scholarly journals Mountain Landscape Dynamics after Large Wind and Bark Beetle Disasters and Subsequent Logging—Case Studies from the Carpathians

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 3873
Author(s):  
Vladimír Falťan ◽  
František Petrovič ◽  
Marián Gábor ◽  
Vladimír Šagát ◽  
Matej Hruška
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Bark Beetle ◽  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Local Case

High winds and the subsequent infestation of subcortical insect are considered to be the most extensive types of large natural disturbances in the Central European forests. In this paper, we focus on the landscape dynamics of two representative mountain areas of Slovakia, which have been affected by aforementioned natural disturbances during last two decades. For example, on 19 November 2004, the bora caused significant damage to more than 126 km2 of spruce forests in the Tatra National Park (TANAP). Several wind-related events also affected sites in the National Park Low Tatras (NAPALT). Monitoring of related land cover changes during years 2000–2019 was based on CORINE Land Cover data and methodology set up on satellite and aerial images interpretation, on detailed land cover interpretation (1:10,000) for the local case studies, as well as on the results of field research and forestry databases. The dynamics of forest recovery are different in the clear-cuts (usually with subsequent tree planting) and in the naturally developing forest. The area in the vicinity of Tatranská Lonmnica encroaching on the Studená dolina National Nature Reserve in TANAP represents a trend of the gradual return of young forest. The area of Čertovica on the border between NAPALT and its buffer zone are characterized by an increase in clear-cut sites with potentially increasing soil erosion risk, due to repeated wind disasters and widening of bark beetle. Proposed detailed, large-scale approach is being barely used, when considering recent studies dealing with the natural disturbances.

scholarly journals Comparison of CORINE Land Cover Data with National Statistics and the Possibility to Record This Data on a Local Scale—Case Studies from Slovakia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2484
Author(s):  
Vladimír Falťan ◽  
František Petrovič ◽  
Ján Oťaheľ ◽  
Ján Feranec ◽  
Michal Druga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Hierarchical Level ◽  
Minimum Width ◽  
Corine Land Cover ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
Local Case

Monitoring of land cover (LC) provides important information of actual land use (LU) and landscape dynamics. LC research results depend on the size of the area, purpose and applied methodology. CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data is one of the most important sources of LU data from a European perspective. Our research compares official CLC data (third hierarchical level of nomenclature at a scale of 1:100,000) and national statistics (NS) of LU in Slovakia between 2000 and 2018 at national, county, and local levels. The most significant differences occurred in arable land and permanent grassland, which is also related to the recording method and the development of agricultural land management. Due to the abandonment of agricultural areas, a real recorded increase in forest cover due to forest succession was not introduced in the official records of Land register. New modification of CLC methodology for identifying LC classes at a scale of 1:10,000 and fifth hierarchical level of CLC is firstly applied for local case studies representing lowland, basin, and mountain landscape. The size of the least identified and simultaneously recorded area was established at 0.1 ha the minimum width of a polygon was established at 10 m, the minimum recorded width of linear elements such as communications was established at 2 m. The use of the fifth CLC level in the case studies areas generated average boundary density 17.2 km/km2, comparing to the 2.6 km/km2 of the third level. Therefore, when measuring the density of spatial information by the polygon boundary lengths, the fifth level carries 6.6 times more information than the third level. Detailed investigation of LU affords better verification of national statistics data at a local level. This study also contributes to a more detailed recording of the current state of the Central European landscape and its changes.

scholarly journals Green Spaces, Land Cover, Street Trees and Hypertension in the Megacity of São Paulo

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiana C. L. Moreira ◽  
Jefferson L. Polizel ◽  
Itamar de Souza Santos ◽  
Demóstenes F. Silva Filho ◽  
Isabela Bensenor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Diagnosis Of Hypertension

Proximity to green spaces has been shown to be beneficial to several cardiovascular outcomes in urban spaces. Few studies, however, have analyzed the relationship between these outcomes and green space or land cover uses in low–medium income megacities, where the consequences of rapid and inordinate urbanization impose several health hazards. This study used a subgroup of the dataset from The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health ELSA-BRASIL (n = 3418) to identify the correlation between the medical diagnosis of hypertension and green spaces in the megacity of São Paulo. Land cover classification was performed based on the random forest algorithm using geometrically corrected aerial photography (orthophoto). Three different indicators of exposure to green spaces were used: number of street trees, land cover and number of parks within 1 km. We used logistic regression models to obtain the association of the metrics exposure and health outcomes. The number of street trees in the regional governments (OR = 0.937 and number of parks within 1 km (OR = 0.876) were inversely associated with a diagnosis of hypertension. Sixty-three percent of the population had no parks within 1 km of their residence. Our data indicate the need to encourage large-scale street tree planting and increase the number of qualified parks in megacities.

