Land use and land cover Research Papers (original) (raw)

Resumo O manejo sustentável dos recursos hídricos e da terra é atualmente uma das principais prioridades na agenda de muitos países ao redor do mundo, o que exige informações sobre as mudanças na cobertura da terra em bacias hidrográficas. Neste estudo, mapas de 1984, 1996, 2005 e 2016 foram desenvolvidos utilizando-se composições falsa-cor e o Índice de Vegetação por Diferença Normalizada (NDVI) para identificar as principais mudanças ocorridas na bacia do Córrego Guariroba. Essa bacia hidrográfica é uma Área de Proteção Ambiental desde 1995, quando se tornou a fonte de abastecimento urbana da capital do estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. Para tanto, o software livre QGIS e imagens Landsat foram usados para determinar as mudanças no uso e ocupação da terra. Essas informações permitiram a discussão das possíveis pressões e consequências ambientais das mudanças nesses períodos. A bacia hidrográfica tem estado sob intensa atividade agropecuária, com a maior parte de sua superfície sendo ocupada por pastagens para a pecuária e silvicultura de eucalipto. Os resultados indicam que a influência direta das atividades humanas reduziu drasticamente a cobertura natural na área, com implicações para o cumprimento da legislação do Código Florestal. Os usos antrópicos da terra representam mais de 57% da cobertura total do solo em todos os anos, atingindo 79,70% em 2005. Em 2016, houve um aumento na recuperação da vegetação nativa, mas apesar desse incremento o uso humano da terra continua alto (74,09%). Parte do pequeno ganho de vegetação nativa deve-se aos planos de reflorestamento realizados a partir de 2010. A sedimentação do reservatório de água é visível em 2016, formando bancos de areia que se estendem por cerca de 700 m na porção distal do Córrego Guariroba. Os resultados deste estudo podem ser aplicados para uma possível revisão do plano de manejo da bacia, considerando-se a gestão de seus recursos hídricos integrados ao planejamento ambiental e ao desenvolvimento econômico. Esse tipo de análise pode auxiliar no processo de tomada de decisão de órgãos governamentais, de forma que as bacias utilizadas para o abastecimento de água apresentem restrições de uso da terra, devido ao risco de redução na quantidade e a qualidade da água.

- by and +1
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- Environmental Science, Remote Sensing, Satellite remote sensing, Environmental Remote Sensing

Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images offer a great potential for the extraction of landuse and land-cover related information for urban areas. The available techniques are diverse and need to be further examined before operational use is possible. In this paper we applied two pixel-by-pixel classification techniques and the object-oriented image analysis approach (eCognition) for a land-cover classification of a Quickbird image of a study area in the northern part of the city of Ghent (Belgium). Only small differences in overall Kappa were noted between the best results of the pixel-based approach (neural network classification with Haralick texture measures) and the object-oriented classification (eCognition). A rule-based procedure using ancillary information on elevation derived from a digital surface model was applied on the pixel-based land-cover classification in order to obtain information on the spatial distribution of buildings and artificial surfaces.

- by Marc Binard
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- Environmental Science, Remote Sensing, Image Analysis, Neural Network

In the last years, volunteers have been contributing massively to what we know nowadays as Volunteered Geographic Information. This huge amount of data might be hiding a vast geographical richness and therefore research needs to be conducted to explore their potential and use it in the solution of real world problems. In this study we conduct an exploratory analysis of data from the OpenStreetMap initiative. Using the Corine Land Cover database as reference and continental Portugal as the study area, we establish a possible correspondence between both classification nomenclatures, evaluate the quality of OpenStreetMap polygon features classification against Corine Land Cover classes from level 1 nomenclature, and analyze the spatial distribution of OpenStreetMap classes over continental Portugal. A global classification accuracy around 76% and interesting coverage areas' values are remarkable and promising results that encourages us for future research on this topic.

- by Marco Painho
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- Volunteered Geographic Information, Land use and land cover, VGI, Openstreetmap

This paper proposes an approach for generating land cover information from single-date Landsat images integrating pixel-based and object-based classifiers in two study areas: the province of Oristano and the region of Campania. The process consisted in: a) pre-processing; b) segmentation; c) classification based on radiometric properties and integration with textural properties and vegetation indices. A good overall classification accuracy was obtained at the first (Oristano: 87%, Campania: 88%) and at the second (Oristano: 74%, Campania: 82%) CORINE Land Cover level. Results highlight the potential of the method to be replicated in time and space in the perspective of a semi-automatic and cost-efficient transferability of the procedure.

- by D. Smiraglia and +2
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- Land use and land cover, Landsat, Object Based Classification, Pixel-Based classification

The expansion of urban development into wildland areas can have significant consequences, including an increase in the risk of structural damage from wildfire. Land-use and land-cover maps can assist decision-makers in targeting and prioritizing risk mitigation activities, and remote sensing techniques provide effective and efficient methods to create such maps. However, some image processing approaches may be more appropriate than others in distinguishing land-use and land-cover categories, particularly when classifying high spatial resolution imagery for urbanizing environments. Here we explore the accuracy of pixel-based and object-based classification methods used for mapping in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) with free, readily available, high spatial resolution urban imagery, which is available in many places to municipal and local fire management agencies. Results indicate that an object-based classification approach provides a higher accuracy than a pixel-based classification approach when distinguishing between the selected land-use and land-cover categories. For example, an object-based approach resulted in a 41.73% greater accuracy for the built area category, which is of particular importance to WUI wildfire mitigation.

