Extensive Land Use Changes Research Articles

The Relationship Between the Occurrence of Fires and Family Farming in Municipalities in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

In recent years, particularly in 2024, there has been an escalation in the frequency and intensity of megafires in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. This state, the most industrialized in the country, has seen extensive land-use changes in recent decades, with agriculture extending upon areas previously dedicated to other uses and forests. The practice of family farming, which is distinguished by its smaller operational areas and the majority involvement of the family that owns the land, has the potential to influence the occurrence of fires, but few studies have explored the link between agricultural practices (especially the difference between family and other farming types) and fire intensity. This study aims to assess whether the higher presence of family-farming establishments in different municipalities reduces fire incidents. The results indicate that the municipalities with the highest presence of family farming present lower percentages of burned areas. The increased diversity in crop types and the presence of forest cover within these municipalities have been identified as contributing factors to this reduced fire rate and burned areas. These findings underscore the need for public policies that support family farming as a strategy to reduce fires and protect vulnerable farmers in rural landscapes.

Tiger recovery amid people and poverty.

Recovery of large yet ecologically important carnivores poses a formidable global challenge. Tiger (Panthera tigris) recovery in India, the world's most populated region, offers a distinct opportunity to evaluate the socio-ecological drivers of megafauna recovery. Tiger occupancy increased by 30% (at 2929 square kilometers per year) over the past two decades, leading to the largest global population occupying ~138,200 square kilometers. Tigers persistently occupied human-free, prey-rich protected areas (35,255 square kilometers) but also colonized proximal connected habitats that were shared with ~60 million people. Tiger absence and extinction were characterized by armed conflict, poverty, and extensive land-use changes. Sparing land for tigers enabled land sharing, provided that socioeconomic prosperity and political stability prevailed. India's tiger recovery offers cautious optimism for megafauna recovery, particularly in the Global South.

Vertical dynamics of soil organic carbon across Shaanxi Province, China from 1980s to 2010s

AbstractDynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) has been paid great emphasis for its linkage to the nutrient cycling as well as the global climate changes. Despite the extensive changes in land use, climate, and field management practices that have profoundly affected SOC in Shaanxi Province, few studies have investigated the vertical dynamics of SOC across different soil depths. In this paper, we investigated vertical (0–100 cm with 20 cm intervals) changes of SOC based on soil surveys conducted in 1980s and 2010s in Shaanxi Province as well as three subregions (LP, GP, and QM) by using Geographic Regression Weighted Kriging (GRWK) method. The results indicated that the first four soil layers received 0.87, 0.79, 0.48, and 0.34 g/kg SOC increments, respectively, while SOC decreased by 0.49 g/kg in 80–100 cm. Spatially, most of study area received slight SOC increment (0–2 g/kg) among all soil layers, significant (>4 g/kg) SOC increments were distributed in the junction area of three subregions, while significant (<−4 g/kg) SOC decrement area was occurred in the western QM. SOC was increased in first four soil layers and decreased in 80–100 cm in LP relating to the implement of revegetation program that many cultivated land changed into grassland and forestland. SOC was increased in first two layers and decreased in last three layers in GP relating to the intensive agricultural activities, and it was decreased in the top layers and increased in sublayers in QM due to decreasing trend of NDVI in the western QM. Even several anthropogenic and environmental variables were highly related to SOC dynamics in Shaanxi, human activities were significantly controlled SOC changes than the natural factors.

CamTrapAsia: A dataset of tropical forest vertebrate communities from 239 camera trapping studies.

