New migration and distribution patterns of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) around Nunavik (Québec, Canada) identified using Inuit Knowledge

AbstractEnvironmental changes are affecting the Arctic at an unprecedented rate, but limited scientific knowledge exists on their impacts on species such as walruses (Odobenus rosmarus). Inuit Traditional and Local Ecological Knowledge (Inuit TEK/LEK) held by Inuit walrus harvesters could shed light on walrus ecology and related environmental changes. Our main objective was to study spatial and temporal changes in Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) distribution in Nunavik (northern Québec, Canada) using Inuit TEK/LEK. To do so, we documented the knowledge and observations of 33 local hunters and Elders as part of a larger project on Atlantic walruses in Nunavik. We first gathered information on changes in Inuit land use patterns and harvesting practices through time and space, which was a crucial step to avoid potential biases in interpreting local observations on walrus distribution. We found that walrus hunters are now covering smaller hunting areas over shorter time periods, reducing in space and time their observations of Atlantic walruses around Nunavik. While clearly taking these limitations into account, we learned from interviews that some areas abandoned by Atlantic walruses in the past were now being re-occupied. Importantly, Atlantic walruses, which migrate following the melting ice, are now traveling along the eastern coast of Nunavik one month earlier, suggesting that Atlantic walrus migration has changed due to variations in sea-ice coverage around Nunavik. Our study not only highlighted important changes in Atlantic walrus distribution and migration in Nunavik, but also sheds light on the importance of documenting temporal and spatial changes in Inuit land use patterns and harvesting practices to understand the ecology of Arctic species using Inuit Knowledge.

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New Change Detection Techniques to monitor land cover dynamics in mine environment

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-8-875-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol XL-8 ◽

pp. 875-879 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

S. Pathak

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Cover ◽

Change Detection ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Time Interval ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Detection Techniques ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Object Based ◽

Ideal Situation

Land use and land cover are dynamic and is an important component in understanding the interactions of the human activities with the environment and thus it is necessary to simulate environmental changes. Land use/cover (LU/LC) change detection is very essential for better understanding of landuse dynamic during a known period of time for sustainable management. Mining is one of the most dynamic processes with direct as well as indirect impact on the environment. Hence, mine area provides ideal situation for evaluating the chronological changes in land-use patterns. Digital change detection of satellite data at different time interval helps in analyzing the changes in the spatial extent of mine along with the associated activities. In present study, various algorithms Iteratively Re-weighted Multivariate Alteration Detection (MAD) on raw data where class wise comparison becomes a difficult proposition and object based segmentation and change detection as post classification comparison were assessed.

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Idiosyncratic liver pigment alterations of five frog species in response to contrasting land use patterns in the Brazilian Cerrado

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.9751 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. e9751

Author(s):

Lilian Franco-Belussi ◽

Diogo B. Provete ◽

Rinneu E. Borges ◽

Classius De Oliveira ◽

Lia Raquel S. Santos

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Brazilian Cerrado ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Morphological Aspects ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Metabolic Products ◽

New Perspective

Background Changes in land use trigger environmental changes that can lead to decreased biodiversity and species loss. The liver is an essential detoxification organ that reflects systemic physiological responses to environmental changes. Here, we tested whether contrasting land use patterns influence the amount of substances from the hepatic cellular catabolism and melanomacrophages (MMs) of five anuran species in the Brazilian Cerrado. Methods We collected the same five species of pond-dwelling frogs in one protected area and in an area with intense agricultural activity. We used routine histological and histochemical techniques to quantify the area occupied by lipofuscin, melanin, and hemosiderin in the liver of two frogs Leptodactylus fuscus, Physalaemus cuvieri, and three tree-frogs Dendropsophus minutus, Scinax fuscomarginatus, and Boana albopunctata. We classified land use types in a buffer around each pond based on satellite images. We then used a double-constrained Correspondence Analysis, a recently developed ecological method to relate functional traits to environmental variables, to test the effect of each land use type on the area of each liver pigment. Results There was an increase in the amount of melanin in environments with high proportion of agriculture, as well as variation in the amount of lipofuscin and hemosiderin. Liver pigments of P. cuvieri and B. albopunctata varied more strongly in response to land use types, suggesting they could be good indicator species. Therefore, the area of MMs in the liver and the metabolic products in their cytoplasm can be used as biomarkers of environmental changes in regions with intense agricultural activities. Our results add a new perspective to the influence of land use patterns on environmental health by highlighting the effect of environmental changes on internal morphological aspects of animals.

