Evaluating critiques of evidence of historically heterogeneous structure and mixed-severity fires across dry-forest landscapes of the western USA

The structure and role of fire in historical dry forests, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry mixed-conifer forests, of the western USA, have been debated for 25 years, leaving two theories. The first, that these forests were relatively uniform, low in tree density and dominated by low- to moderate-severity fires was recently reviewed, including a critique of opposing evidence. The second, that these forests historically had heterogeneous structure and a mixture of fire severities, has had several published reviews. Here, as authors in part of the second theory, we critically examined evidence in the first theory’s new review, which presented 37 critiques of the second theory. We examined evidence for and against each critique, including evidence presented or omitted. We found that a large body of published evidence against the first theory and supporting the second theory, presented in 10 published rebuttals and 25 other published papers, by us and other scientists, was omitted and not reviewed. We reviewed omitted evidence here. Omitted evidence was extensive, and included direct observations by early scientists, maps in early forest atlases, early newspaper accounts and photographs, early aerial photographs, seven paleo-charcoal reconstructions, ≥18 tree-ring reconstructions, eight land-survey reconstructions, and an analysis of forest-inventory age data. This large body of omitted published research provides compelling evidence supporting the second theory, that historical dry forests were heterogeneous in structure and had a mixture of fire severities, including high-severity fire. The first theory is rejected by this large body of omitted evidence.

Occupation of Cultivated Land for Urban–Rural Expansion in China: Evidence from National Land Survey 1996–2006

Construction land expansion often occurs on cultivated land in developing countries during rapid urbanization and industrialization. Understanding its characteristics and driving mechanisms is of great significance for land-use policy and sustainable development. This paper depicted the spatio-temporal patterns of China’s urban–rural expansion and its occupation of cultivated land based on national land survey data from 1996 to 2006. It further explored the influencing mechanism of cultivated land occupation for urban–rural construction land. The results showed that the establishment and expansion of various economic development zones contribute to more than half of the occupation of cultivated land while the expansion of cities and towns is relatively slower, and their sources of construction land are more diverse. The empirical results showed that (1) economic growth and investment play key roles in shaping the spatio-temporal patterns of the occupation of cultivated land for urban–rural construction land, and (2) the mechanisms of cultivated land occupation in different stages of regional development are different. In particular, the establishment of national economic development zones is conducive to the intensive use of construction land and the protection of cultivated land in inland regions, whereas provincial economic development zones have led to a waste of land resources in coastal regions. Based on the results, this study suggested that the policies to the intensive use of land resources and cultivated land protection required regional disparities.

The Quantitative Analysis of Materials from the General Land Survey of the Russian Empire: The ‘Bear’ Angle

This article analyses data about the Russian bear from the Economic Notes to the plans of the General Land Survey of the Russian Empire. Despite the official symbol of the Russian Empire being the double-headed eagle, the bear was perceived as the country’s main symbol as early as the formation of the Russian state. The purpose of this article is to find out how common bears were in the Russian Empire between the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries. The quantitative analysis of data from the General Land Survey is based on the method of continuous sampling, which allows the author to include information about animals from the Complete and Cameral Economic Notes to the General Land Survey. The author refers to the Economic Notes for eight uyezds and three provinces. The study covers both old and new lands of the Russian state. The analysis makes it possible to conclude that between the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, the Russian bear was not equally common in every region. It was found mainly in the forests of the historical core of the Russian state. But the bear was not a predominant species. Overall, according to the Cameral and Complete Economic Notes covering four St Petersburg uyezds and Novgorod province, there were 15 animal species in this territory, while there were 11 species in four uyezds of Taurida province. Continuous processing of the Economic Notes makes it possible to identify previously unknown mentions of moose, lynx, ferrets, and badgers in Luga district, St Petersburg province. Wild horses, camels, wild boars, and otters were described in Economic Notes in Dnipro district, Taurida province. However, the most common animals in these territories were hares, as well as smaller predators like foxes and wolves. The analysis of quantitative indicators helps to establish that the bear did not become the personification of the Russian state because of its predominance. Instead, this was due to the remarkable characteristics and qualities that made the animal stand out.