Information on tropical Asian vertebrates has traditionally been sparse, particularly when it comes to cryptic species inhabiting the dense forests of the region. Vertebrate populations are declining globally due to land-use change and hunting, the latter frequently referred as "defaunation." This is especially true in tropical Asia where there is extensive land-use change and high human densities. Robust monitoring requires that large volumes of vertebrate population data be made available for use by the scientific and applied communities. Camera traps have emerged as an effective, non-invasive, widespread, and common approach to surveying vertebrates in their natural habitats. However, camera-derived datasets remain scattered across a wide array of sources, including published scientific literature, gray literature, and unpublished works, making it challenging for researchers to harness the full potential of cameras for ecology, conservation, and management. In response, we collated and standardized observations from 239 camera trap studies conducted in tropical Asia. There were 278,260 independent records of 371 distinct species, comprising 232 mammals, 132 birds, and seven reptiles. The total trapping effort accumulated in this data paper consisted of 876,606 trap nights, distributed among Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, and far eastern India. The relatively standardized deployment methods in the region provide a consistent, reliable, and rich count data set relative to other large-scale pressence-only data sets, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) or citizen science repositories (e.g., iNaturalist), and is thus most similar to eBird. To facilitate the use of these data, we also provide mammalian species trait information and 13 environmental covariates calculated at three spatial scales around the camera survey centroids (within 10-, 20-, and 30-km buffers). We will update the dataset to include broader coverage of temperate Asia and add newer surveys and covariates as they become available. This dataset unlocks immense opportunities for single-species ecological or conservation studies as well as applied ecology, community ecology, and macroecology investigations. The data are fully available to the public for utilization and research. Please cite this data paper when utilizing the data.

Are the magnitude and frequency of floods increasing in Iran due to climate change? Implications from a 50-year analysis

ABSTRACT The correlation between extreme precipitation and flood magnitude is still poorly understood because of the complex mechanisms controlling flood generation. In this study, we used 50 years of precipitation and streamflow data across Iran to analyse the spatial distribution, slope, and significance of long-term trends in extreme precipitation compared to the spatial distribution of long-term trends for flood magnitude and frequency. Despite the decreasing trend of extreme precipitation in 60% of Iran’s sub-basins, the flood magnitude showed an increasing trend. In particular, the number of flooding days with a return period of 25~50 years and >50 years in 2010s has increased by 1.3 and 2.2 times, respectively, compared to that in 2000s. We attributed the above contrasting relationship between extreme precipitation and flood magnitude to the influence of an increase in short-duration extreme precipitations, extensive land use and land cover change, and reduced soil infiltration due to long-term droughts.

Supposed Effects of Wetland Restoration on Hydrological Conditions and the Provisioning Ecosystem Services—A Model-Based Case Study at a Hungarian Lowland Catchment

Climate change and water scarcity increase the vulnerability of crop production and other ecosystem services (ES) in flood-protected lowlands under a continental climate. Restoration of wetlands leads to a higher water-buffering capacity of the landscape, strengthening various ecosystem services, and fostering adaptation to climatic, ecological, and agricultural challenges. Such restoration efforts require extensive land-use change, leading to trade-offs in provisioning and regulating ES. However, knowledge is limited about these situations, especially in the case of lowland areas. Here, we introduce a hydrological analysis in a 243 km2 flood-protected catchment in the Great Hungarian Plain, mapping the potential hydrological effects of water-retention scenarios on groundwater levels. We point out how the simulated groundwater levels will be used for estimating the changes in crop yields and tree growth (provisioning services). The introduced hydrological analysis and preliminary results for crop-yield estimates suggest a significant and scalable capacity for a nature-based hydrological adaptation: the extent of inundated areas could be increased stepwise and water retention could locally compensate dry periods due to the buffering effect of inundated meanders.