scholarly journals Sentinel-2 Data in an Evaluation of the Impact of the Disturbances on Forest Vegetation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Lastovicka ◽  
Pavel Svec ◽  
Daniel Paluba ◽  
Natalia Kobliuk ◽  
Jan Svoboda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bark Beetle ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
National Park ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Forest Vegetation ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Tasseled Cap ◽  
Sentinel 2

In this article, we investigated the detection of forest vegetation changes during the period of 2017 to 2019 in the Low Tatras National Park (Slovakia) and the Sumava National Park (Czechia) using Sentinel-2 data. The evaluation was based on a time-series analysis using selected vegetation indices. The case studies represented five different areas according to the type of the forest vegetation degradation (one with bark beetle calamity, two areas with forest recovery mode after a bark beetle calamity, and two areas without significant disturbances). The values of the trajectories of the vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference moisture index (NDMI)) and the orthogonal indices (tasseled cap greenness (TCG) and tasseled cap wetness (TCW)) were analyzed and validated by in situ data and aerial photographs. The results confirm the abilities of the NDVI, the NDMI and the TCW to distinguish disturbed and undisturbed areas. The NDMI vegetation index was particularly useful for the detection of the disturbed forest and forest recovery after bark beetle outbreaks and provided relevant information regarding the health of the forest (the individual stages of the disturbances and recovery mode). On the contrary, the TCG index demonstrated only limited abilities. The TCG could distinguish healthy forest and the gray-attack disturbance phase; however, it was difficult to use this index for detecting different recovery phases and to distinguish recovery phases from healthy forest. The areas affected by the disturbances had lower values of NDVI and NDMI indices (NDVI quartile range Q2–Q3: 0.63–0.71; NDMI Q2–Q3: 0.10–0.19) and the TCW index had negative values (Q2–Q3: −0.06–−0.05)). The analysis was performed with a cloud-based tool—Sentinel Hub. Cloud-based technologies have brought a new dimension in the processing and analysis of satellite data and allowed satellite data to be brought to end-users in the forestry sector. The Copernicus program and its data from Sentinel missions have evoked new opportunities in the application of satellite data. The usage of Sentinel-2 data in the research of long-term forest vegetation changes has a high relevance and perspective due to the free availability, distribution, and well-designed spectral, temporal, and spatial resolution of the Sentinel-2 data for monitoring forest ecosystems.

scholarly journals Effects of Large-Scale Fire on Plant Regneration on Subalpine Plateaus in Yellowstone National Park

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
William Romme ◽  
Monica Turner ◽  
Robert Gardner ◽  
William Hargrove
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Plant Succession ◽  
Spatial Patterning ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Successional Stages ◽  
Dispersal Abilities

The scale of the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) raised numerous questions for the management of natural areas subject to large but infrequent natural disturbances. The central question that we have addressed in our postfire studies is whether the effects of large-scale fires, such as those in 1988, differ qualitatively as well as quantitatively from effects of smaller fires. The answer to this question has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of natural systems and for management of future disturbances in places like YNP (Christensen et al. 1989). We approached this question on Yellowstone's extensive subalpine plateaus by comparing patterns of plant regeneration in large vs. small fire-generated patches after the 1988 fires. This research complements our work in northern YNP that focused on the landscape-level interactions among ungulates, vegetation, and fire, and was published in the UW-NPS Report for 1992 (Turner et al. 1992). Recent research into the mechanisms of plant succession following fire or other disturbances has demonstrated that species responses may vary with different kinds and severities of disturbance and with the larger spatial and temporal context of the disturbance. For example, Rowe (1983) describes several species of ·boreal plants that resprout from surviving belowground structures after low-severity fires and dominate early successional stages; these same species are killed by severe fires and replaced by other species having greater dispersal abilities (also see Miller 1982, Malanson 1984, and Halpern 1989). The scale and heterogeneity of the 1988 yellowstone fires provide an exceptional opportunity to evaluate the relative importance of the size and spatial patterning of fire-created patches for reestabishment of plant species representing different modes of reproduction.