Ecological land survey and soils inventory for Katmai National Park and Preserve, 2016–2017

This study was conducted to inventory, classify, and map soils and vegetation within the ecosystems of Katmai National Park and Preserve (KATM) using an ecological land survey (ELS) approach. The ecosystem classes identified in the ELS effort were mapped across the park, using an archive of Geo-graphic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) datasets pertaining to land cover, topography, surficial geology, and glacial history. The description and mapping of the landform-vegetation-soil relationships identified in the ELS work provides tools to support the design and implementation of future field- and RS-based studies, facilitates further analysis and contextualization of existing data, and will help inform natural resource management decisions. We collected information on the geomorphic, topographic, hydrologic, pedologic, and vegetation characteristics of ecosystems using a dataset of 724 field plots, of which 407 were sampled by ABR, Inc.—Environmental Research and Services (ABR) staff in 2016–2017, and 317 were from existing, ancillary datasets. ABR field plots were located along transects that were selected using a gradient-direct sampling scheme (Austin and Heligers 1989) to collect data for the range of ecological conditions present within KATM, and to provide the data needed to interpret ecosystem and soils development. The field plot dataset encompassed all of the major environmental gradients and landscape histories present in KATM. Individual state-factors (e.g., soil pH, slope aspect) and other ecosystem components (e.g., geomorphic unit, vegetation species composition and structure) were measured or categorized using standard classification systems developed for Alaska. We described and analyzed the hierarchical relationships among the ecosystem components to classify 92 Plot Ecotypes (local-scale ecosystems) that best partitioned the variation in soils, vegetation, and disturbance properties observed at the field plots. From the 92 Plot Ecotypes, we developed classifications of Map Ecotypes and Disturbance Landscapes that could be mapped across the park. Additionally, using an existing surficial geology map for KATM, we developed a map of Generalized Soil Texture by aggregating similar surficial geology classes into a reduced set of classes representing the predominant soil textures in each. We then intersected the Ecotype map with the General-ized Soil Texture Map in a GIS and aggregated combinations of Map Ecotypes with similar soils to derive and map Soil Landscapes and Soil Great Groups. The classification of Great Groups captures information on the soil as a whole, as opposed to the subgroup classification which focuses on the properties of specific horizons (Soil Survey Staff 1999). Of the 724 plots included in the Ecotype analysis, sufficient soils data for classifying soil subgroups was available for 467 plots. Soils from 8 orders of soil taxonomy were encountered during the field sampling: Alfisols (<1% of the mapped area), Andisols (3%), Entisols (45%), Gelisols (<1%), Histosols (12%), Inceptisols (22%), Mollisols (<1%), and Spodosols (16%). Within these 8 Soil Orders, field plots corresponded to a total of 74 Soil Subgroups, the most common of which were Typic Cryaquents, Typic Cryorthents, Histic Cryaquepts, Vitrandic Cryorthents, and Typic Cryofluvents.

TOWARDS THE INTEGRATION OF AUTHORITATIVE AND OPENSTREETMAP GEOSPATIAL DATASETS IN SUPPORT OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR DATA

Digital transformation is at core of Europe’s future and the importance of data is well highlighted by the recently published European strategy for data, which envisions the establishment of so-called European data spaces enabling seamless data flows across actors and sectors to ultimately boost the economy and generate innovation. Integrating datasets produced by multiple actors, including citizen-generated data, is a key objective of the strategy. This study focuses on OpenStreetMap (OSM), the most popular crowdsourced geographic information project, and is the first step towards an exploration of pros and cons of integrating its open-licensed data with authoritative geospatial datasets from European National Mapping Agencies. In contrast to previous work, which has only tested data integration at the local or regional level, an experiment was presented to integrate the national address dataset published by the National Land Survey (NLS) of Finland with the corresponding dataset from OSM. The process included the analysis of the two datasets, a mapping between their data models and a set of processing steps – performed using the open source QGIS software – to transform and finally combine their content. The resulting dataset confirms that, while addresses from the NLS are in general more complete across Finland, in some areas OSM addresses provide a higher detail and more up-to-date information to usefully complement the authoritative one. Whilst the analysis confirms that an integration between OSM and authoritative geospatial datasets is technically and semantically feasible, future work is needed to evaluate enablers and barriers that also exist at the legal and organisational level.