Assessing the land-use harmonization (LUH) 2 dataset in Central Asia for regional climate model projection

Although the land-use harmonization (LUH) datasets have been widely applied in regional climate model (RCM) projections for investigating the role of the land-use forcing in future climate changes, few studies have thoroughly assessed them on local scale, which may bring large uncertainties in the resultant climate information for designing adaption and mitigation measures of climate change. The authors use a local land-use dataset (referred to as Li-LU) as the benchmark to assess the latest version of the LUH datasets, LUH2, in Central Asia (CA) which has undergone extensive land-use changes (LUCs) and might undergo extensive LUCs in the future. The results show that LUH2 has large biases in depicting the historical land-use states in CA for 1995–2015. For instance, the area of grassland (cropland) in LUH2 is about 1.4–1.5 (0.4–0.5) times of that of Li-LU. Moreover, the future LUCs predicted by LUH2 for 2045 (relative to 2005) are much smaller than those of Li-LU and these two datasets generally have opposite signals in changes. In addition, the predicted LUCs of LUH2 do not follow the causal mechanisms [the causal connections between the key drivers (e.g. population, economy, and environment) and land use] behind the LUCs in the past. If the future scenario of LUH2 is used for RCM projection in CA with the historical land-use information from Li-LU, the simulation results could be misleading for understanding the impacts of LUCs on future climate changes there. This study suggests that the LUH datasets should be carefully assessed before using them for regional studies and provides practical notes for selecting the appropriate land-use dataset for RCM projections in other areas around the world.

Implications of changes in land use on soil and biomass carbon sequestration: a case study from the Owabi reservoir catchment in Ghana

Land use changes affect soil and biomass carbon sequestration potential of the agroecosystems of most Sub-Sahara Africa facing rising temperatures due to global climate change. One such ecosystem is the Owabi reservoir catchment in Ghana, which has undergone extensive changes in land use through urbanization. Our study aimed to determine the impact of the spatial and temporal variability of the different land uses on soil and biomass carbon storage in the Owabi catchment. Land use/cover maps were elaborated using SPOT satellite images of 30 × 30-m resolution and Erdas Imagine and ArcGIS Pro softwares. Soil and vegetation were sampled along three transects in the Y plane in early 2014. Nested plot design and temporary sample plots of 50 × 50 m were demarcated within a 1 ha plot in each of the land uses. Trees, herbs and litter were sampled to assess aboveground carbon, and soil samples were taken at 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm depth. Belowground (root) biomass was calculated using the root:shoot ratio. Seven (7) land use types – dense forest, sparse forest, grassland, cropland, wetland, settlement, and excavated land – were identified and differences in carbon stocks were assessed. Soil carbon stock (0–30 cm) ranged from 51.80 Mg/ha in dense forest to 7.00 Mg/ha in excavated land. Our study showed that the conversion of forest lands to other land uses through excavation resulted in about 30-folds loss in carbon and also a major loss of carbon in the catchment from c. 1.4 × 106 Mg C in 1990 to 0.55 × 106 Mg C in 2014. Enhancing forests or growing trees to sequester carbon seems to be the optimum choice among the seven land uses if the introduction of payment for environmental services options is considered.

GIS-based spatio-temporal assessment of forest cover change and carbon sequestrations of District Abbottabad, Pakistan

Abstract Forest plays an important role in the climate of a country and ecosystem's balance. During the last decade, District Abbottabad of Pakistan has gone through extensive land-use changes due to accelerated development, urbanization, and agriculture. This study examines the change in forest cover due to environmental factors with the help of satellite images (Landsat, Sentinel) and their classification through supervised classification, as well as the application of change detection technique after classification using geographical information system (GIS) over the last three decades (1986–2019). The land-use transition matrix was calculated from the year 1986 to 2019. The result shows an overall significant increase of 3.17, 17.24, and 7.24% in the forest, vegetation, and built-up areas, respectively; whereas, water bodies and others (barren land) have decreased significantly by 0.69 and 26.96%, respectively. This study also provides an assessment of the incline of carbon stock from the forest area over the period of the study by 17.19%.

