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There are 2, 240 content items of different types and languages related to land cover on the Land Portal.
Displaying 529 - 540 of 2218

Development and validation of two fish-based indices of biotic integrity for assessing perennial coolwater streams in Wisconsin, USA

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2012
United States of America
Northern America

Perennial coolwater streams (maximum daily mean water temperature 20.7–24.6°C; 90th percentile annual exceedence flow≥0.0283m³/s) are common in the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America, including the state of Wisconsin, but they lack specific and effective bioassessment tools.

Urban ecology in a developing world: why advanced socioecological theory needs Africa

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2013
South Africa
Africa
Southern Africa

Socioecological theory, developed through the study of urban environments, has recently led to a proliferation of research focusing on comparative analyses of cities. This research emphasis has been concentrated in the more developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere (often referred to as the “Global North”), yet urbanization is now occurring mostly in the developing world, with the fastest rates of growth in sub‐Saharan Africa.

First assessment of effects of global change on threatened spiders: Potential impacts on Dolomedes plantarius (Clerck) and its conservation plans

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2013
France

Our view of the future of biodiversity remains limited to a restricted number of taxa, and some taxa, such as spiders, have been largely omitted. Here we provide the first assessment of effects of global change on threatened spiders using a red-listed vulnerable spider, Dolomedes plantarius (Clerck, 1757) as an example. We aim at applying this assessment to assist two conservation actions for this species, including a translocation program. We compiled all the available data on D.

Ecological homogenization of urban USA

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2014
United States of America

A visually apparent but scientifically untested outcome of land‐use change is homogenization across urban areas, where neighborhoods in different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas, and aquatic features. We hypothesize that this homogenization extends to ecological structure and also to ecosystem functions such as carbon dynamics and microclimate, with continental‐scale implications.

Climate and vegetation hierarchically structure patterns of songbird distribution in the Canadian boreal region

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2014

Environmental factors controlling the distribution and abundance of boreal avifauna are not fully understood, limiting our ability to predict the consequences of a changing climate and industrial development activities underway. We used a compilation of avian point‐count data, collected over 1990–2008 from nearly 36 000 locations, to model the abundance of individual forest songbird species within the Canadian boreal forest.

Monitoring changes in pastoral resources in eastern Sudan: A synthesis of remote sensing and local knowledge

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2013
Sudan

The pastoral resources in eastern Sudan are changing under the combined impact of increasing anthropogenic activities such as clearance of natural vegetation and the effect of state policies that favour crop farming against pastoralism. Remotely sensed data are used to detect spatial and temporal changes from 1979 to 2009 in the land use/land cover (LULC) across three study sites. Areas of natural vegetation have been reduced from 26.1% in 1979 to 12.6% in 1999 and further to 9.4% in 2007. The majority of this reduction went into agricultural land.

Comparison of Maximum Likelihood and Minimum Distance to Mean Classifiers in Preparing Land Cover Map (A Case Study: Isfahan Area)

Journal Articles & Books
October, 2011

Land cover maps derived from satellite images play a key role in regional and national land cover assessments. In order to compare maximum likelihood and minimum distance to mean classifiers, LISS-III images from IRS-P6 satellite were acquired in August 2008 from the western part of Isfahan. First, the LISS-III image was georeferenced. The Root Mean Square error of less than one pixel was the result of registration.

Temporal Analysis of Elephant-Induced Thicket Degradation in Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
South Africa
Southern Africa

Elephant-induced thicket degradation in the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP), Eastern Cape, South Africa, was assessed during 1973 and 2010 using multitemporal satellite imagery. Changes in the thicket condition, in relation to the AENP expansion, were analyzed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, postclassification, and landscape metrics. The change detection of land-cover classes was analyzed by postclassification. Landscape-spatial metrics were used in order to gain an understanding of vegetation-fragmentation trends.

Deforestation dynamics in Mato Grosso in the southern Brazilian Amazon using GIS and NOAA/AVHRR data

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2011

Mato Grosso has emerged as the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate, and with the most dynamic changes in vegetation and land cover. In this article, we focus on the following two main objectives: (i) to quantitatively assess the extent of vegetation change over the past two decades for more accurate eco-climatic impact analysis; and (ii) to clarify the causes to the changes in this state, with special focus to agro-pastoral activities and roads networks.

EDITOR'S CHOICE: Coho salmon spawner mortality in western US urban watersheds: bioinfiltration prevents lethal storm water impacts

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2016

Adult coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch return each autumn to freshwater spawning habitats throughout western North America. The migration coincides with increasing seasonal rainfall, which in turn increases storm water run‐off, particularly in urban watersheds with extensive impervious land cover. Previous field assessments in urban stream networks have shown that adult coho are dying prematurely at high rates (>50%).

Fragmentation in the Legal Amazon, Brazil: Can landscape metrics indicate agricultural policy differences?

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2011
Brazil

Large-scale land conversion for agriculture in Brazilian Amazonia is occurring at persistently high rates. Basin-wide net land use and land cover changes imply substantially different situations between distinct regions and states due to different agricultural policies. This research used eight landscape metrics to quantify and investigate the spatial patterns of cattle pasture and cropland throughout the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Amazonas.

Mapping to inform conservation: A case study of changes in semi-natural habitats and their connectivity over 70years

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2012

Intensification of human activities has caused drastic losses in semi-natural habitats, resulting as well in declining connectivity between remaining fragments. Successful future restoration should therefore increase both habitat area and connectivity. The first steps in a framework for doing so are addressed here, which involve the mapping of past habitat change.