- by Maggi Kelly and +1
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- Remote Sensing, Fire Management, Urban And Regional Planning, Urban Development

Removing atmospheric carbon (C) and storing it in the terrestrial biosphere is one of the options, which have been proposed to compensate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Agricultural lands are believed to be a major potential sink and could absorb large quantities of C if trees are reintroduced to these systems and judiciously managed together with crops and/or animals. Thus, the importance of agroforestry as a land-use system is receiving wider recognition not only in terms of agricultural sustainability but also in issues related to climate change. The objective of this paper was to analyse C storage data in some tropical agroforestry systems and to discuss the role they can play in reducing the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere. The C sequestration potential of agroforestry systems is estimated between 12 and 228 Mg ha −1 with a median value of 95 Mg ha −1 . Therefore, based on the earth's area that is suitable for the practice (585-1215 × 10 6 ha), 1.1-2.2 Pg C could be stored in the terrestrial ecosystems over the next 50 years. Long rotation systems such as agroforests, homegardens and boundary plantings can sequester sizeable quantities of C in plant biomass and in long-lasting wood products. Soil C sequestration constitutes another realistic option achievable in many agroforestry systems. In conclusion, the potential of agroforestry for CO 2 mitigation is well recognised. However, there are a number of shortcomings that need to be emphasised. These include the uncertainties related to future shifts in global climate, land-use and land cover, the poor performance of trees and crops on substandard soils and dry environments, pests and diseases such as nematodes. In addition, more efforts are needed to improve methods for estimating C stocks and trace gas balances such as nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and methane (CH 4 ) to determine net benefits of agroforestry on the atmosphere.

- by Rajagopal Vadivel
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- Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, Global Warming, Land use and land cover
- by Hosein Sadeghi
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- Geology, Slope Stability, Land use and land cover, Landslide

Dhaka city is experiencing rapid urbanization with high economic growth and industrial development. Instead of taking a variety of poverty mitigation and social safety programs, the overall number of people living in the informal urban settlements is increasing at a faster rate than the urban population due to the growing figure of internally displaced people by environmental and socio-economic impacts. This study explores the spatiotemporal growth of city’s irregular and informal settlements occupied by rural–urban migrants, utilizing geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing and looks into its impact on the changing land use and land cover pattern and urban built environment. Informal settlements had mapped through the visual interpretation of Google high-resolution image focusing temporal patterns of 2006, 2010 and 2016. The land use analysis shows that cultivated land and water bodies all decreased in the area while built-up areas, bare soil, and informal settlements increased over the same period with the encroachment of low-lying lands for settlements.

- by Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman
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- Migration, Land use and land cover, Dhaka, Informal Settlement

Landscape' as a subject of (terrestrial) ecology can be interpreted: first, as a piece of land composed of different ecosystems; and second, as a holistic entity of aesthetic perception derived from landscape paintings and parks of the 18th and 19th century. Such entities display a characteristic arrangement of 'landscape elements' regarded as a whole and taking them apart for specific investigation will break up and virtually destroy it (e.g. a symphony dissociated into single notes). Landscape as a holistic entity satisfies emotional human needs like identification with regions, and explains the attraction of tourists. 'Entity features' are land-use and land cover combined with openness and a certain naturalness. A key question is whether you call a piece of the earth's surface just 'land' or 'landscape' -and why. Such questions touch the interface between landscape ecology and human ecology. But human ecology must not dismiss landscape functions. The most beautiful landscape will be reduced to a mere picture if it does not also provide basic life-support. Therefore, energy and matter flows and transformations between the ecosystems of a landscape have to be determined along with its climate, geomorphology (relief), soils, hydrology, species and ecosystem diversity. These different approaches, however, may never be combined into a unified whole. There is no 'superscience', and incidentally, its complexity would by far exceed human brain capacity. What we can achieve is bridge-building by approximation of selected facts. A conscious spatial arrangement of diversified land-use units (ecotopes) will promote (bio)diversity and may be perceived as an integral landscape pattern. A spatially and temporally differentiated energy input into land-use units will result in a gradient of utilization intensity and allow more species to thrive, again enhancing both diversity and landscape beauty. Modern humans have deliberately chosen artificial surroundings to achieve complete environmental control, even in rural lifestyles. But as far as emotional needs are concerned, this artificiality seems to be neither human nor ecological. Something 'natural' is lacking, and landscape in its holistic sense can provide it -be it a landscaped open space in a city, a rural scene, a seashore or a mountain range. Maintaining and managing such 'naturalness' requires sound ecological knowledge -not as an aim in itself, but to provide a bridge for humans.

- by Wolfgang Haber
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- Landscape Ecology, Human Ecology, Biological Sciences, Land use and land cover

Watershed prioritization has gained importance in natural resources management, especially in the context of watershed
management. Vazhichal watershed is a constituent of the Neyyar river basin, in Tiruvanathapuram district and covers an area of
91.35km2. The Vazhichal watershed has been divided into eight sub- watersheds, designated as SW1 to SW8, for prioritization
purpose. The prioritization of sub-watersheds has been done on the basis of morphometric parameters and land use/land cover
categories. Various morphometric parameters have been determined for each sub -watershed and assigned rank on the basis ofvalue/relationship with erodibility so as to arrive at a compound value for final ranking of sub watersheds. Land use /land cover
mapping has been carried out using IRS LISS IV data. Based on morphometric land use /land cover analysis the sub-watershedshave been classified into very high, high, medium, and low in terms of priority for conservation and management of natural
resources. The prioritization results based on morphomety reveal that only SW6 fall under very high priority, whereas SW2 &
SW3 fall under very high priority on the basis of land use /land cover analysis. However on the integration of morphometery andland use /land cover SW1 & SW5 show common priority whereas rest have little or no correlation.

