scholarly journals Forest area changes throughout the years in Bjelovarsko-Bilogorska County

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 48-57
Author(s):  
Nikola Kranjčić ◽  
Antonio Jaguljnjak ◽  
Jurica Ivanušec ◽  
Mihael Heček

The results of forest cover reduction were obtained using raster data and administrative borders for the Republic of Croatia. Examples are taken from other countries to compare the results and show the reduction of cover, both forest and agricultural. The first part of this paper describes the situation in the Republic of Croatia, where Ministry of Environmental Protection provided analysis. The condition of land cover in the Republic of Croatia is presented. The second part of this paper is a description of the task development process in the software package "QGIS". From adding CLC raster data to, the actions performed in the program that were performed until the results arrived. Finally, the interpretation of the obtained data and the conclusion follow.

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2613-2635 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Beck ◽  
L. A. Bruijnzeel ◽  
A. I. J. M. van Dijk ◽  
T. R. McVicar ◽  
F. N. Scatena ◽  
...  

Abstract. Although regenerating forests make up an increasingly large portion of humid tropical landscapes, little is known of their water use and effects on streamflow (Q). Since the 1950s the island of Puerto Rico has experienced widespread abandonment of pastures and agricultural lands, followed by forest regeneration. This paper examines the possible impacts of these secondary forests on several Q characteristics for 12 mesoscale catchments (23–346 km2; mean precipitation 1720–3422 mm yr−1) with long (33–51 yr) and simultaneous records for Q, precipitation (P), potential evaporation (PET), and land cover. A simple spatially-lumped, conceptual rainfall–runoff model that uses daily P and PET time series as inputs (HBV-light) was used to simulate Q for each catchment. Annual time series of observed and simulated values of four Q characteristics were calculated. A least-squares trend was fitted through annual time series of the residual difference between observed and simulated time series of each Q characteristic. From this the total cumulative change (Â) was calculated, representing the change in each Q characteristic after controlling for climate variability and water storage carry-over effects between years. Negative values of  were found for most catchments and Q characteristics, suggesting enhanced actual evaporation overall following forest regeneration. However, correlations between changes in urban or forest area and values of  were insignificant (p ≥ 0.389) for all Q characteristics. This suggests there is no convincing evidence that changes in the chosen Q characteristics in these Puerto Rican catchments can be ascribed to changes in urban or forest area. The present results are in line with previous studies of meso- and macro-scale (sub-)tropical catchments, which generally found no significant change in Q that can be attributed to changes in forest cover. Possible explanations for the lack of a clear signal may include errors in the land cover, climate, Q, and/or catchment boundary data; changes in forest area occurring mainly in the less rainy lowlands; and heterogeneity in catchment response. Different results were obtained for different catchments, and using a smaller subset of catchments could have led to very different conclusions. This highlights the importance of including multiple catchments in land-cover impact analysis at the mesoscale.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjuan Shen ◽  
Xupeng Mao ◽  
Jiaying He ◽  
Jinwei Dong ◽  
Chengquan Huang ◽  
...  

Accurate acquisition of the spatiotemporal distribution of urban forests and fragmentation (e.g., interior and intact regions) is of great significance to contributing to the mitigation of climate change and the conservation of habitat biodiversity. However, the spatiotemporal pattern of urban forest cover changes related with the dynamics of interior and intact forests from the present to the future have rarely been characterized. We investigated fragmentation of urban forest cover using satellite observations and simulation models in the Nanjing Laoshan Region of Jiangbei New Area, Jiangsu, China, during 2002–2023. Object-oriented classification-based land cover maps were created to simulate land cover changes using the cellular automation-Markov chain (CA-Markov) model and the state transition simulation modeling. We then quantified the forest cover change by the morphological change detection algorithm and estimated the forest area density-based fragmentation patterns. Their relationships were built through the spatial analysis and statistical methods. Results showed that the overall accuracies of actual land cover maps were approximately 83.75–92.25% (2012–2017). The usefulness of a CA-Markov model for simulating land cover maps was demonstrated. The greatest proportion of forest with a low level of fragmentation was captured along with the decreasing percentage of fragmented area from 81.1% to 64.1% based on high spatial resolution data with the window size of 27 pixels × 27 pixels. The greatest increase in fragmentation (3% from 2016 to 2023) among the changes between intact and fragmented forest was reported. However, intact forest was modeled to have recovered in 2023 and restored to 2002 fragmentation levels. Moreover, we found 58.07 km2 and 0.35 km2 of interior and intact forests have been removed from forest area losses and added from forest area gains. The loss rate of forest interior and intact area exceeded the rate of total forest area loss. However, their approximate ratio (1) implying the loss of forest interior and intact area would have slight fragmentation effects on the remaining forests. This analysis illustrates the achievement of protecting and restoring forest interior; more importantly, excessive human activities in the surrounding area had been avoided. This study provides strategies for future forest conservation and management in large urban regions.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunying Ren ◽  
Bai Zhang ◽  
Zongming Wang ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Mingming Jia

