Individual Land Use Research Articles

Estimating agro-ecosystem carbon balance of northern Japan, and comparing the change in carbon stock by soil inventory and net biome productivity

Soil C sequestration in croplands is deemed to be one of the most promising greenhouse gas mitigation options for agriculture. We have used crop-level yields, modeled heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and land use data to estimate spatio-temporal changes in regional scale net primary productivity (NPP), plant C inputs, and net biome productivity (NBP) in northern Japan's arable croplands and grasslands for the period of 1959–2011. We compared the changes in C stocks derived from estimated NBP and using repeated inventory datasets for each individual land use type from 2005 to 2011. For the entire study region of 2193ha, overall annual plant C inputs to the soil constituted 37% of total region NPP. Plant C inputs in upland areas (excluding bush/fallow) could be predicted by climate variables. Overall NBP for all land use types increased from −1.26MgCha−1yr−1 in 1959–0.26MgCha−1yr−1 in 2011. However, upland and paddy fields showed a decreased in NBP over the period of 1959–2011, under the current C input scenario. From 1988, an increase in agricultural abandonment (bush/fallow) and grassland cover caused a slow increase in the regional C pools. The comparison of carbon budgets using the NBP estimation method and the soil inventory method indicated no significant difference between the two methods. Our results showed C loss in upland crops, paddy fields and sites that underwent land use change from paddy field to upland sites. We also show C gain in grassland from 2005 to 2011. An underestimation of NBP or an overestimation of repeated C inventories cannot be excluded, but either method may be suitable for tracking absolute changes in soil C, considering the uncertainty associated with these methods.

Model-based analysis of spatio-temporal changes in land use in Northeast China

Spatially explicit modeling techniques recently emerged as an alternative to monitor land use changes. This study adopted the well-known CLUE-S (Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent) model to analyze the spatio-temporal land use changes in a hot-spot in Northeast China (NEC). In total, 13 driving factors were selected to statistically analyze the spatial relationships between biophysical and socioeconomic factors and individual land use types. These relationships were then used to simulate land use dynamic changes during 1980–2010 at a 1 km spatial resolution, and to capture the overall land use change patterns. The obtained results indicate that increases in cropland area in NEC were mainly distributed in the Sanjiang Plain and the Songnen Plain during 1980–2000, with a small reduction between 2000 and 2010. An opposite pattern was identified for changes in forest areas. Forest decreases were mainly distributed in the Khingan Mountains and the Changbai Mountains between 1980 and 2000, with a slight increase during 2000–2010. The urban areas have expanded to occupy surrounding croplands and grasslands, particularly after the year 2000. More attention is needed on the newly gained croplands, which have largely replaced wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain over the last decade. Land use change patterns identified here should be considered in future policy making so as to strengthen local eco-environmental security.

European Union Funds as a Growth Stimulant of Electromobility on the Example of Electric Public Transport in Poland

The aim of the study was to analyse the dependence between nature conservation instruments and the percentage of land covered by local spatial development plans and to assess the effect of conservation areas on the type of spatial management in a commune. The material for the analyses comprised local spatial development plans, an administrative decision concerning terms of construction and land management (the WZiZT decision) and administrative decisions on location of public purpose investment projects (LPP decisions) issued in the years 2004–2012. Based on the Mosina commune (in Wielkopolskie Province) an analysis was conducted on land allocated to individual land use forms in spatial development plans as well as their distribution in relation to existing land surface conservation areas. The study investigated the issue of whether the current spatial planning approach at the commune level covering all land within the boundaries of conservation areas with spatial development plans ensures rational spatial management.

The Effect of Nature Conservation Legal Instruments on Spatial Management in a Commune

The aim of the study was to analyse the dependence between nature conservation instruments and the percentage of land covered by local spatial development plans and to assess the effect of conservation areas on the type of spatial management in a commune. The material for the analyses comprised local spatial development plans, an administrative decision concerning terms of construction and land management (the WZiZT decision) and administrative decisions on location of public purpose investment projects (LPP decisions) issued in the years 2004–2012. Based on the Mosina commune (in Wielkopolskie Province) an analysis was conducted on land allocated to individual land use forms in spatial development plans as well as their distribution in relation to existing land surface conservation areas. The study investigated the issue of whether the current spatial planning approach at the commune level covering all land within the boundaries of conservation areas with spatial development plans ensures rational spatial management.

