosaic product from the Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS).

The changing mode of urban development through time can bring a varied landscape mosaic accompanied by spatial-temporal differentiation of urban vegetation. Hong Kong as an ultra-compact city generates intense interactions between trees and urban fabric to highlight urbanization effects on tree communities. The study areas cover public housing estates which accommodate about half of the 7.26 million population. Thirteen site factors related to estate, landform and habitat traits were measured or computed as surrogate urbanization effects.

Urban land cover is expanding rapidly worldwide. This major phenomenon is often accompanied by an expansion of a green component. Urban green can itself be considered as a most important but often ignored land cover category. With this study we investigate how IKONOS data can be used more exhaustively for the detection and more importantly the quantification of urban green, compared to state-of-the art investigations.

Cichorieae, one of the six tribes of the sub-family Cichorioideae (Asteraceae), produces a well-recognisable fenestrate pollen type. In the Mediterranean area, the significance of high percentages of Cichorieae pollen from archaeological layers is still questioned.

Floods exert significant pressure on human societies. Assessments of an ecosystem's capacity to regulate and to prevent floods relative to human demands for flood regulating ecosystem services can provide important information for environmental management. In this study, the capacities of different ecosystems to regulate floods were assessed through investigations of water retention functions of the vegetation and soil cover.

Monitoring biodiversity at the level of habitats and landscape is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish international and national habitat conservation policies and monitoring systems. Earth Observation (EO) data offers a potential solution to long-term biodiversity monitoring through direct mapping of habitats or by integrating Land Cover/Use (LC/LU) maps with contextual spatial information and in situ data.

The article presents a multicriteria assessment framework for the qualitative estimation of regional potentials to provide ecosystem services as a prerequisite to support regional development planning. We applied this approach to a model region in Saxony, Eastern Germany. For the estimation of the potentials of the model region to provide ecosystem services, we used a modified approach compared to the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2005).

Forest fire is a major cause of changes in forest structure and function. Among various floristic regions, the northeast region of India suffers maximum from the fires due to age-old practice of shifting cultivation and spread of fires from jhum fields. For proper mitigation and management, an early warning of forest fires through risk modeling is required. The study results demonstrate the potential use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in identifying forest fire prone areas in Manipur, southeastern part of Northeast India.