scholarly journals Regenerating Stormwater Infrastructure into Biophilic Urban Assets. Case Studies of a Sump Garden and a Sump Park in Western Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5461
Author(s):  
Agata Cabanek ◽  
Maria Elena Zingoni de Baro ◽  
Joshua Byrne ◽  
Peter Newman
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Local Case ◽  
Regenerative Design ◽  
Stormwater Infiltration

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the old modernist engineering technologies, such as single purpose stormwater infiltration basins, can be transformed into quality environments that integrate ecological and social functions and promote multiple sets of outcomes, including biodiversity restoration, water management, and cultural and recreational purposes, among other urban roles. Using the principles and theories of biophilic urbanism, regenerative design, and qualitative inquiry, this article analyzes and discusses the actors, drivers, strategies, constraints, and values motivating the stakeholders to reinvent Perth’s stormwater infrastructure through two local case studies. The “WGV sump park” was developed through a public-private partnership, including professional consultants with community input, and the “Green Swing sump garden” was an owner-builder community-driven project involving volunteers, who maintain it. The results of this research suggest that both projects are successful at managing stormwater in a way that creates multiple community and biodiversity benefits. Communities could gain improved access to nature, social interaction, health, and well-being if local governments support these alternative approaches to regenerate underutilized stormwater infrastructure by promoting biophilic interventions. Mainstreaming this design approach identified some issues that may arise during the implementation of this biophilic urban approach, and the paper suggests ways to enhance the wider delivery of regenerative and biophilic design into urban planning, involving volunteer delivery and maintenance for small scale projects and fully professional assessments for large scale projects.

Classification of vegetation in Cucphuong National Park with the aim of large-scale mapping, Vietnam

1996 ◽  
pp. 64-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguen Nghia Thin ◽  
Nguen Ba Thu ◽  
Tran Van Thuy
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Satellite Images ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Vegetation Map ◽  
Dense Forest ◽  
Broad Leaved Forest ◽  
Leaved Forest

The tropical seasonal rainy evergreen broad-leaved forest vegetation of the Cucphoung National Park has been classified and the distribution of plant communities has been shown on the map using the relations of vegetation to geology, geomorphology and pedology. The method of vegetation mapping includes: 1) the identifying of vegetation types in the remote-sensed materials (aerial photographs and satellite images); 2) field work to compile the interpretation keys and to characterize all the communities of a study area; 3) compilation of the final vegetation map using the combined information. In the classification presented a number of different level vegetation units have been identified: formation classes (3), formation sub-classes (3), formation groups (3), formations (4), subformations (10) and communities (19). Communities have been taken as mapping units. So in the vegetation map of the National Park 19 vegetation categories has been shown altogether, among them 13 are natural primary communities, and 6 are the secondary, anthropogenic ones. The secondary succession goes through 3 main stages: grassland herbaceous xerophytic vegetation, xerophytic scrub, dense forest.

scholarly journals Pixel- vs. Object-Based Landsat 8 Data Classification in Google Earth Engine Using Random Forest: The Case Study of Maiella National Park

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2299
Author(s):  
Andrea Tassi ◽  
Daniela Gigante ◽  
Giuseppe Modica ◽  
Luciano Di Martino ◽  
Marco Vizzari
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
National Park ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Data Cube ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Change Analysis ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Google Earth Engine

With the general objective of producing a 2018–2020 Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) map of the Maiella National Park (central Italy), useful for a future long-term LULC change analysis, this research aimed to develop a Landsat 8 (L8) data composition and classification process using Google Earth Engine (GEE). In this process, we compared two pixel-based (PB) and two object-based (OB) approaches, assessing the advantages of integrating the textural information in the PB approach. Moreover, we tested the possibility of using the L8 panchromatic band to improve the segmentation step and the object’s textural analysis of the OB approach and produce a 15-m resolution LULC map. After selecting the best time window of the year to compose the base data cube, we applied a cloud-filtering and a topography-correction process on the 32 available L8 surface reflectance images. On this basis, we calculated five spectral indices, some of them on an interannual basis, to account for vegetation seasonality. We added an elevation, an aspect, a slope layer, and the 2018 CORINE Land Cover classification layer to improve the available information. We applied the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) algorithm to calculate the image’s textural information and, in the OB approaches, the Simple Non-Iterative Clustering (SNIC) algorithm for the image segmentation step. We performed an initial RF optimization process finding the optimal number of decision trees through out-of-bag error analysis. We randomly distributed 1200 ground truth points and used 70% to train the RF classifier and 30% for the validation phase. This subdivision was randomly and recursively redefined to evaluate the performance of the tested approaches more robustly. The OB approaches performed better than the PB ones when using the 15 m L8 panchromatic band, while the addition of textural information did not improve the PB approach. Using the panchromatic band within an OB approach, we produced a detailed, 15-m resolution LULC map of the study area.