Carbon removals from nature restoration are no substitute for steep emission reductions

Carbon removals from nature restoration are no substitute for steep emission reductions

Anthropogenic influences on habitat use by African houbaras Chlamydotis undulata on Lanzarote, Canary Islands

African Houbara Chlamydotis undulata is threatened in North Africa by unsustainable hunting and massive overuse of captive-bred birds to replace wild losses. A small population on the Canary Islands is protected from these threats, but the archipelago is economically dependent on tourism which has led to extensive land-use change, particularly close to the coasts. We investigated the drivers of houbara distribution and abundance in and around the large semi-desert El Jable region of northern Lanzarote in order to identify potential measures to conserve this important population. All houbaras seen during point counts in the centre of 30 tetrads (2 km × 2 km) were recorded, along with their location. We used negative binomial regression to evaluate the effects of land use and human activity on the abundance of birds at tetrad scale. At finer scale we used logistic regression to assess the effect of land use on the distribution of displaying males. We recorded 196 houbara sightings on our surveys, although only 10 males were observed displaying. Houbara abundance had a quadratic relationship with the proportion of huerta (agricultural gardens) in a tetrad. The distribution of male displays was positively related to the proportion of long-abandoned farmland within a 100 m radius of their display site. African Houbaras favour the vicinity of small-scale agriculture and abandoned farmland, but avoid areas with higher levels of human land-use. Reduction of extensive land-use change and disturbance in El Jable are key conservation measures.

Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Land-Use Changes and Conflicts between Cropland and Forest in the Mekong River Basin during 1990–2020

The Mekong River Basin (MRB) has experienced drastic and extensive land-use and land-cover changes (LULCCs) since the 1990s, including the conflicts between cropland and forest, yet remain quantitatively uninvestigated. With three decades (1990–2020) of land-use products, here we reveal the characteristics of LULCCs and the conflicts between cropland and forest in the MRB and its three sub-basins, i.e., upstream area (UA), midstream area (MA), and downstream area (DA). The four main results are as follows: (1) Since 1990, the dominated features are forest loss and cropland expansion in the MRB and show obvious sub-basin differences. (2) The LULCC was most active before 2000, with a comprehensive dynamic degree of almost 2%. Among them, construction land has the highest single dynamic degree (5%), especially in the DA, reaching 12%. (3) The key features of land-use transfer are the interconversions of forest and cropland, as well as cropland converted into construction land. About 18% (63,940 km2) of forest was reclaimed as cropland, and 17% (45,967 km2) of cropland was returned to forest in the past 31 years. (4) The conflict between cropland and forest was the most dominant LULCC, accounting for 86% of the MRB area. Overall, cropland expansion and forest loss (CEFL) were more dominant in the DA, while cropland fallow and forest restoration (CFFR) had an advantage in the MA. Indeed, CEFL was mainly seen in the plains below a 200 m elevation level, while CFFR tended to occur in the highlands. Our basin-scale study can enrich the existing pan-regional results of LULCCs, and facilitates the understanding of the dynamics and related mechanisms of CFER and CFFR in the tropics.

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Impact of Landscape Changes on Vegetation and Land Surface Temperature over Tamil Nadu

Land-use changes adversely may impact ecological entities and humans by affecting the water cycle, environmental changes, and energy balance at global and regional scales. Like many megaregions in fast emerging countries, Tamil Nadu, one of the largest states and most urbanized (49%) and industrial hubs in India, has experienced extensive landuse and landcover change (LULC). However, the extent and level of landscape changes associated with vegetation health, surface permeability, and Land Surface Temperature (LST) has not yet been quantified. In this study, we employed Random Forest (RF) classification on Landsat imageries from 2000 and 2020. We also computed vegetation health, soil moisture, and LST metrics for two decades from Landsat imageries to delineate the impact of landscape changes in Tamil Nadu using Google Earth Engine (GEE). The level of vegetation health and drought for 2020 was more accurately assessed by combining the Temperature Condition Index (TCI) and Vegetation Condition Index (VCI). A Soil moisture index was subsequently used to identify surface permeability. A 75% expansion in urban areas of Tamil Nadu was detected mainly towards the suburban periphery of major cities between 2000 and 2020. We observed an overall increase in the coverage of urban areas (built-up), while a decrease for vegetated (cropland and forest) areas was observed in Tamil Nadu between 2000 and 2020. The Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) values showed an extensive decline in surface permeability and the LST values showed an overall increase (from a maximum of 41 °C to 43 °C) of surface temperature in Tamil Nadu’s major cities with the highest upsurge for urban built-up areas between 2000 and 2020. Major cities built-up and non-vegetation areas in Tamil Nadu were depicted as potential drought hotspots. Our results deliver significant metrics for surface permeability, vegetation condition, surface temperature, and drought monitoring and urges the regional planning authorities to address the current status and social-ecological impact of landscape changes and to preserve ecosystem services.