In this paper, we address the challenge of land use and land cover classification (LULC) using Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) on existing remote sensing datasets and compare the obtained results in an Indian Urban area context. This paper showcases the theoretical and experimental study of various large-scale, high-resolution remote sensing datasets. An image retrieval dataset is used to perform image classification and promising results are found. Also, a small-scale dataset is used and modified from a high-resolution large-scale data as per the requirement. Different datasets with different dimensions and spectral bands are used for the study. The results and comparisons of various datasets are tabulated. From a dataset point of view, classification or categorization techniques can be developed and assessed by making use of image retrieval datasets but this doesn't work the other way around. This paper also provides the literature with standard outcomes for future research on datasets for Machine Learning based image classification especially in terms of reducing memory consumption of computers and fastening the process of execution. The resulting

- by Pravesh Kumar
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- Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, Global Warming, Land use and land cover

development paradigm and framework for disaster risk management are on the drawing boards. It will surely go a long way in informing the convergence of policies and benchmarks for ecosystem management as an integral aspect of climate and... more

- by maria papathoma-köhle and +1
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- Land use and land cover, Landslide hazard and risk assessment, Land Use and Vegetation Cover Changes

Landslides in the three studied basins of the Siwalik Hills are not random in distribution; they tend to cluster in certain areas implying the control of certain in situ factors or their combination. Landslide controlling in situ factors were reviewed and analyzed from maps, aerial photos and imageries using GIS. Chi square analysis was carried out to test the significance of landslide distribution vis-à-vis in situ factors. Slope gradient and relative relief were consistently significant in landslide distribution. Geology, dip-topography relation, land use and land cover, and vegetation conditions appeared important in landslide occurrence in all three basins either in terms of area or count in any two basins. Slope aspect and altitude tested significant for landslide occurrence in at least two basins. However, upslope flow contributing area, drainage density and distance to lineament were found insignificant in all three basins. In situ factors that tested significant in any two basins were used for landslide susceptibility analysis using a bivariate statistical approach. The distribution of landslides strongly correlates with susceptibility indices. With in situ factors, landslide susceptibility had good correlation with slope gradient and relative relief. Incorporating calculated factor weight values from one basin to the other two basins, proxy susceptibility index maps were also prepared. A moderate to good positive correlation appeared between them implying certain range of confidence for replicating the result for whole of the Siwalik Hills. Slope gradient and relative relief can be used as proxy indicators of landslide susceptible areas in the Siwalik Hills.

- by Motilal Ghimire
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- Psychology, Natural Hazards, Land use and land cover, Atmospheric sciences

The Qaroun Lake, Wadi El-Rayyan, and Wadi El-Hitan are some of the most promising ecotourism destinations in Egypt due to their natural mineral resources , wildlife, and biodiversity in addition to their historic heritage that dates back to the age of The Pharos. These natural resources should be managed and maintained without affecting the needs of future generations. Land use/land cover change is the most important factor in causing biodiversity loss. Accordingly, the objectives of this study are to identify, quantify, and model future land cover changes using remote sensing and GIS techniques. To fulfill the objectives of the study, a hybrid image classification is employed using the combination of unsupervised and supervised classification methods to detect land cover types. Post-classification comparison is used to map changes in land cover between 2000 and 2017. Markov model is applied to analyze, predict, and simulate future land cover changes from 2017 to 2050. This is in order to safeguard against the adverse effects and negative consequences of land cover changes, preserve the natural resources, and consequently achieve goals of sustainable development. The outcome of this study can provide policy makers and urban planners with the required information regarding the status of the environment and subsequently reduce pressure on natural resources in order to facilitate conservation planning and sustainable development.

Non-Urbanised Areas (NUAs) are part of agricultural and green infrastructures that provide ecosystem services. Their role is fundamental for the minimization of urban pollution and adaptation to climate change. Like all natural ecosystems, NUAs are endangered by urban sprawl. The regulation of sprawl is a key issue for land-use planning. We propose a land use suitability strategy model to orient Land Uses of NUAs, based on integration of Land Cover Analysis (LCA) and Fragmentation Analysis (FA). With LCA the percentage of evapotranspiring surface is defined for each land use. Dimensions and densities of NUAs patches are assessed in FA. The model has been developed with Geographical Information Systems, using an extensive set of geodatabases, including orthophotos, vectorial cartographies and field surveys. The case of the municipality of Mascalucia in Catania metropolitan area (Italy), characterized by a considerable urban sprawl, is presented.► Non-Urbanised Areas (NUAs) are crucial for land planning and pollution minimization. ► NUAs are endangered by urban sprawl in Catania metropolitan areas (Italy). ► NUAs can be characterized by Land Cover and Fragmentation analysis. ► Results from analysis are used in a Land Use Suitability Strategy Model (LUSSM). ► By LUSSM application seven new prospective land uses for NUAs are proposed.