Effects of Land Use on Lake Nutrients: The Importance of Scale, Hydrologic Connectivity, and Region.

Catchment land uses, particularly agriculture and urban uses, have long been recognized as major drivers of nutrient concentrations in surface waters. However, few simple models have been developed that relate the amount of catchment land use to downstream freshwater nutrients. Nor are existing models applicable to large numbers of freshwaters across broad spatial extents such as regions or continents. This research aims to increase model performance by exploring three factors that affect the relationship between land use and downstream nutrients in freshwater: the spatial extent for measuring land use, hydrologic connectivity, and the regional differences in both the amount of nutrients and effects of land use on them. We quantified the effects of these three factors that relate land use to lake total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) in 346 north temperate lakes in 7 regions in Michigan, USA. We used a linear mixed modeling framework to examine the importance of spatial extent, lake hydrologic class, and region on models with individual lake nutrients as the response variable, and individual land use types as the predictor variables. Our modeling approach was chosen to avoid problems of multi-collinearity among predictor variables and a lack of independence of lakes within regions, both of which are common problems in broad-scale analyses of freshwaters. We found that all three factors influence land use-lake nutrient relationships. The strongest evidence was for the effect of lake hydrologic connectivity, followed by region, and finally, the spatial extent of land use measurements. Incorporating these three factors into relatively simple models of land use effects on lake nutrients should help to improve predictions and understanding of land use-lake nutrient interactions at broad scales.

Functional dependencies of soil CO2 emissions on soil biological properties in northern German agricultural soils derived from a glacial till

Agricultural soil CO2 emissions and their controlling factors have recently received increased attention because of the high potential of carbon sequestration and their importance in soil fertility. Several parameters of soil structure, chemistry, and microbiology were monitored along with soil CO2 emissions in research conducted in soils derived from a glacial till. The investigation was carried out during the 2012 growing season in Northern Germany. Higher potentials of soil CO2 emissions were found in grassland (20.40 µg g−1 dry weight h−1) compared to arable land (5.59 µg g−1 dry weight h−1) within the incubating temperature from 5°C to 40°C and incubating moisture from 30% to 70% water holding capacity (WHC) of soils taken during the growing season. For agricultural soils regardless of pasture and arable management, we suggested nine key factors that influence changes in soil CO2 emissions including soil temperature, metabolic quotient, bulk density, WHC, percentage of silt, bacterial biomass, pH, soil organic carbon, and hot water soluble carbon (glucose equivalent) based on principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Slightly different key factors were proposed concerning individual land use types, however, the most important factors for soil CO2 emissions of agricultural soils in Northern Germany were proved to be metabolic quotient and soil temperature. Our results are valuable in providing key influencing factors for soil CO2 emission changes in grassland and arable land with respect to soil respiration, physical status, nutrition supply, and microbe-related parameters.

Dynamics of Land Cover and Impact on Stream flow in the Modder River Basin of South Africa: Case Study of a Quaternary Catchment

Understanding how dynamics in individual land use types influence changes in streamflow is vital. Most hydrological studies are based on paired catchment and modelling approaches. These are data intensive and require a long period of monitoring. To determine the hydrological effects of tropical vegetation conversion over large areas, it is manageable to study the same basin over different time periods. The study analysed changes in historical stream flow patterns with reference to dynamics in land cover in C52A quaternary catchment of South Africa. Landsat images for years 1993, 2004 and 2013 were used for the development of land cover maps. Subsequently, step-change (median point change, Mann-Whitney and Kruskall Willis) and trend detection tests (Spearman’s rho and Kindall’s tau) were applied to average annual discharge and rainfall data for the catchment between 1984 and 2013.Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test was also used to compare the means. Results revealed that huge land cover changes coincided with significant (p<0.05) changes in streamflow although rainfall remained homogenous over the same period. This suggests that land cover change is intricately coupled to increases in streamflow. In addition, increased runoff is usually accompanied by increased rates of erosion and siltation. To ensure sustainable management of the catchment, therefore, soil and water conservation measures are critical within the broader context of integrated water resources management.

