Change in area harvested and land use in North America

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
North America

Biophysical forcings of land-use changes from potential forestry activities in North America

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiguang Zhao ◽  
Robert B. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
North America ◽  
Land Use Changes

The Effects of Long‐Term Land‐Use Change on Soil Properties in Perth, Ontario Canada

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trina Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
North America ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Topographic Gradients

Land‐use change can have a major impact on soil properties, leading to long‐term changes in soilnutrient cycling rates and carbon storage. While a substantial amount of research has been conducted onland‐use change in tropical regions, empirical evidence of long‐term conversion of forested land toagricultural land in North America is lacking. Pervasive deforestation for the sake of agriculturethroughout much of North America is likely to have modified soil properties, with implications for theglobal climate. Here, we examined the response of physical, chemical and biological soil properties toconversion of forest to agricultural land (100 years ago) on Roebuck Farm near Perth, Ontario, Canada.Soil samples were collected at three sites from under forest and agricultural vegetative cover on bothhigh‐ and low‐lying topographic positions (12 locations in total; soil profile sampled to a depth of 40cm).Our results revealed that bulk density, pH, and nitrate concentrations were all higher in soils collectedfrom cultivate sites. In contrast, samples from forested sites exhibited greater water‐holding capacity,porosity, organic matter content, ammonia concentrations and cation exchange capacity. Many of these characteristics are linked to greater organic matter abundance and diversity in soils under forestvegetation as compared with agricultural soils. Microbial activity and Q10 values were also higher in theforest soils. While soil properties in the forest were fairly similar across topographic gradients, low‐lyingpositions under agricultural regions had higher bulk density and organic matter content than upslopepositions, suggesting significant movement of material along topographic gradients. Differences in soilproperties are attributed largely to increased compaction and loss of organic matter inputs in theagricultural system. Our results suggest that the conversion of forested land cover to agriculture landcover reduces soil quality and carbon storage, alters long‐term site productivity, and contributes toincreased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

The Influence of Land Use and Fences on Habitat Effectiveness, Movements and Distribution of Pronghorn in the Grasslands of North America

2011 ◽  
pp. 277-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cormack Gates ◽  
Paul Jones ◽  
Michael Suitor ◽  
Andrew Jakes ◽  
Mark S. Boyce ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
North America

scholarly journals Overview of Mollisols in the world: Distribution, land use and management

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Liu ◽  
Charles Lee Burras ◽  
Yuri S. Kravchenko ◽  
Artigas Duran ◽  
Ted Huffman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
North America ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
The United States ◽  
Plant Residues ◽  
The World ◽  
Land Use And Management ◽  
World Distribution

Liu, X., Burras, C. L., Kravchenko, Y. S., Duran, A., Huffman, T., Morras, H., Studdert, G., Zhang, X., Cruse, R. M. and Yuan, X. 2012. Overview of Mollisols in the world: Distribution, land use and management. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 383–402. Mollisols – a.k.a., Black Soils or Prairie Soils – make up about 916 million ha, which is 7% of the world's ice-free land surface. Their distribution strongly correlates with native prairie ecosystems, but is not limited to them. They are most prevalent in the mid-latitudes of North America, Eurasia, and South America. In North America, they cover 200 million ha of the United States, more than 40 million ha of Canada and 50 million ha of Mexico. Across Eurasia they cover around 450 million ha, extending from the western 148 million ha in southern Russia and 34 million ha in Ukraine to the eastern 35 million ha in northeast China. They are common to South America's Argentina and Uruguay, covering about 89 million and 13 million ha, respectively. Mollisols are often recognized as inherently productive and fertile soils. They are extensively and intensively farmed, and increasingly dedicated to cereals production, which needs significant inputs of fertilizers and tillage. Mollisols are also important soils in pasture, range and forage systems. Thus, it is not surprising that these soils are prone to soil erosion, dehumification (loss of stable aggregates and organic matter) and are suffering from anthropogenic soil acidity. Therefore, soil scientists from all of the world's Mollisols regions are concerned about the sustainability of some of current trends in land use and agricultural practices. These same scientists recommend increasing the acreage under minimum or restricted tillage, returning plant residues and adding organic amendments such as animal manure to maintain or increase soil organic matter content, and more systematic use of chemical amendments such as agricultural limestone to replenish soil calcium reserves.

