Livestock that is extensively managed can have higher diversity and abundance of insects in comparison to intensively managed livestock, although data are more equivocal within a gradient of extensively managed pastures. Additionally, biodiversity on farms is vulnerable to degradation of the surrounding landscape and changing patterns of land use. We monitored Coleoptera and Hemiptera on grass-fed cattle farms in North Carolina to determine effects of cattle and land use patterns on biodiversity.

Outside of agroforestry disciplines, “orchards” and “forests” are usually studied through different fields of knowledge or are mired in conflicting views. Our study aimed to provide preliminary information on regeneration in cashew orchards by studying the effect of previous land cover, the surrounding landscape, and orchards’ age on the density of species and number of plants. We followed linear transects in orchards planted in areas previously covered by savannah and forest.

This study develops a theoretical and empirical framework for optimal conservation planning using satellite land cover data and economic data from a farm survey. A case study is presented for a region within the South‐west Australia Biodiversity Hotspot (Nature 403, 853). This Biodiversity Hotspot is a focus for conservation investment as it combines a relatively high level of biodiversity with severe threat to the biodiversity from agriculture. The conservation planning model developed determines the optimal set of bush fragments for conservation.

Recent advances in fire management led landscape managers to adopt an integrated fire fighting strategy in which fire suppression is supported by prevention actions and by knowledge of local fire history and ecology. In this framework, an accurate evaluation of fire ignition risk and its environmental drivers constitutes a basic step toward the optimization of fire management measures.

Burmese Pythons (Python bivitattus) are large generalist predators that have established an expanding breeding population in Florida. As a first step in understanding current distributions, and therefore spread potential, we assessed diurnal habitat selection by Burmese Pythons in the southern Everglades using radiotelemetry. Sixteen individual pythons were radio-tracked between September 2006 and December 2009. Habitat variables included land cover, habitat edges, surface water depth, and change in water depth.

Surface reflectance adjusted for atmospheric effects is a primary input for land cover change detection and for developing many higher level surface geophysical parameters. With the development of automated atmospheric correction algorithms, it is now feasible to produce large quantities of surface reflectance products using Landsat images. Validation of these products requires in situ measurements, which either do not exist or are difficult to obtain for most Landsat images.

Macroinvertebrate species composition data are often expressed as proportional abundances when assessing water-quality conditions or responses to disturbance. Proportional abundances represent the probability of belonging to one of many mutually exclusive and exhaustive groups (taxa). Proportional abundances have some unique properties that must be considered when analyzing these data: 1) the probabilities of group membership must sum to 1 and 2) a change in any 1 group affects all other groups.

This work describes the methodological approach used for mapping the potential infiltration areas of the Guaratinguetá watershed (160 km2), situated in Southeastern Brazil. The method is considered a qualitative approach, which takes into account thematic maps (geology, pedology, geomorphology, and land use/land cover) and the precipitation spatial distribution. A group of experts in Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering has applied an infiltration potential scale factor that ranges from 5 (highest influence) to 1 (lowest influence).

Land use and land cover changes (LUCC) are recognized as one of the most relevant drivers of biodiversity loss in ecosystems. Through the analysis of satellite images, this article quantifies the LUCC that occurred between 1985 and 2008 in the Colombian Andes. Four submodels of changes were analyzed: deforestation, crop intensification, conversion to pastures, and abandonment.

Groundwater exploration in the Western Doon valley has been carried out to delineate the groundwater potential and groundwater quality zones suitable for domestic purposes based on the integrated use of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The Western Doon Valley, occupying broad synclinal troughs in the evolving fold-thrust system of sub-Himalaya, which is filled by post-Siwalik fluvial and debris flow deposits in the late Quaternary-Holocene.

Agent-based models of land use and cover change (ABMs/LUCC) have traditionally represented land-use and land-cover changes as arising from social, economic and demographic conditions, while spatial ecological models have tended to simulate the environmental impacts of spatially aggregated human decisions.