Assessment of Land Administration in Ecuador Based on the Fit-for-Purpose Approach

Land administration is established to manage the people-to-land relationship. However, it is believed that 70% of the land in developing countries is unregistered. In the case of Ecuador, the government has an ambitious strategy to implement a national cadaster on the full territory in a short time period. Therefore, the objective of this study was the assessment of land administration in Ecuador based on the fit-for-purpose approach as an assessment framework. A literature review was performed on the topic of land administration, including guidelines for improvement and assessment frameworks. The basic concept of fit-for-purpose land administration was reviewed with the three frameworks, which are: spatial, legal, and institutional. Interviews and focus group discussions were performed in Ecuador for collecting primary and secondary data about land administration in this country. Results from these activities are presented and discussed using the structure of the basic concept of fit-for-purpose land administration with the three frameworks. It was found that during the field data collection precise land survey of fixed boundaries was performed and around 55–60 attributes per parcel were collected as a part of the field land survey in Ecuador. Based on the findings, discussions were developed, and a score table was created identifying which principles should be addressed if rapid mapping and land registration are desired by the government of Ecuador to be implemented on the whole territory in a short time period. Finally, the paper ends with conclusions and recommendations.

Finite-Element Modeling of Time-Domain Controlled-Source Electromagnetic Survey with Weighted Laguerre Polynomials

To facilitate the modeling of time-domain controlled-source electromagnetic survey, we propose an efficient finite-element method with weighted Laguerre polynomials, which shows a much lower computational complexity than conventional time integration methods. The proposed method allows sampling the field at arbitrary time steps and also its accuracy is determined by the number of polynomials, instead of the time sampling interval. Analysis is given regarding the optimization of the polynomial number to be used and the criterion of selecting the time scale factor. Two numerical examples in marine and land survey environments are included to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over the existing backward Euler time integration method. The proposed method is expected to facilitate the modeling of transient electromagnetic surveys in the geophysical regime.

Jokiuoman kartoitus ja virtausolosuhteiden mallinnus tukena perkauksen suunnittelussa: esimerkkinä Eurajoki

Dredging has a significant effect on sediment transportation, water quality and flow conditions in a river channel. However, often the effects of dredging are not studied carefully in advance. One reason for this is the lack of suitable study approach. Studies on river dynamics require high quality geometric models of riverbed, banks and floodplain. Accurate terrain and bathymetric data are also crucial components of reliable hydraulic modelling. In this study, we created an approach to model the presumable impacts of dredging. We modelled high discharges and annual flooding magnitudes in Eurajoki River, SW Finland in its current form and after dredging. As the low-sloped channel is heavily vegetated, the aim of the dredging is to improve flow conditions by removing sediment and vegetation within a reach of 8 km. First, we created a geometric model of the riverine environment by combining riverbank topography from national Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data by the Finnish National Land Survey and bathymetry, gathered with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). The ADCP was attached to a kayak to enable access to shallow areas as well. This way, we were able to model the geometry of the fluvial forms within a few centimetres’ accuracy. Next, we modified the model of the river geometry using GIS software according to the dredging plan. Finally, we used a 2D Computational Fluid Dynamics to model the current and after dredging flow conditions during various flow events. We analysed the effects on dredging on the flood magnitudes and flow conditions based on the models and compared these to the present situation. These models offer improvements on river management and observing the effects on dredging.

Study of the Accuracy of Sri Lankan Drone Survey Technology for Land Survey on Different Terrain Conditions

With the development of the technology, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are more prominently used in construction field for surveying. Because of low time consume and easy to get data at unreachable places also. At present, large scaling topographic maps are obtaining using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry method, therefore UAV photogrammetry has replacing traditional survey method like total station. But don’t know how much accuracy it has, with comparing traditional survey methods. The accuracy may be consisting on the terrain conditions. So, it is better to check which terrain conditions have more accurate and which terrains are in very low accuracy. And also, accuracy of results may be depending on the accuracy of the topography software. Level terrain, vegetation area, build-up area and slope area were obtained during the research. Selected the Kantale sugar factory area in Sri Lanka, to understand the different terrain conditions. The results showed that the UAV results are more accurate with level terrain conditions and accuracy is low with other terrain conditions. Keywords Drone survey; Topography; UAV; Total station; RTK