Application of Chemostratigraphic Methods to Floodplain Alluvial Deposits within the Big Harris Creek Basin, North Carolina

Big Harris Creek, North Carolina, possesses a geomorphic history and alluvial stratigraphic record similar to many drainages in southern Appalachian Piedmont. An approximately 1 km reach of Upper Stick Elliott Creek, a tributary to Big Harris Creek, was used herein to (1) explore the use of chemostratigraphic methods to define and correlate late Holocene alluvial deposits along this relatively uncontaminated rural stream containing legacy sediments (historic, anthropogenically derived deposits), and (2) interpret depositional floodplain processes within small (<10 km2), headwater drainages. The lithofacies within four floodplain sections were described in channel banks and sampled at about 5 cm intervals. The 128 collected samples were then analyzed for grain size and the concentration of 22 elements using X-ray fluorescence. Well-defined chemostratigraphic units (facies) were defined on the basis of a multi-elemental fingerprint using a principal component analysis (PCA) and verified using discriminant analysis (DA). Chemostratigraphic units did not reflect grain size at a site (by design) but marginally correlated to lithofacies defined by field descriptions. Of significant importance, chemostratigraphic units could be quantitatively correlated between the four stratigraphic sections at a much higher spatial resolution (~5 cm) than could be performed using other sedimentologic parameters alone. In combination, the lithostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic architecture of the floodplain is consistent with a previously proposed sequence of deposition for the legacy deposits in which extensive land-use change associated with the onset of cotton farming in the 1860s led to upstream incision and gully formation and downstream deposition on the floodplain surface. Deposition appears to have progressed downvalley as incision deepened, probably in the form of crevasse splay deposits or proximal sandsheets that were occasionally interbedded with vertically accreted sediments. The results indicate that chemostratigraphy represents a highly useful approach to the assessment of floodplain depositional processes over (at least) relatively small temporal and spatial scales, even in areas with minimal sediment contamination.

Spatio-temporal unevenness in local land system regime shifts caused by land deals in Lao PDR

Extensive land-use “regime shifts” have been observed as rapid transitions from natural land cover or subsistence-oriented land use to intensified and/or expanded commodity production. However, it is often unclear whether these land-use changes are part of broader land system regime shifts in which pre-existing production systems and livelihood strategies are fundamentally transformed along with observable land-use changes rather than simply displaced or eliminated. This is a critical social-environment question given that regime shifts are often a desired and intended outcome of national rural development and market-liberalization policies but must also be attentive to environmental conservation and/or climate change mitigation goals. We investigated whether nationally extensive land-use changes implemented through large-scale land deals in Lao People’s Democratic Republic resulted in full, partial, or no village- and landscape-level regime shifts in and around land deals. Overall, land deals triggered a wide variety of full, partial, and no regime shift outcomes. Land deals with both domestic and foreign investors produced positive and negative outcomes, although foreign land deals for the production of rubber led to significantly higher rates of indirect land-use change in impacted villages than domestic and/or non-rubber land deals. Also, financial compensation alone was insufficient to improve community well-being because it could be reinvested to perpetuate previous land uses without the desired transformation in livelihoods and rural development. Land deals that exhibited greater social embeddedness (i.e., provided adequate compensation complemented by job-creation and improved access to infrastructure and/or services) were more likely to lead to positive regime shifts. Our findings demonstrate that any land system regime shift will produce both winners and losers, and thus it becomes necessary to critically analyze the localized distribution of social and environmental costs and benefits within broader-scale land-use regime shifts.

