Ecosystem services in different agro-climatic zones in eastern India: impact of land use and land cover change

Land-use/land-cover changes are considered the dominant form of anthropogenic pressure on the environment, causing changes in ecosystem service patterns and affecting water supply services. Using the spatial econometric technique, we analysed the impact of land-use/land-cover change on water ecosystem services for domestic use upstream and downstream of the Wami River Basin. The results in terms of land-use/land-cover classes during the study period (2011–2016) indicate that cultivated land showed maximum positive changes in both sub-catchments, while bushland and woodland showed maximum negative changes upstream and downstream. The results showed that bushland, woodland, cultivated land, and grassland were significantly correlated with water point characteristics in both sub-catchments. For functionality characteristics, a significant effect was observed in bushland and grassland upstream and downstream, respectively, while sufficient water was found in woodland upstream and grassland downstream. Moreover, bushland was observed to have a significant number of water points with poor quality of water upstream, and a substantial number of water points with good quality of water were found in grassland downstream. We found that all measured land-use/land-cover changes and water point characteristic correlations were statistically significant; therefore, we concluded that land-use/land-cover change affects the water ecosystem in the basin. These results could facilitate decision-making and development of related policies and might support finding sustainable strategies for water ecosystem services for domestic use.

Download Full-text

Impacts of land use/land cover change and socioeconomic development on regional ecosystem services: The case of fast-growing Hangzhou metropolitan area, China

Cities ◽

10.1016/j.cities.2012.08.003 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. 276-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 120

Author(s):

Kai-ya Wu ◽

Xin-yue Ye ◽

Zhi-fang Qi ◽

Hao Zhang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Cover ◽

Land Cover Change ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

Socioeconomic Development ◽

Land Use Land Cover ◽

Fast Growing

Download Full-text

Over 150 Years of Change: Object-Oriented Analysis of Historical Land Cover in the Main River Catchment, Bavaria/Germany

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12244048 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (24) ◽

pp. 4048

Author(s):

Yrneh Ulloa-Torrealba ◽

Reinhold Stahlmann ◽

Martin Wegmann ◽

Thomas Koellner

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Land Cover ◽

Land Cover Change ◽

Historical Maps ◽

River Catchment ◽

Main River ◽

Object Based

The monitoring of land cover and land use change is critical for assessing the provision of ecosystem services. One of the sources for long-term land cover change quantification is through the classification of historical and/or current maps. Little research has been done on historical maps using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA). This study applied an object-based classification using eCognition tool for analyzing the land cover based on historical maps in the Main river catchment, Upper Franconia, Germany. This allowed land use change analysis between the 1850s and 2015, a time span which covers the phase of industrialization of landscapes in central Europe. The results show a strong increase in urban area by 2600%, a severe loss of cropland (−24%), a moderate reduction in meadows (−4%), and a small gain in forests (+4%). The method proved useful for the application on historical maps due to the ability of the software to create semantic objects. The confusion matrix shows an overall accuracy of 82% for the automatic classification compared to manual reclassification considering all 17 sample tiles. The minimum overall accuracy was 65% for historical maps of poor quality and the maximum was 91% for very high-quality ones. Although accuracy is between high and moderate, coarse land cover patterns in the past and trends in land cover change can be analyzed. We conclude that such long-term analysis of land cover is a prerequisite for quantifying long-term changes in ecosystem services.

Download Full-text