scholarly journals Occurrence of the Green Shield-Moss Buxbaumia viridis (Moug.) Brid. in the Bieszczady Mountains of Poland

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 374
Author(s):  
Piotr Brewczyński ◽  
Kamil Grałek ◽  
Piotr Bilański
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Moss Species ◽  
Microhabitat Preferences ◽  
Natura 2000 Site ◽  
Forest District

The small-sized gametophytes and sporophytes of the green shield-moss Buxbaumia viridis (Moug.) Brid. make it difficult to study. However, in Europe, there has been increasing interest in this species in the past few years, mostly as a result of the implementation of the Natura 2000 network. In Poland, B. viridis has only been reported in isolated studies that have been limited in terms of area and the number of participating workers. One of the Polish regions where B. viridis was recently recorded is the Bieszczady Mountains, but there have been no large-scale surveys of that region to date. The objective of the current work was to describe the B. viridis population in the Bieszczady Mountains in terms of its spatial distribution and abundance, investigate its selected microhabitat preferences, and evaluate the conservation status of this moss species within the Natura 2000 site Bieszczady PLC180001. The studied region encompassed 93,490.44 ha, including 69,056.23 ha of managed forests and 24,434.21 ha of forests belonging to the Bieszczady National Park. A preliminary survey was conducted in the Cisna Forest District (forest area of 19,555.82 ha) on 15–17 November 2017, while the main survey was performed in selected forest subcompartments of four forest districts—Baligród, Komańcza, Lutowiska, and Stuposiany—as well as the Bieszczady National Park from 5 to 16 November 2018. The field work consisted of searching for B. viridis sporophytes and setae and recording selected population and locality characteristics. The study led to the discovery of 353 new B. viridis localities in 202 study areas, with 9197 diploid individuals (sporophytes or setae only) growing in 545 microhabitats. The number of B. viridis localities discovered in the Bieszczady Mountains during 17 days of survey in 2017 and 2018 was two times higher than the combined number of localities previously found in Poland over more than 150 years (159 localities). Additionally, the number of sporophytes and setae identified was two times greater than their overall number in previous records. In addition, this study provides information about selected microhabitat preferences and the conservation status of this moss in the Bieszczady Natura 2000 site.

scholarly journals Modeling regional impacts and resilience to water service disruptions in urban economies

2021 ◽  
pp. 239980832199870
Author(s):  
Sheree A Pagsuyoin ◽  
Joost R Santos
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
National Capital Region ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
The Impact

Water is a critical natural resource that sustains the productivity of many economic sectors, whether directly or indirectly. Climate change alongside rapid growth and development are a threat to water sustainability and regional productivity. In this paper, we develop an extension to the economic input-output model to assess the impact of water supply disruptions to regional economies. The model utilizes the inoperability variable, which measures the extent to which an infrastructure system or economic sector is unable to deliver its intended output. While the inoperability concept has been utilized in previous applications, this paper offers extensions that capture the time-varying nature of inoperability as the sectors recover from a disruptive event, such as drought. The model extension is capable of inserting inoperability adjustments within the drought timeline to capture time-varying likelihoods and severities, as well as the dependencies of various economic sectors on water. The model was applied to case studies of severe drought in two regions: (1) the state of Massachusetts (MA) and (2) the US National Capital Region (NCR). These regions were selected to contrast drought resilience between a mixed urban–rural region (MA) and a highly urban region (NCR). These regions also have comparable overall gross domestic products despite significant differences in the distribution and share of the economic sectors comprising each region. The results of the case studies indicate that in both regions, the utility and real estate sectors suffer the largest economic loss; nonetheless, results also identify region-specific sectors that incur significant losses. For the NCR, three sectors in the top 10 ranking of highest economic losses are government-related, whereas in the MA, four sectors in the top 10 are manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, the accommodation sector has also been included in the NCR case intuitively because of the high concentration of museums and famous landmarks. In contrast, the Wholesale Trade sector was among the sectors with the highest economic losses in the MA case study because of its large geographic size conducive for warehouses used as nodes for large-scale supply chain networks. Future modeling extensions could potentially include analysis of water demand and supply management strategies that can enhance regional resilience against droughts. Other regional case studies can also be pursued in future efforts to analyze various categories of drought severity beyond the case studies featured in this paper.

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