Ecosystem services analysis as disaster prevention and protection functions in Bogor Regency, West Java

Bogor Regency is vulnerable to multi-disaster-threats areas such as flood, erosion, and landslide. The purpose of this study was to analyze the ecosystem services in Bogor Regency. The aspect of ecosystem services is the function of prevention and protection from natural disasters. Land-use change and land facet maps are primary data used in determining the ecosystem services index of disaster prevention and protection. The SPOT 4, 6, and 7 were interpreted to determine changes in land use from 2010 to 2017. The land facet data was sourced from the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG). The analysis in this study was carryout by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) sourced from 35 contributors. The results showed that 8.94% of the total area of Bogor Regency had undergone land-use changes from 2010-2017. The most extensive land-use changes were plantation (2.65%) and farming fields (2.47%). The most vulnerable area to the threat of a multi-disaster is the eastern part of Bogor Regency. This area is already congested with settlements, so that the vulnerability and element at risk are fairly high. Meanwhile, results gained from the AHP show that forests play an important role in disasters prevention and protection in Bogor Regency.

Dynamic modelling shows substantial contribution of ecosystem restoration to climate change mitigation

Limiting global warming to a 1.5°C temperature rise requires drastic emissions reductions and removal of carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere. Most modelled pathways for 1.5°C assume substantial removals in the form of biomass energy with carbon capture and storage, which brings with it increasing risks to biodiversity and food security via extensive land-use change. Recently, multiple efforts to describe and quantify potential removals via ecosystem-based approaches have gained traction in the climate policy discourse. However, these options have yet to be evaluated in a systematic and scientifically robust way. We provide spatially explicit estimates of ecosystem restoration potential quantified with a Dynamic Global Vegetation Model. Simulations covering forest restoration, reforestation, reduced harvest, agroforestry and silvopasture were combined and found to sequester an additional 93 Gt C by 2100, reducing mean global temperature increase by ∼0.12°C (5%–95% range 0.06°C–0.21°C) relative to a baseline mitigation pathway. Ultimately, pathways to achieving the 1.5°C goal garner broader public support when they include land management options that can bring about multiple benefits, including ecosystem restoration, biodiversity protection, and resilient agricultural practices.

‘Invasion debt’ after extensive land-use change: An example from eastern Australia

‘Invasion debt’ after extensive land-use change: An example from eastern Australia

Evaluating the impacts of land use/land cover changes across topography against land surface temperature in Cameron Highlands.

The Cameron Highlands has experienced multiple land encroachment activities and repeated deforestation, leading to extensive land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past six decades. This study aims to determine the LULCC against topography in Cameron Highlands between 2009 and 2019 by using geospatial techniques to analyze Landsat 7 (ETM+) and 8 (OLI/TIRS), ASTER GDEM and MODIS imaging sensors. The results showed a decline of 35.98 km2 in primary forests over ten years across the Cameron Highlands, while agricultural lands and urban areas flourished by a rise of 51.61 km2 and 11.00 km2 respectively. It can be noted that the elevation most affected is between 1000 and 1500 m, across all classes. Further results showed the expansion of both agriculture and urban development onto slopes above 35°, leading to an instability of soil structure. In a comparison of the base years of 2009 with 2019, mean LST results have shown temperatures rising by 7.5°C, while an average between 3 and 4°C across the region is recorded. The results obtained provide new information for government bodies and land planners to coordinate their actions without further jeopardizing the environment of the Cameron Highlands.

Spatial variability in water quality and macroinvertebrate assemblages across a disturbance gradient in the Mara River Basin, Kenya

Spatial variability in water quality and macroinvertebrate assemblages across a disturbance gradient in the Mara River Basin, Kenya