Bats respond negatively to increases in the amount and homogenization of agricultural land cover

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1889-1903
Author(s):  
Julia E. Put ◽  
Lenore Fahrig ◽  
Greg W. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Barbara Wiatkowska ◽  
Janusz Słodczyk ◽  
Aleksandra Stokowska

Urban expansion is a dynamic and complex phenomenon, often involving adverse changes in land use and land cover (LULC). This paper uses satellite imagery from Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-2 MSI, and GIS technology to analyse LULC changes in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The research was carried out in Opole, the capital of the Opole Agglomeration (south-western Poland). Maps produced from supervised spectral classification of remote sensing data revealed that in 20 years, built-up areas have increased about 40%, mainly at the expense of agricultural land. Detection of changes in the spatial pattern of LULC showed that the highest average rate of increase in built-up areas occurred in the zone 3–6 km (11.7%) and above 6 km (10.4%) from the centre of Opole. The analysis of the increase of built-up land in relation to the decreasing population (SDG 11.3.1) has confirmed the ongoing process of demographic suburbanisation. The paper shows that satellite imagery and GIS can be a valuable tool for local authorities and planners to monitor the scale of urbanisation processes for the purpose of adapting space management procedures to the changing environment.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 353
Author(s):  
Rassim Khelifa ◽  
Hayat Mahdjoub ◽  
Affef Baaloudj ◽  
Robert A. Cannings ◽  
Michael J. Samways

Agriculture can be pervasive in its effect on wild nature, affecting various types of natural habitats, including lotic ecosystems. Here, we assess the extent of agricultural expansion on lotic systems in Northern Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco) and document its overlap with the distribution of an endemic damselfly, Platycnemis subdilatata Selys, using species distribution modeling. We found that agricultural land cover increased by 321% in the region between 1992 and 2005, and, in particular, the main watercourses experienced an increase in agricultural land cover from 21.4% in 1992 to 78.1% in 2005, together with an increase in the intensity of 226% in agricultural practices. We used capture–mark–recapture (CMR) surveys in terrestrial habitats surrounding a stream bordered by grassland and cropland in northeastern Algeria to determine demographic parameters and population size, as well as cropland occupancy. CMR modeling showed that the recapture and survival probabilities had an average of 0.14 (95%CI: 0.14–0.17) and 0.86 (0.85–0.87), respectively. We estimated a relatively large population of P. subdilatata (~1750 individuals) in terrestrial habitats. The occupancy of terrestrial habitats by adults was spatially structured by age. Our data suggest that P. subdilatata has survived agricultural expansion and intensification better than other local odonate species, mainly because it can occupy transformed landscapes, such as croplands and grasslands.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1541
Author(s):  
Albert Nkwasa ◽  
Celray James Chawanda ◽  
Anna Msigwa ◽  
Hans C. Komakech ◽  
Boud Verbeiren ◽  
...  

In SWAT and SWAT+ models, the variations in hydrological processes are represented by Hydrological Response Units (HRUs). In the default models, agricultural land cover is represented by a single growing cycle. However, agricultural land use, especially in African cultivated catchments, typically consists of several cropping seasons, following dry and wet seasonal patterns, and are hence incorrectly represented in SWAT and SWAT+ default models. In this paper, we propose a procedure to incorporate agricultural seasonal land-use dynamics by (1) mapping land-use trajectories instead of static land-cover maps and (2) linking these trajectories to agricultural management settings. This approach was tested in SWAT and SWAT+ models of Usa catchment in Tanzania that is intensively cultivated by implementing dominant dynamic trajectories. Our results were evaluated with remote-sensing observations for Leaf Area Index (LAI), which showed that a single growing cycle did not well represent vegetation dynamics. A better agreement was obtained after implementing seasonal land-use dynamics for cultivated HRUs. It was concluded that the representation of seasonal land-use dynamics through trajectory implementation can lead to improved temporal patterns of LAI in default models. The SWAT+ model had higher flexibility in representing agricultural practices, using decision tables, and by being able to represent mixed cropping cultivations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy R. Petway ◽  
Yu-Pin Lin ◽  
Rainer F. Wunderlich