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Environmental changes and ancient long-term wet field management schemes: A preliminary case study of the Daepyeongri site, locality 3-1-D, South Korea

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683618798114 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (12) ◽

pp. 1979-1991

Author(s):

Youngrong Moon ◽

Hong-Jong Lee ◽

Heejin Lee

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Land Reclamation ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Late Phase ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Use Patterns ◽

The Bronze Age

Large-scale excavations between 2012 and 2015 at the Daepyeongri site on the floodplain of the River Geumgang have revealed the presence of an ancient complex settlement comprising houses, extensive agricultural fields, and pits that have been dated to between the Bronze Age and the early Three Kingdoms periods. The beginning and end of the occupation of this site and land-use patterns are assumed to have been associated with its natural environment. The pollen records presented in this study show that wet conditions continued throughout the time that this site was occupied, evidenced by the consistent appearance of Alnus, while there are nevertheless hints of some land reclamation from the Bronze Age onwards. More intensive agricultural activities that took place during this later period are evidenced by an increase in the abundance of NAP pollens related to cultivation including Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Bistorta, Compositae and Fagopyrum. At the end of the occupation period, an abrupt transition to wetter conditions is recognized while dry land condition had been prevalent for some time in other parts of the site. Microscopic examination of buried cultivated soils that evidence multiple phases of ancient field systems has enabled the identification of pedological traces of discrete cultivation patterns and shows that they changed over time. The recognition of micro-structures and associated features shows that seasonally flooded wetland was first utilized during the early phase (the Bronze Age), and that more intensified irrigation management was seen during the late phase (the time span encompassed by the proto-Kingdoms and Three Kingdoms periods). These data reveal evidence for intensive hydromorphic degradation and enable a robust recognition of settlement history and an enhanced understanding of the intensity of various land-use patterns, and landscape changes from both environmental and archaeological perspectives.

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Changing Traditional Land use Patterns in the Great Himalayas: A Case Study of Lahaul Valley

Journal of Environmental Systems ◽

10.2190/6451-t2jn-0n11-r0j1 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 195-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

G. S. Singh ◽

S. C. Ram ◽

J. C. Kuniyal

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Traditional Land Use

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Conducting “Siteless Survey”: Results from Coastal New England

North American Archaeologist ◽

10.2190/rxce-py1q-pr1e-93m5 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 25-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jordan E. Kerber

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

New England ◽

Rhode Island ◽

Careful Consideration ◽

Archaeological Survey ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Statistical Validity ◽

Survey Results ◽

Survey Strategy

Selecting an effective archaeological survey takes careful consideration given the interaction of several variables, such as the survey's goals, nature of the data base, and budget constraints. This article provides justification for a “siteless survey” using evidence from a project on Potowomut Neck in Rhode Island whose objective was not to locate sites but to examine the distribution and density of prehistoric remains to test an hypothesis related to land use patterns. The survey strategy, random walk, was chosen because it possessed the advantages of probabilistic testing, as well as the ease of locating sample units. The results were within the limits of statistical validity and were found unable to reject the hypothesis. “Siteless survey” may be successfully applied in similar contexts where the distribution and density of materials, as opposed to ambiguously defined sites, are sought as evidence of land use patterns, in particular, and human adaptation, in general.

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The effects of different land use patterns on the microclimate and ecosystem services in the agro-pastoral ecotone of Northern China

Ecological Indicators ◽

10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105522 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 106 ◽

pp. 105522 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yuejuan Yang ◽

Kun Wang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Northern China ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Use Patterns

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Modeling Community-Scale Natural Resource Use in a Transboundary Southern African Landscape: Integrating Remote Sensing and Participatory Mapping

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13040631 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 631

Author(s):

Kyle D. Woodward ◽

Narcisa G. Pricope ◽

Forrest R. Stevens ◽

Andrea E. Gaughan ◽

Nicholas E. Kolarik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Land Use ◽

Resource Use ◽

Training Data ◽

Systems Science ◽

Participatory Mapping ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Human Habitation

Remote sensing analyses focused on non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection and grazing are current research priorities of land systems science. However, mapping these particular land use patterns in rural heterogeneous landscapes is challenging because their potential signatures on the landscape cannot be positively identified without fine-scale land use data for validation. Using field-mapped resource areas and household survey data from participatory mapping research, we combined various Landsat-derived indices with ancillary data associated with human habitation to model the intensity of grazing and NTFP collection activities at 100-m spatial resolution. The study area is situated centrally within a transboundary southern African landscape that encompasses community-based organization (CBO) areas across three countries. We conducted four iterations of pixel-based random forest models, modifying the variable set to determine which of the covariates are most informative, using the best fit predictions to summarize and compare resource use intensity by resource type and across communities. Pixels within georeferenced, field-mapped resource areas were used as training data. All models had overall accuracies above 60% but those using proxies for human habitation were more robust, with overall accuracies above 90%. The contribution of Landsat data as utilized in our modeling framework was negligible, and further research must be conducted to extract greater value from Landsat or other optical remote sensing platforms to map these land use patterns at moderate resolution. We conclude that similar population proxy covariates should be included in future studies attempting to characterize communal resource use when traditional spectral signatures do not adequately capture resource use intensity alone. This study provides insights into modeling resource use activity when leveraging both remotely sensed data and proxies for human habitation in heterogeneous, spectrally mixed rural land areas.

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