- by Paolo La Greca and +1
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- Landscape Ecology, Climate Change, Green Infrastructure, Urban Planning

Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Land Use Land Cover (LULC) are the principal aspects of climate and environment studies. The object of the study is to assess spatial relationship between LST and remote sensing LULC indices at the global and continental scale. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua daytime LST and eight LULC MODIS indices of 2018 prepared and processed using Earth Engine Code Editor. R squared and significance of the relationship values of randomly selected points computed in R program. The research observed the relationship between examined indices and LST is significant at the 0.001 level. Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Normalized Difference Snow Index (DSI) are the dominant drivers of LST in the world, Asia and

- by Azad Rasul
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- Spatial Analysis, Land use and land cover, MODIS, Land Surface Temperature

A região de Cabo Frio é reconhecida como um importante centro de diversidade vegetal (CDVCF) da Região Neotropical, devido à presença de diversos taxa endêmicos e comunidades vegetais singulares, o que pode ser relacionado tanto ao clima relativamente seco quanto à heterogeneidade do ambiente físico. Embora diversos estudos realizados na região tenham produzido informações importantes sobre a estrutura e composição florística de algumas comunidades vegetais, existe ainda uma considerável lacuna na classificação e definição dos tipos de vegetação bem como de sua distribuição espacial. Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar e descrever os tipos de vegetação da região e sua relação com o ambiente físico, através do mapeamento da cobertura vegetal e uso do solo, baseado na análise integrada de imagens de satélite, fotografias aéreas, mapas temáticos e dados pontuais provenientes de levantamentos estruturais e florísticos e trabalhos de campo, com apoio do processamento digital de imagens e de sistema de informações geográficas. Os resultados são apresentados acompanhados de um mapa da vegetação e uso do solo da área do CDVCF, que poderá ser utilizado como base para novos estudos florísticos e ecológicos, para estudos da dinâmica da paisagem e para apoio ao planejamento ambiental e a conservação da biodiversidade da região. Palavras-chave: cobertura vegetal, uso do solo, relação vegetação-ambiente físico.

- by Claudio de Athayde Bohrer
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- Land use and land cover

- by Seppe Deckers and +4
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- Engineering, Remote Sensing, Catchment Management, Land Use Change

Coastal landscapes have historically attracted a larger number of settlements than inland. This trend is expected to continue. Commonly, increase in coastal settlements has been accompanied by growth of existing urban areas. Such growth is characterized by transformation from natural landscapes to impervious surfaces associated with thermal elevation. This results in urban micro and macro climate alteration and increased vulnerability to climate change and associated impacts. This study sought to determine the role of existing land-use-land-cover (LULC) mosaics on thermal variability between three South African coastal metros using remotely sensed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) dataset. Duncans post hoc one-way analysis of variance, multispectral Landsat 8 scenes and Terra MODIS were used to determine differences between the major LULC mosaics and their respective surface thermal values. Based on each of the metropolitan’s LULC proportions and their respective thermal values from MODIS imagery, the Contribution Index was used to determine the source/sink contributions within each metropolitan area. The eThekwini metropolitan area, due to its dominant impervious surfaces proportion, was more vulnerable to elevated urban heat and therefore higher relative vulnerability to climate change and associated impacts than the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitans. Results in this study show the value of remotely sensed data-sets in determining inter and intra urban landscape matrix, thermal elevation and relative vulnerability to climate change. Such findings are particularly valuable for sustainable coastal urban landscape planning and mitigation of climate changerelated impacts at local, regional and even global scales.

- by Elfatih M Abdel-Rahman
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- Remote Sensing, Urban Studies, Land use and land cover, South Africa

E pidemiologists are adopting new remote sensing techniques to study a variety of vector-borne diseases. Associations between satellite-derived environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, and land cover type and vector density are used to identify and characterize vector habitats. The convergence of factors such as the availability of multi-temporal satellite data and georeferenced epidemiological data, collaboration between remote sensing scientists and biologists, and the availability of sophisticated, statistical geographic information system and image processing algorithms in a desktop environment creates a fertile research environment. The use of remote sensing techniques to map vector-borne diseases has evolved significantly over the past 25 years. In this paper, we review the status of remote sensing studies of arthropod vectorborne diseases due to mosquitoes, ticks, blackflies, tsetse flies, and sandflies, which are responsible for the majority of vector-borne diseases in the world. Examples of simple image classification techniques that associate land use and land cover types with vector habitats, as well as complex statistical models that link satellite-derived multi-temporal meteorological observations with vector biology and abundance, are discussed here. Future improvements in remote sensing applications in epidemiology are also discussed.

- by Peter Gilruth
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- Microbiology, Image Processing, Remote Sensing, Immunology

Remote sensing of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) usually used Land Use and Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) and Vegetation-Impervious Surface Area (ISA)-Soil (V-I-S) model separately in the past. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between surface thermal patterns with land cover types, NDVI and VIS model as a whole. LST was derived using three different algorithms from remotely sensed images at two different scales and LUCC map was obtained by SVM classification method. The results demonstrate that LST retrieval from Landsat ETM+ image by improved MWA algorithm is more suitable for analyzing relationship between urban structures with urban heat islands in Xuzhou.