Forest plays a significant role in the global carbon budget and ecological processes. The precise mapping of forest cover can help significantly reduce uncertainties in the estimation of terrestrial carbon balance. A reliable and operational method is necessary for a rapid regional forest mapping. In this study, the goal relies on mapping forest and subcategories in Northeast China through the use of high spatio-temporal resolution HJ-1 imagery and time series vegetation indices within the context of an object-based image analysis and decision tree classification. Multi-temporal HJ-1 images obtained in a single year provide an opportunity to acquire phenology information. By analyzing the difference of spectral and phenology information between forest and non-forest, forest subcategories, decision trees using threshold values were finally proposed. The resultant forest map has a high overall accuracy of 0.91 ± 0.01 with a 95% confidence interval, based on the validation using ground truth data from field surveys. The forest map extracted from HJ-1 imagery was compared with two existing global land cover datasets: GlobCover 2009 and MCD12Q1 2009. The HJ-1-based forest area is larger than that of MCD12Q1 and GlobCover and more closely resembles the national statistics data on forest area, which accounts for more than 40% of the total area of the Northeast China. The spatial disagreement primarily occurs in the northern part of the Daxing’an Mountains, Sanjiang Plain and the southwestern part of the Songliao Plain. The compared result also indicated that the forest subcategories information from global land cover products may introduce large uncertainties for ecological modeling and these should be cautiously used in various ecological models. Given the higher spatial and temporal resolution, HJ-1-based forest products could be very useful as input to biogeochemical models (particularly carbon cycle models) that require accurate and updated estimates of forest area and type.


2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Wulder ◽  
Txomin Hermosilla ◽  
Graham Stinson ◽  
François A Gougeon ◽  
Joanne C White ◽  
...  

Abstract Forests are dynamic ecosystems, subject to both natural and anthropogenic agents of change. Wildfire, harvesting and other human activities alter the tree-covered area present in forests. From national and international reporting perspectives, forests include areas currently treed, as well as those disturbed forest areas that are not currently treed but will be, given time for regeneration and the advancement of natural successional processes. As a consequence, forest area can be depicted at a particular point in time, informed by a retrospective temporal context. Using time series of Landsat imagery, annual land cover maps can be generated that are informed by knowledge of past disturbance history (such as wildfire and harvesting). In this research, we use over three decades of annual land cover data generated from Landsat time series to generate a spatially explicit estimate of the forest area of Canada in 2010. We demonstrate how land cover and disturbance information can be combined to map the area of ‘forest’, as defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), within Canada’s 650 Mha of forested ecozones. Following this approach, we estimated Canada’s total forest area in 2010 to be 354.5 Mha. This estimate includes 324.5 Mha of current forest cover in 2010, plus an additional 33.2 Mha (or 9.4 per cent) of temporally informed forest area where tree cover had been temporarily lost due to fire or harvest, less 3.3 Mha that were removed to meet a definitional minimum size (0.5 ha) for contiguous forest area. Using Canada’s National Forest Inventory (NFI) as an independent reference source, the spatial agreement between the two estimates of forest area was ~84 per cent overall. Aspatially, the total area of the Landsat-derived estimate of 2010 forest area and the NFI baseline estimates differed by only 3 per cent, with notable regional differences in the wetland-dominated Hudson Plains Ecozone. Satellite-derived time series land cover and change information enable spatially explicit depictions of forest area (distinct from representations of forest cover) in a robust and transparent fashion, producing information of value to science, management and reporting information needs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andi Gustiani Salim ◽  
I Wayan S Dharmawan ◽  
Budi Hadi Narendra

