Agricultural spatial expansion in Ecuador through Intensity Analysis

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13547 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Urgilez-Clavijo ◽

Ana M. Tarquis

Keyword(s):

Image Analysis ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Spatial Patterns ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Amazon Region ◽

Soil Types ◽

Agricultural Expansion ◽

Intensity Analysis ◽

Agricultural Frontier ◽

Priority Areas

The expansion of the agricultural frontier is a process that has been affecting natural ecosystems, driving landscape fragmentation, and promoting habitat loss from 1990 in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Characterizing spatial patterns of the expansion of agricultural frontier can provide valuable data to take forward trade-offs in areas with exacerbated expansion rates and habitat loss (Urgilez-Clavijo et al., 2020). The aim of this work is to identify and characterize the spatial patterns of the expansion of the agricultural frontier in Ecuador and provide an alternative to setting the priority areas.With this purpose, an image analysis approach was applied to identify process patterns using classified images from 1990 to 2020. A statistical analysis of the agricultural expansion dynamics is performed in the Amazon region accumulating the land use information. Complementary to this, we used a soil map to detect a correlation of the process to soil types. Then the Intensity Analysis (IA) was implemented to characterize and visualize the spatio-temporal rates of the expansion process. This method allows identifying areas in which the process is faster and active.The results show distinct patterns of agricultural expansion in the Amazon region, especially from Andean hill slopes to the primary forest. These processes are in part explained by soil type suitability, transportation network development, and urban expansion. The spatial priorities of the expansion of the agricultural frontier are identified from two sources, i) from intensity analysis graphs and ii) from regional maps. The spatial characteristics and identification of spatial priorities of the expansion of the agricultural frontier will bring valuable information to policymakers to achieve SDG 15th of the 2030 Agenda in Ecuador.Keywords: expansion of agricultural frontier, Intensity Analysis, priority areas, image analysis, patternsReferenceUrgilez-Clavijo, A., J. de la Riva, D. Rivas-Tabares and A.M. Tarquis. Linking deforestation patterns to soil types: A multifractal approach. European Journal of Soil Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13032AcknowledgementsThe authors acknowledge support from Project No. PGC2018-093854-B-I00 of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia Innovaci&#243;n y Universidades of Spain and the funding from the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), Structural Funds 2014-2020 512 (ERDF and ESF), through project AGRISOST-CM S2018/BAA-4330

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Urban expansion dynamics and natural habitat loss in China: a multiscale landscape perspective

Global Change Biology ◽

10.1111/gcb.12553 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 2886-2902 ◽

Cited By ~ 187

Author(s):

Chunyang He ◽

Zhifeng Liu ◽

Jie Tian ◽

Qun Ma

Keyword(s):

Habitat Loss ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Natural Habitat

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Showcasing Relationships between Neighborhood Design and Wellbeing Toronto Indicators

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12030997 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 997 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Richard Shaker ◽

Joseph Aversa ◽

Victoria Papp ◽

Bryant Serre ◽

Brian Mackay

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Landscape Ecology ◽

Land Cover ◽

Spatial Patterns ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Well Being ◽

Development Planning ◽

Landscape Configuration ◽

Public Data

Cities are the keystone landscape features for achieving sustainability locally, regionally, and globally. With the increasing impacts of urban expansion eminent, policymakers have encouraged researchers to advance or invent methods for managing coupled human–environmental systems associated with local and regional sustainable development planning. Although progress has been made, there remains no universal instrument for attaining sustainability on neither regional nor local planning scales. Previous sustainable urbanization studies have revealed that landscape configuration metrics can supplement other measures of urban well-being, yet few have been included in public data dashboards or contrasted against local well-being indicators. To advance this sector of sustainable development planning, this study had three main intentions: (1) to produce a foundational suite of landscape ecology metrics from the 2007 land cover dataset for the City of Toronto; (2) to visualize and interpret spatial patterns of neighborhood streetscape patch cohesion index (COHESION), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), and four Wellbeing Toronto indicators across the 140 Toronto neighborhoods; (3) to quantitatively assess the global collinearity and local explanatory power of the well-being and landscape measures showcased in this study. One-hundred-and-thirty landscape ecology metrics were computed: 18 class configuration metrics across seven land cover categories and four landscape diversity metrics. Anselin Moran’s I-test was used to illustrate significant spatial patterns of well-being and landscape indicators; Pearson’s correlation and conditional autoregressive (CAR) statistics were used to evaluate relationships between them. Spatial “hot-spots” and/or “cold-spots” were found in all streetscape variables. Among other interesting results, Walk Score® was negatively related to both tree canopy and grass/shrub connectedness, signifying its lack of consideration for the quality of ecosystem services and environmental public health—and subsequently happiness—during its proximity assessment of socioeconomic amenities. In sum, landscape ecology metrics can provide cost-effective ecological integrity addendum to existing and future urban resilience, sustainable development, and well-being monitoring programs.