- by Junshi Xia
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- Remote Sensing, Land use and land cover, Land Cover, Surface Area

Accelerated land use changes in the Brazilian Amazonian region over the last four decades have raised questions about potential consequences for local hydrology. Under the hypothesis of a lack of frontier governance, projections of future changes in the Amazon basin suggest that 20–30% or more of this basin could be deforested in the next 40 years. This could trigger a cascade of negative impacts on water resources. In this study, we examined how a future conversion of the forest into pasture would influence streamflow and water balance components by using a conceptual and semi-distributed hydrological model in a large (142,000 km 2) forested basin: specifically, the Iriri River basin in the Brazilian Amazon. The results showed that the land use change could substantially alter the water balance components of the originally forested basin. For example, an increase of over 57% in pasture areas increased a simulated annual streamflow by ~6.5% and had a significant impact on evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and percolation. Our findings emphasize the importance of protected areas for conservation strategies in the Brazilian Amazonian region.

- by Camila Abe
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- Water, Hydrology, Water resources, Amazonia

Soil erosion is a continuous process that is relatively unnoticed in the Western Ghats region of Karnataka. Soil erosion is one of the most significant and widespread form of soil degradation that has environmental and economic impacts. Economically, soil erosion affects the productivity of land and hence conservation strategies assume lead roles in the development programs. It is therefore desirable to identify soil erosion in a watershed in order to plan structural works and other means of reducing the problem. The present work is a case study undertaken in parts of Hulgi watershed, a tributary of Bhadra River in the Western Ghats region. RS and GIS are employed to prepare thematic maps such as drainage, LULC, hydro geomorphology, slope, soil, and geology maps. These thematic maps are integrated on GIS platform after assigning weighted capability values to each unit in all the layers. Soil erosion zonation map prepared for the watershed indicates that 49%, 24%, 14% and 13% of the total geographical area is prone to very high, high, moderate and low soil erosion respectively. The present study demonstrates the efficiency of RS and GIS in generating soil erosion zonation mapping. Such maps are valuable resources for action planners to suggest suitable measures for overall development of the watershed.

- by Chaitra R
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- Remote Sensing, Rainfall-Runoff modelling, Land use and land cover, Soil Erosion

Land surface temperature (LST) is a key climate variable that has been studied mainly at the urban scale and in the context of urban heat islands. By analyzing the connection between LST and land cover, this study shows the potential of LST to analyze the relation between urbanization and heating phenomena at the regional level. Land cover data, drawn from Copernicus, and LST, retrieved from Landsat 8 satellite images, are analyzed through a methodology that couples GIS and regression analysis. By looking at the Italian island of Sardinia as a case study, this research shows that urbanization and the spatial dynamics of heating phenomena are closely connected, and that intensively farmed areas behave quite similarly to urban areas, whereas forests are the most effective land covers in mitigating LST, followed by areas covered with Mediterranean shrubs. This leads to key policy recommendations that decision-makers could implement to mitigate LST at the regional scale and that can, in principle, be exported to regions with similar climate and land covers. The significance of this study can be summed up in its novel approach to analyzing the relationship between LST and land covers that uses freely available spatial data and, therefore, can easily be replicated in other regional contexts to derive appropriate policy recommendations.

Similarly to other European Countries, also in Italy one can observe large scale changes in the structure of land use. This is in primis caused by socio-economic pressures, mostly determining the conversion of agricultural land into artificial surfaces. More effort is required to highlight how and if the above alters urban-rural relationships, in particular landscape-wise. The authors focused on selected territories in North-East Italy as case study areas, where viticulture is intensive and provides almost uninterrupted land cover. All are important with regard to the contribution that wine gives to economic development. Using GIS-based techniques, the authors documented the processes of land use between 1983 and 2006, analyzing in particular resulting changes of urban-rural forms. The aim is to investigate how scattered and geographically interconnected the (new) artificialisation is and how/if it impacts on viticultural landscapes. The strip of territory we have dealt with is being subjected to an aggressive sprawl which - if previously only took place in radial direction around cities’ centres or in linear direction along major roads - now increasingly forces itself “from within”. The intense building activity is, indeed, in danger of preventing the areas
under study from maintaining a sufficient “consistency”, also to be able to develop in a more varied and articulate manner (for instance touristic). Our research - evaluating the degree of loss of landscape integrity due to the anthropogenic stress - could also feed into more evidence-based territorial policies aiming to direct future transformations and preserve/promote viticultural territories

- by Luca Simone Rizzo and +2
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- Settlement Patterns, Urban Sprawl, Land use and land cover, Urban form

1] Over the last century, land use and land cover (LULC) in the United States Corn Belt region shifted from mixed perennial and annual cropping systems to primarily annual crops. Historical LULC change impacted the annual water balance in many Midwestern basins by decreasing annual evapotranspiration (ET) and increasing streamflow and base flow. Recent expansion of the biofuel industry may lead to future LULC changes from increasing corn acreage and potential conversion of the industry to cellulosic bioenergy crops of warm or cool season grasses. In this paper, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to evaluate potential impacts from future LULC change on the annual and seasonal water balance of the Raccoon River watershed in west-central Iowa. Three primary scenarios for LULC change and three scenario variants were evaluated, including an expansion of corn acreage in the watershed and two scenarios involving expansion of land using warm season and cool season grasses for ethanol biofuel. Modeling results were consistent with historical observations. Increased corn production will decrease annual ET and increase water yield and losses of nitrate, phosphorus, and sediment, whereas increasing perennialization will increase ET and decrease water yield and loss of nonpoint source pollutants. However, widespread tile drainage that exists today may limit the extent to which a mixed perennial-annual land cover would ever resemble pre-1940s hydrologic conditions. Study results indicate that future LULC change will affect the water balance of the watershed, with consequences largely dependent on the future LULC trajectory. (2008), Impact of land use and land cover change on the water balance of a large agricultural watershed: Historical effects and future directions, Water Resour. Res., 44, W00A09,