Though agricultural landscape biodiversity and ecosystem service (ES) conservation is crucial to sustainability, agricultural land is often underrepresented in ES studies, while cultural ES associated with agricultural land is often limited to aesthetic and tourism recreation value only. This study mapped 7 nonmaterial-intangible cultural ES (NICE) valuations of 34 rural farmers in western Taiwan using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) methodology, to show the effect of farming practices on NICE valuations. However, rather than a direct causal relationship between the environmental characteristics that underpin ES, and respondents’ ES valuations, we found that environmental data is not explanatory enough for causality within a socio-ecological production landscape where one type of land cover type (a micro mosaic of agricultural land cover) predominates. To compensate, we used a place-based approach with Google Maps data to create context-specific data to inform our assessment of NICE valuations. Based on 338 mapped points of 7 NICE valuations distributed among 6 areas within the landscape, we compared 2 groups of farmers and found that farmers’ valuations about their landscape were better understood when accounting for both the landscape’s cultural places and environmental characteristics, rather than environmental characteristics alone. Further, farmers’ experience and knowledge influenced their NICE valuations such that farm areas were found to be sources of multiple NICE benefits demonstrating that farming practices may influence ES valuation in general.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1519-1537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basanta Paudel ◽  
Yili Zhang ◽  
Shicheng Li ◽  
Linshan Liu

2021 ◽  
Vol 940 (1) ◽  
pp. 012045
Author(s):  
K Marko ◽  
D Sutjiningsih ◽  
E Kusratmoko

Abstract The increase in built-up land and the decrease in vegetated land due to human activities have worsened watershed health from time to time. This study aims to assess the watershed’s health and changes every ten years based on the percentage of vegetated land cover except agricultural land in the Upper Citarum watershed, West Java. Land cover information was obtained from the processing of Landsat imagery in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 based on remote sensing using the supervised classification method. The watershed health level is determined by calculating the percentage of vegetated land cover of 173 catchments. The results show that the area of the vegetated land cover decreased from 1990 to 2000, then increased from 2000 to 2010, and decreased again from 2010 to 2020. Changes in the area of vegetated land in each period of the year affect the health level of the watershed in a spatiotemporal manner. Although these changes occur in a fluctuating manner, the number of unhealthy catchments in the Upper Citarum watershed is increasing, especially in the Ci Kapundung sub-watershed in the north and Ci Sangkuy in the south.


Author(s):  
A. B. Rimba ◽  
T. Atmaja ◽  
G. Mohan ◽  
S. K. Chapagain ◽  
A. Arumansawang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Bali has been open to tourism since the beginning of the 20th century and is known as the first tourist destination in Indonesia. The Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan (Sarbagita) areas experience the most rapid growth of tourism activity in Bali. This rapid tourism growth has caused land use and land cover (LULC) to change drastically. This study mapped the land-use change in Bali from 2000 to 2025. The land change modeller (LCM) tool in ArcGIS was employed to conduct this analysis. The images were classified into agricultural land, open area, mangrove, vegetation/forest, and built-up area. Some Landsat images in 2000 and 2015 were exploited in predicting the land use and land cover (LULC) change in 2019 and 2025. To measure the accuracy of prediction, Landsat 8 OLI images for 2019 were classified and tested to verify the LULC model for 2019. The Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network was trained with two influencing factors: elevation and road network. The result showed that the built-up growth direction expanded from the Denpasar area to the neighbouring areas, and land was converted from agriculture, open area and vegetation/forest to built-up for all observation years. The built-up was predicted growing up to 43 % from 2015 to 2025. This model could support decision-makers in issuing a policy for monitoring LULC since the Kappa coefficients were more than 80% for all models.


2017 ◽  
Vol 332 ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alemayehu Adugna ◽  
Assefa Abegaz ◽  
Asmamaw Legass ◽  
Diogenes L. Antille

Africa has seen significant changes in land cover at different spatial scales. Changes in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) include deforestation and subse- quent use of the land for arable cropping, conversion to grassland or urbanization. The work reported in this article was conducted to examine land cover transi- tions in north-eastern Wollega (Ethiopia) between 2005 and 2015. The analysis focused on land cover transitions that occurred systematically or randomly, and identified the main drivers for these changes. Landsat data from 2005 and 2015 were examined to better unders- tand the various dimensions of land cover transitions, namely: swaps, losses, gains, persistency and vulnerability. Results showed that shrubland exhibited the largest gain (22%), with a 63% gain- to-loss ratio, a 47% gain-to-persistence ratio and a positive net change-to-persis- tence ratio of 46%. Cropland showed the largest loss (19%) while grassland was the most stable type of land cover des- pite some fluctuation (»10%) observed during the 10-year period. The land cover transition was dominated by systematic processes, with few random processes of change. Systematic land cover transitions such as agricultural abandonment and vegetation re-growth were attributed to regular or common processes of change. This study suggests that the implementa- tion of practices conducive to sustainable intensification of existing agricultural land, supported by policies that promote increased diversification of Ethiopian agriculture, would mitigate pressure on forests by avoiding their future conver- sion to cropland.


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