The decline in water resources and the occurrence of various hydrological disasters in the Citarum watershed indicate the need to restructure the components inside the watershed, especially land cover in the upper watershed area. This study aims to determine the effect of forest land cover on the hydrological parameters of the upstream Citarum watershed through simulations of the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model. The results showed that the forest cover in the Citarum watershed was only 15.96% of the watershed area and only 4.94% was located in the Upper area. The Flow Rate Coefficient of the upstream Citarum watershed is 31.4, the annual average surface flow and annual erosion are 933.03 mm and 517.9 tons/ha respectively. The simulation from several scenarios shows that a decreasing in forest area can increase discharge and surface runoff, whereas an increase in forest area will increase soil infiltration and evapotranspiration. Decreasing forest area by 10% from existing conditions caused 58% of rainwater to become surface runoff. The large number of discrepancies between the existing conditions and the directions in the RTRWP will require a long time and large costs to adjust so that the short-term alternative that can be done is to convert dryland agricultural cover to the forest to reach forest cover of at least 45% of the land area in the upstream area and can optimize the hydrological function of the watershed.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 278
Author(s):  
Tola Gemechu Ango ◽  
Kristoffer Hylander ◽  
Lowe Börjeson

We investigated the spatial relations of ecological and social processes to point at how state policies, population density, migration dynamics, topography, and socio-economic values of ‘forest coffee’ together shaped forest cover changes since 1958 in southwest Ethiopia. We used data from aerial photos, Landsat images, digital elevation models, participatory field mapping, interviews, and population censuses. We analyzed population, land cover, and topographic roughness (slope) data at the ‘sub-district’ level, based on a classification of the 30 lowest administrative units of one district into the coffee forest area (n = 17), and highland forest area (n = 13). For state forest sites (n = 6) of the district, we evaluated land cover and slope data. Forest cover declined by 25% between 1973 and 2010, but the changes varied spatially and temporally. Losses of forest cover were significantly higher in highland areas (74%) as compared to coffee areas (14%) and state forest sites (2%), and lower in areas with steeper slopes both in coffee and highland areas. Both in coffee and highland areas, forest cover also declined during 1958–1973. People moved to and converted forests in relatively low population density areas. Altitudinal migration from coffee areas to highland areas contributed to deforestation displacement due to forest maintenance for shade coffee production in coffee areas and forest conversions for annual crop production in highland areas. The most rapid loss of forest cover occurred during 1973–1985, followed by 2001–2010, which overlapped with the implementations of major land and forest policies that created conditions for more deforestation. Our findings highlight how crop ecology and migration have shaped spatial variations of forest cover change across different altitudinal zones whilst development, land, and forest policies and programs have driven the temporal variations of deforestation. Understanding the mechanisms of deforestation and forest maintenance simultaneously and their linkages is necessary for better biodiversity conservation and forest landscape management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-63
Author(s):  
Mateusz Kulig ◽  
Anna Przeniczny ◽  
Piotr Ogórek

AbstractGreen areas located on the peripheries of cities have the potential to become green public spaces not only of recreational but also educational character, promoting at the same time the knowledge about environmental protection. The cities included in the research belong to the małopolskie voivodeship (Lesser Poland voivodeship). With the use of geospatial data of land cover, as well as territorial forms of environmental protection, it was pointed that 48.4% of forest, wooded and shrub green areas located within city borders are covered by a form of environmental protection, thus being a valuable resource of significant nature potential. Making such spaces available in a conscious and attractive way is presented on the example of projects implemented in the cities of: Stary Sącz, Nowy Targ and Kraków. The presented projects were used to make recommendations for city authorities to create green public spaces.