scholarly journals Challenges in Forest Road Maintenance in North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Dodson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
North America ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Road Networks ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
Road Maintenance ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Forest Road

Maintenance is a key component of managing a forest road network. Forest road networks in North America are managed to provide economic access to forest resources while minimizing the environmental impacts of those roads. While managers understand the importantance of road maintenance, there is a considerable backlog in the maintenance required on most forest road networks. This article reviews challenges across North America in forest road maintenance. Challenges reviewed include those associated with climate change, changing land use and intermingled ownerships, legacy roads, decision support, and financial barriers.

scholarly journals Laneway redevelopment programs : a case study review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Marie Oldhall
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
North America ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
The City

The revitalization of formerly dark, dirty and often uninviting urban spaces is occurring across many cities throughout North America. This is because the hundreds of kilometers of laneways located behind buildings to be viewed as significant semi-public spaces and are being redeveloped into active spaces that can play a role in improving the state of the natural environment. The City of Toronto has a vast laneway system that is not being utilized to its full potential. This report attempts to demonstrate this point and suggests that there is an opportunity for recreating these laneways into vibrant spaces that support the natural environment while maintaining their primary functions as light vehicular thoroughfares and access points for homes and businesses. Through the examination of nine laneway redevelopment programs and projects this report highlights the successful techniques being implemented within these laneways and emphasizes the significant lessons that can be learned. Finally, each lesson learned is review, and recommendations are given on how the City of Toronto can potentially address each point if attempting to implement its own laneway redevelopment program. Among a host of recommendations, this includes the need to promote laneway redevelopment through a change to the City's existing land use planning policies; the development of laneway design guidelines; and, the implementation of a dynamic funding system.

scholarly journals Response of dust emissions in southwestern North America to 21st century trends in climate, CO<sub>2</sub> fertilization, and land use: implications for air quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Loretta J. Mickley ◽  
Jed O. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
North America ◽  
Human Health ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Fine Dust ◽  
Co2 Fertilization ◽  
Dust Emissions ◽  
Dust Mobilization

Abstract. Climate models predict a shift toward warmer and drier environments in southwestern North America. The consequences of such a shift for dust mobilization and dust concentration are unknown, but they could have large implications for human health, given the connections between dust inhalation and disease. Here we link a dynamic vegetation model (LPJ-LMfire) to a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to assess the impacts of future changes in three factors – climate, CO2 fertilization, and land use practices – on vegetation in this region. From there, we investigate the impacts of changing vegetation on dust mobilization and assess the net effect on fine dust concentration (defined as dust particles less than 2.5 µm in diameter) on surface air quality. We find that surface temperatures in southwestern North America warm by 3.3 K and precipitation decreases by nearly 40 % by 2100 in the most extreme warming scenario (RCP8.5; RCP refers to Representative Concentration Pathway) in spring (March, April, and May) – the season of greatest dust emissions. Such conditions reveal an increased vulnerability to drought and vegetation die-off. Enhanced CO2 fertilization, however, offsets the modeled effects of warming temperatures and rainfall deficit on vegetation in some areas of the southwestern US. Considering all three factors in the RCP8.5 scenario, dust concentrations decrease over Arizona and New Mexico in spring by the late 21st century due to greater CO2 fertilization and a more densely vegetated environment, which inhibits dust mobilization. Along Mexico's northern border, dust concentrations increase as a result of the intensification of anthropogenic land use. In contrast, when CO2 fertilization is not considered in the RCP8.5 scenario, vegetation cover declines significantly across most of the domain by 2100, leading to widespread increases in fine dust concentrations, especially in southeastern New Mexico (up to ∼ 2.0 µg m−3 relative to the present day) and along the border between New Mexico and Mexico (up to ∼ 2.5 µg m−3). Our results have implications for human health, especially for the health of the indigenous people who make up a large percentage of the population in this region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document