- by Philip Gassman
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- Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Water resources, Applied Economics

In the last decade, volunteers have been contributing massively to what we know nowadays as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). Through the research that has been conducted recently, it has become clear that this huge amount of information might hide interesting and rich geographical information. The Open-StreetMap (OSM) project is one of the most well-known and studied VGI initia-tives. It has been studied to identify its potential for different applications. In the field of Land Use/Cover, an earlier study by the authors explored the use of OSM for Land Use/Cover (LULC) validation. Using the CORINE (COoRdination of IN-formation on the Environment) Land Cover (CLC) database as the Land Use ref-erence data, they analyzed the OSM coverage and classification accuracy, find-ing an interesting global accuracy value of 76.7% for level 1 land classes, for the study area of continental Portugal, despite a very small coverage value of ap-proximately 3.27%. In this chapter we review the existing literature on using OSM data for LULC database production and move this research forwards by explor-ing the suitability of the OSM Points of Interest dataset. We conclude that OSM can give very interesting contributions and that the OSM Points of Interest dataset is suitable for those classified as CLC class 1 which represents artificial surfaces.

- by Jacinto Estima and +1
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- Geographic Information Science, Volunteered Geographic Information, Land use and land cover, Openstreetmap

Morphological changes on Sagar Island are occurring at an alarming rate due to both natural and anthropogenic activities. The eastern part of the island is rapidly eroding due to destabilization and growth of tidal flats in the Muriganga estuary and the gradual shifting of water current towards the island. Over the last four years (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999), the rate of coastal erosion has been much higher (11.35 km 2 ) than accretion (2.65 km 2 ), compared with the conditions prior to 1996. Coastal places like Dublat, Basantpur, Gobindapur, Collectorganj, and Sumatinagar have become the critical zones of erosion. The shorelines along the eastern and south-western sides are receding. The extent of coverage of the paddy field, sandy beaches, and land vegetation has decreased from 1996 to 1999 by 15.7, 1.1, and 3.5 km 2 , respectively. An integrated database of the island was generated using spatial and non-spatial data collected through field survey, satellite images of IRS-1C LISS III, and topomaps. Spatial data include coastal geomorphological landforms, land-use and land cover, shoreline change, sandy beaches, coastal erosion sites, agricultural fields, aquaculture sites, and coastal riparian vegetations. Non-spatial data include the demography and evolution of the island. The main critical environmental issues of the island are: (1) degradation of mangrove forests and coastal erosion; (2) overpopulation and over-exploitation of living resources; and (3) destruction of seawalls. Further degradation may lead to extinction of a variety of species and scarcity of marine food unless properly managed and regulated.

- by manoj singh
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- Remote Sensing, Coastal Erosion, Land use and land cover, Environmental Issues

Coastal saltmarsh and their constituent components and processes are of an interest scientifically due to their ecological function and services. However, heterogeneity and seasonal dynamic of the coastal wetland system makes it challenging to map saltmarshes with remotely sensed data. This study selected four important saltmarsh species Pragmitis australis, Sporobolus virginicus, Ficiona nodosa and Schoeloplectus sp. as well as a Mangrove and Pine tree species, Avecinia and Casuarina sp respectively. High Spatial Resolution Worldview-2 data and Coarse Spatial resolution Landsat 8 imagery were selected in this study. Among the selected vegetation types some patches ware fragmented and close to the spatial resolution of Worldview-2 data while and some patch were larger than the 30 meter resolution of Landsat 8 data. This study aims to test the effectiveness of different classifier for the imagery with various spatial and spectral resolutions. Three different classification algorithm, Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) were tested and compared with their mapping accuracy of the results derived from both satellite imagery. For Worldview-2 data SVM was giving the higher overall accuracy (92.12%, kappa =0.90) followed by ANN (90.82%, Kappa 0.89) and MLC (90.55%, kappa = 0.88). For Landsat 8 data, MLC (82.04%) showed the highest classification accuracy comparing to SVM (77.31%) and ANN (75.23%). The producer accuracy of the classification results were also presented in the paper. .

- by Sikdar Rasel
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- Remote Sensing, Wetlands, Worldview., Land use and land cover

The article presents the results of suitability analysis of land use records of agricultural and forest land from the Slovenian ministry responsible for agriculture, for the purpose of land use change monitoring in Slovenia. To date, these data are the only systematically gathered data concerning land use in the country. For qualitative land use change detection, the metadata of land use datasets are of crucial importance. In the article, the changing criteria for land use data acquisition of agricultural and forest land are exposed. For the case of the Pomurska Statistical Region, the analysis of land use change has been conducted based on land use data of the agricultural ministry in the period 2002–2011. The main objective has been to provide the basic information on the quality of used datasets in order to assist the critical and correct interpretation and use of land use data of the agricultural sector.

- by Jernej Pišek and +1
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- Spatial Analysis, Land use and land cover, Land Use, Land Use/ Land Cover Dynamics and LULc Modeling

The impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) change in buffer zones surrounding protected ecological reserves have important implications for the management and conservation of these protected areas. This study examines the spatial and temporal patterns of LULC change along the boundary of Rio Abiseo National Park in the Northern Peruvian Andes. Landscape change within four ecological zones was evaluated based on trends expected to occur between 1987 and 2001. Landsat TM and ETM imagery were used to produce LULC classification maps for both years using a hybrid supervised/unsupervised approach. LULC changes were measured using landscape metrics and from-to change maps created by post-classification change detection. Contrary to expectations, tropical upper wet montane forest increased despite being threatened by human-induced fires and cattle grazing of the highland grasslands inside the park. Within the park’s buffer zone, tropical moist forest remnants were fragmented into more numerous and smaller patches between 1987 and 2001; this was in part due to conversion into agricultural land. The methods used in this study provide an effective way to monitor LULC change detection and support the management of protected areas and their surrounding environments.