Author(s):  
V. A. Shishkin ◽  
E. P. Rybalkin ◽  
E. B. Balykina

Simulation modeling of phytophagans’ influence on the yield of seed fruit crops, in particular apple trees, was carried out. By means of simulation models the importance of phytophagans’ influence at different stages of the vegetation period and the period of fruit ripening was revealed. The software package Matlab was used to build simulation models. As a result, simulation models with nonlinear characteristics were obtained, which maximally reflected the studied processes. The developed models imitate the process of phytophagans’ development. Generation change of pests and all stages of their development are simulated. Their respective numbers are recorded at each stage for all generations. The development process at each stage is modeled by separate subsystems of the simulation model. To simulate the development of one generation of pests, these subsystems are connected by external links. In addition, part of the relationships provides a simulation of generational change. There are a number of input parameters that allow to configure the simulation of the process of changing generations, taking into account the peculiarities of the development of various phytophagans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3226
Author(s):  
Daniel Cunningham ◽  
Paul Cunningham ◽  
Matthew E. Fagan

Global tree cover products face challenges in accurately predicting tree cover across biophysical gradients, such as precipitation or agricultural cover. To generate a natural forest cover map for Costa Rica, biases in tree cover estimation in the most widely used tree cover product (the Global Forest Change product (GFC) were quantified and corrected, and the impact of map biases on estimates of forest cover and fragmentation was examined. First, a forest reference dataset was developed to examine how the difference between reference and GFC-predicted tree cover estimates varied along gradients of precipitation and elevation, and nonlinear statistical models were fit to predict the bias. Next, an agricultural land cover map was generated by classifying Landsat and ALOS PalSAR imagery (overall accuracy of 97%) to allow removing six common agricultural crops from estimates of tree cover. Finally, the GFC product was corrected through an integrated process using the nonlinear predictions of precipitation and elevation biases and the agricultural crop map as inputs. The accuracy of tree cover prediction increased by ≈29% over the original global forest change product (the R2 rose from 0.416 to 0.538). Using an optimized 89% tree cover threshold to create a forest/nonforest map, we found that fragmentation declined and core forest area and connectivity increased in the corrected forest cover map, especially in dry tropical forests, protected areas, and designated habitat corridors. By contrast, the core forest area decreased locally where agricultural fields were removed from estimates of natural tree cover. This research demonstrates a simple, transferable methodology to correct for observed biases in the Global Forest Change product. The use of uncorrected tree cover products may markedly over- or underestimate forest cover and fragmentation, especially in tropical regions with low precipitation, significant topography, and/or perennial agricultural production.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aman Srivastava ◽  
Pennan Chinnasamy

AbstractThe present study, for the first time, examined land-use land cover (LULC), changes using GIS, between 2000 and 2018 for the IIT Bombay campus, India. Objective was to evaluate hydro-ecological balance inside campus by determining spatio-temporal disparity between hydrological parameters (rainfall-runoff processes), ecological components (forest, vegetation, lake, barren land), and anthropogenic stressors (urbanization and encroachments). High-resolution satellite imageries were generated for the campus using Google Earth Pro, by manual supervised classification method. Rainfall patterns were studied using secondary data sources, and surface runoff was estimated using SCS-CN method. Additionally, reconnaissance surveys, ground-truthing, and qualitative investigations were conducted to validate LULC changes and hydro-ecological stability. LULC of 2018 showed forest, having an area cover of 52%, as the most dominating land use followed by built-up (43%). Results indicated that the area under built-up increased by 40% and playground by 7%. Despite rapid construction activities, forest cover and Powai lake remained unaffected. This anomaly was attributed to the drastically declining barren land area (up to ~ 98%) encompassing additional construction activities. Sustainability of the campus was demonstrated with appropriate measures undertaken to mitigate negative consequences of unwarranted floods owing to the rise of 6% in the forest cover and a decline of 21% in water hyacinth cover over Powai lake. Due to this, surface runoff (~ 61% of the rainfall) was observed approximately consistent and being managed appropriately despite major alterations in the LULC. Study concluded that systematic campus design with effective implementation of green initiatives can maintain a hydro-ecological balance without distressing the environmental services.


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