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The expansion of the agricultural frontier in the northern Amazon region of Ecuador, 2000–2011: Process, causes, and impact

Land Use Policy ◽

10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104986 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 99 ◽

pp. 104986

Author(s):

Oswaldo Viteri-Salazar ◽

Lucía Toledo

Keyword(s):

Amazon Region ◽

Agricultural Frontier

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Forest fragmentation and forest management: A plea for empirical data

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc78686-5 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 78 (5) ◽

pp. 686-689 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Robert G G. D'Eon

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Forest Fragmentation ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Spatial Patterns ◽

Empirical Data ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Managed Forests ◽

Habitat Loss And Fragmentation ◽

Theoretical Predictions ◽

Forest Managers

Forest fragmentation is one of the most important conservation issues of recent times. Most of what we know about forest fragmentation is based on speculation and untested theory due to a paucity of empirical data. The lack of empirical data can be attributed to (1) the extreme difficulty in conducting good fragmentation studies, and (2) confusion between habitat loss and fragmentation effects. Empirical data from well-designed fragmentation studies is direly needed to validate theoretical predictions stemming from the fragmentation paradigm. Since the best data will come from landscape-scale experiments in managed forests, partnerships and support from researchers and forest managers is critical in this pursuit. Key words: empirical data, forest fragmentation, landscape spatial patterns

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Climate change and the adoption of agriculture in north-west Europe

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1179/eja.2002.5.1.9 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 9-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Clive Bonsall ◽

Mark G. Macklin ◽

David E. Anderson ◽

Robert W. Payton

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Agricultural Expansion ◽

British Isles ◽

Agricultural Frontier ◽

North West ◽

Long Period ◽

Northern France ◽

The North ◽

Northern Poland ◽

Southern Scandinavia

Farming can be shown to have spread very rapidly across the British Isles and southern Scandinavia around 6000 years ago, following a long period of stasis when the agricultural ‘frontier’ lay further south on the North European Plain between northern France and northern Poland. The reasons for the delay in the adoption of agriculture on the north-west fringe of Europe have been debated by archaeologists for decades. Here, we present fresh evidence that this renewed phase of agricultural expansion was triggered by a significant change in climate. This finding may also have implications for understanding the timing of the expansion of farming into some upland areas of southern and mid-latitude Europe.

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Priority Areas for Water Resources Conservation: Study Case Canal Guandu Watershed

Aquatic Science and Technology ◽

10.5296/ast.v9i1.17502 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Jonas Nunes Vieira ◽

Helena Saraiva Koenow Pinheiro ◽

Mateus Marques Bueno ◽

Waldir De Carvalho Junior ◽

Nilson Rendeiro Pereira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use Planning ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Field Data ◽

Urban Expansion ◽

Assessment Method ◽

Environmental Conservation ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Map Algebra ◽

Priority Areas ◽

Water Provision

The environmental resilience is strictly dependent of water availability. The identification of priority areas is important to conservation aid land-use planning and urban expansion, conservation, and policy strategy. The goal was to identify priority areas aiming water provision and environmental conservation at the “Canal do Rio Guandu” watershed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To address the goal four micro-basins included in the watershed were selected to optimize collect field data and create the criteria to define the priority levels. Based on prior literature, legacy and field data, an assessment method was proposed based on map algebra with support of Geographical Information System, gathering professional tacit knowledge with spatial data to support the selection of strategic areas. The approach based on was successful to select primarily priority areas and can contribute to regulate the local policies, pointing out areas that can connect legally protected areas with forested fragments, which presents great importance to urban and rural supply.

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