- by kelley crews
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- Environmental Management, Peru, Multidisciplinary, Cattle Grazing

Indonesia has recently been faced with a number of great problems: poverty, natural disasters such as tsunami, earthquakes, flooding and typhoons, volcanic eruptions, loss of biodiversity, decreasing water quality and quantity, increased pollution, and aesthetic degradation of the landscape. These disturbances have been caused by rapid changes in land use and land cover, deforestation, the application of monoculture farming systems in commercial agriculture, urbanization, industrialization, and other types of infrastructure development. The government, urban communities and companies have promoted some programs to ameliorate the problem of environmental degradation. The government has ratified law no. 26/2007 as a commitment to sustainability; this law ensures that cities are obliged to provide green open spaces covering a minimum of 30% of urbanized areas. Many metropolitan cities have feverishly enacted policies to promote greening programs, such as those applied in Jakarta. However, a new town-Sentul City-has engaged in policies that aim to create a well-designed eco-city with urban greenery and ecological networks. This new policy is supposed to herald a better future for urban quality. It is expected that green spaces will provide environmental services: water resource management, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and landscape beauty.

- by Nobukazu Nakagoshi
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- Landscape Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Water quality, Ecological Networks

Pokhara is one of the most naturally beautiful cities in the world with a unique geological setting. This important tourist city is under intense pressure from rapid urbanization and population growth. Multiple hazards and risks are rapidly increasing in Pokhara due to unsustainable land use practices, particularly the increase in built-up areas. This study examines the relationship among urbanization, land use/land cover dynamics and multiple hazard and risk analysis of the Pokhara valley from 1990 to 2013. We investigate some of the active hazards, such as floods, landslides, fire, sinkholes, land subsidence and earthquakes, and prepare an integrated multiple hazard risk map indicating the highly vulnerable zones. Land use and land cover maps from 1990 and 2013 from Landsat images (30 m resolution) have been prepared and analyzed for the spatial dynamics of urbanization and the transition of land use and land cover. In the 23-year period, the built-up area more than doubled from 24.03 km² to 54.20 km². Although the landscape in the urban, peri-urban and rural areas appears to be fragmented, different drivers play pivotal roles in landscape change in these areas. The results provide OPEN ACCESS Land 2015, 4 958 substantial information for establishing innovative action plans for disaster risk management in the valley. Recommendations are made for the most suitable places for future urban expansion in the valley. This study is important for raising awareness among policy makers and other public officials to include multiple hazard risk mitigation in land use policies and plans. Establishing connections between urban expansions, escalating population growth and multiple hazards and risk assessment will also improve in modelling the latent impact of future catastrophes and emergency preparedness.

Integrated watershed management (IWSM) was implemented to address issues of poverty and land resource degradation in the 14 500 ha upper Agula watershed, in semiarid Eastern Tigray (Ethiopia), an area known for poverty and resource degradation caused by natural and man-made calamities. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of IWSM and determine the land use and cover dynamics that it has induced. The change in land use and cover was assessed by integrating remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). Two sets of aerial photographs (taken in 1965 and 1994 at scale of 1:50,000) and Landsat ETM+ image (taken in 2000 with 30 m resolution) were used to produce the land use/land cover map and assess land use change.

- by Fikir Alemayehu
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- Engineering, Cartography, Remote Sensing, Poverty
- by Vahid Sharifi
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- Remote Sensing, Machine Learning, Water quality, Urban Planning

Information on the rates, driving forces, and consequences of land use and land cover change is important in studies addressing issues ranging from the health of aquatic resources to climate change. Land use and land cover changes occur at all scales, and changes at local scales can have dramatic, cumulative impacts at broader scales. Consequently, land use and land cover changes are not just of concern at local and regional levels (i.e., because of impacts on land management practices, economic health and sustainability, and social processes), but globally as well. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of information on la nd use and land cover change except at very local levels. This four-year research project between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a goal to document the types, geographic distributions, and rates of land cover change on a region-by-region basis over the past 30 years for the conterminous U.S., and to determine some of the key drivers and consequences of the changes. The objectives of the study are to:

- by Thomas Loveland and +1
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- Land use and land cover
- by Maurizio TIEPOLO
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- Land tenure, Land Law, Land use and land cover, Land Information Systems

This paper evaluates the changes to the green infrastructure of the megacity of Karachi, Pakistan, occurring during a period of rapid development, involving extensive loss of trees and green spaces since 2000, occurring as a consequence of road widening and improvements to the city's transport infrastructure, aggravated by a series of cyclones, involving further tree loss and which has led to numerous ecological problems in the city, assessing how the effect of the reduction of Karachi's green infrastructure has impacted both the reality and the perception of human health conditions. It uses medium-resolution satellite images classified for land use and land cover (LULC) data extraction and detailed field surveys to map the extent of change; structured questionnaires are used to identify the perception of selected, targeted groups regarding the state of Karachi's urban green infrastructure and perceived human health conditions. Findings indicate that the public perception of green space functionality or presence does not equate with the remote sensing and field mapping results, which show a dramatic loss. The need to develop a comprehensive urban greening strategy, which considers the needs and priorities of the population, is identified. The impact of such a strategy in terms of increased frequency of visits to green sites and associated increase in the physical activity of the people to improve overall physical health is discussed in relation to the general development of Karachi.

- by Salman Qureshi
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- Remote Sensing, Urban Forestry, Physical Activity, Urban Ecology

There is a lack of information on the environmental effects of urban change and the dynamics of greenspace. Such information is essential for a better understanding of the sustainability of urban development processes, both planned and unplanned. We therefore investigated the changes in land use and land cover of 11 residential areas in Merseyside, UK, using aerial photographs taken in 1975 and 2000. We then modeled how these changes would alter three important environmental parameters: surface temperature, runoff of rainfall, and greenspace diversity. These changes were then related to the socio-economic status of the areas, as measured by an index of multiple deprivation. The comparisons revealed a loss of greenspace in all 11 case study sites Overall, the more affluent, low density areas lost more greenspace, especially of tree cover. A major cause was infill development whereby gardens were built over. However, greenspace was also lost in already densely built-up, deprived areas due to the reuse of derelict land. As a consequence, the models used in this study predicted negative environmental impacts for all areas. The results emphasize the need to critically review concepts such as urban densification and give more weight to the preservation and management of urban greenspaces.

- by Stephan Pauleit and +1
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- Engineering, Hydrology, Environmental modeling, Climate

The United Nations forecasts that by 2050, more than 60% of the African population will live in cities. Thus, urban malaria is considered an important emerging health problem in that continent. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) are useful tools for addressing the challenge of assessing, understanding and spatially focusing malaria control activities. The objectives of the present study were to use high spatial resolution SPOT (Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre) satellite images to identify some urban environmental factors in Dakar associated with Anopheles arabiensis densities, to assess the persistence of these associations and to describe spatial changes in at-risk environments using a decadal time scale.

- by Cheikh Sokhna
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- Remote Sensing, Animal Behavior, United Nations, Medical Microbiology

A proactive sampling strategy was designed and implemented in 2000 to document changes in streams whose catchment land uses were predicted to change over the next two decades due to increased building density. Diatoms, macroinvertebrates, fishes, suspended sediment, dissolved solids, and bed composition were measured at two reference sites and six sites where a socioeconomic model suggested new building construction would influence stream ecosystems in the future; we label these "hazard sites." The six hazard sites were located in catchments with forested and agricultural land use histories.

- by David Wear
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- Environmental Monitoring, Rivers, Biodiversity, Multidisciplinary

The eVect of land use on the biogeochemistry of small tropical rivers and their estuaries was studied using the Kallada River and Ashtamudi estuary located in the State of Kerala, India, as a model system. Water, suspended matter and sediments collected during the monsoon and intermonsoon periods in 2002 and 2003 were analyzed for dissolved nutrients (nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate) and for phytoplankton abundance and composition, amino acid contents and stable carbon (C)) and nitrogen (N) isotope ratios. Seasonal and spatial variations of dissolved nutrients and suspended matter along the course of the river point to distinct diVerences in the C and N sources that are controlled by hydrology, geology and land use. Unusually low concentrations of dissolved silicate and suspended matter suggest low erosion rates of the Precambrian basement rocks and the Wrm lateritic soils in non-agricultural areas. Most dissolved nutrients and suspended particulate organic matter originated from fertilized agricultural soils. The biogeochemistry of sedimentary organic matter indicates that most of the Kallada River load is deposited in the upper Ashtamudi estuary, while the middle and lower parts have a stronger marine inXuence. The spatio-temporal variation of dissolved and particulate river Xuxes clearly indicates an eVect of land use and land cover on the biogeochemistry of the Kallada River. While the phosphate yield was high (6 £ 10 3 mol km ¡2 year ¡1 or 185 kg km ¡2 year ¡1 ), the N yield was relatively low (10 £ 10 3 mol km ¡2 year ¡1 or 141 kg km ¡2 year ¡1 ), which is unlike the situation in many other densely populated regions of tropical Asia.

- by Tim Jennerjahn
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- Geochemistry, Biogeochemistry, Land use and land cover, Seasonality

The overall objective of the Ramsar Convention, signed in 1971, is the conservation and wise use of wetlands by national action and international cooperation as a means to achieving sustainable development. This complex and challenging task requires national, local and international bodies involved in the implementation of the convention to rely on suitable geo-information to better understand wetland areas, complete national inventories, perform monitoring activities, carry out assessments and put in practice suitable management plans based on updated and reliable information. In the last years, Earth Observation (EO) technology has been revealed as a key tool and unique information source to support the environmental community in different application domains, including wetlands' conservation and management. In this context, the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Ramsar Secretariat launched in 2003 the ''GlobWetland'' project in order to demonstrate the current capabilities of Earth Observation technology to support inventorying, monitoring, and assessment of wetland ecosystems. This paper collects the main results and findings of the ''GlobWetland'' project, providing an overview of the current capabilities and limits of EO technology as a tool to support the implementation of the Ramsar Convention. The project was carried out in collaboration with several regional, national and local conservation authorities and wetland managers, involving 50 different wetlands across 21 countries on four continents. This large range of users provided an excellent test bed to assess the potential of this technology to be applied in different technical, economic and social conditions.