Identification Method of Residence and Employment Locations Based on Cellular Phone Data

Identification method of residential and industrial land use is traditionally achieved by artificial investigation, but the cost of artificial investigation is high, and it can’t timely achieve data. The big-data times brings massive information such as mobile phone positioning information which can realize pursuit tracking on individuals. The paper uses mobile phone positioning information and combines fuzzy pattern recognition to propose a method differentiating individual residential and industrial land use. Compared with census data of National Bureau of Statistics, the highest correlation coefficient of the results achieves 0.94, which has higher accuracy. Therefore, it can be used as a new method of acquiring survey data in practice.

Land use determinants of small mammal abundance and distribution in a plague endemic area of Lushoto District, Tanzania.

Small mammals are considered to be involved in the transmission cycle of bubonic plague, still occurring in different parts of the world, including the Lushoto District in Tanzania. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between land use types and practices and small mammal abundance and distribution. A field survey was used to collect data in three landscapes differing in plague incidences. Data collection was done both in the wet season (April-June 2012) and dry season (August-October 2012). Analysis of variance and Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) modelling technique were used to establish the relationship between land use and small mammal abundance and distribution. Significant variations (p ≤ 0.05) of small mammal abundance among land use types were identified. Plantation forest with farming, natural forest and fallow had higher populations of small mammals than the other aggregated land use types. The influence of individual land use types on small mammal abundance level showed that, in both dry and wet seasons, miraba and fallow tended to favour small mammals' habitation whereas land tillage practices had the opposite effect. In addition, during the wet season crop types such as potato and maize appeared to positively influence the distribution and abundance of small mammals which was attributed to both shelter and food availability. Based on the findings from this study it is recommended that future efforts to predict and map spatial and temporal human plague infection risk at fine scale should consider the role played by land use and associated human activities on small mammal abundance and distribution.

Contribution of land use to rodent flea load distribution in the plague endemic area of Lushoto District, Tanzania.

Fleas associated with different rodent species are considered as the major vectors of bubonic plague, which is still rampant in different parts of the world. The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of land use to rodent flea load distribution at fine scale in the plague endemic area of north-eastern Tanzania. Data was collected in three case areas namely, Shume, Lukozi and Mwangoi, differing in plague incidence levels. Data collection was carried out during both wet and dry seasons of 2012. Analysis of Variance and Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) statistical methods were used to clarify the relationships between fleas and specific land use characteristics. There was a significant variation (P ≤ 0.05) of flea indices in different land use types. Fallow and natural forest had higher flea indices whereas plantation forest mono-crop and mixed annual crops had the lowest flea indices among the aggregated land use types. The influence of individual land use types on flea indices was variable with fallow having a positive effect and land tillage showing a negative effect. The results also demonstrated a seasonal effect, part of which can be attributed to different land use practices such as application of pesticides, or the presence of grass strips around fields. These findings suggest that land use factors have a major influence on rodent flea abundance which can be taken as a proxy for plague infection risk. The results further point to the need for a comprehensive package that includes land tillage and crop type considerations on one hand and the associated human activities on the other, in planning and implementation of plague control interventions.

A Study on the Land-Cover Change Indicators of Taipei Metropolitan Areas

The traditional research of land cover/land use change sets focus on the spatial unit of parcel or grid for analysis and simulation. Since the change of individual land use would be affected by the surrounding land uses, there is another possibility to explore the land use change in terms of spatial pattern. The paper applies indicators of landscape metrics to analyze pattern characteristics of urban structure, and cluster analysis and discriminant analysis to identify the type of spatial pattern. This paper attempts to analyze land use pattern and its changes by metric analysis with patch-corridor-matrix structure. The process includes three phases. The first phase is to explore categories of land use pattern and attributes by cluster analysis. The second phase is to analyze pattern changes with different periods and to identify properties of pattern changes in the whole system. The final phase is to classify the pattern changes and to look for the relation between different patterns. Through analysis of pattern changes, it would be helpful to realize urban development relative to landscape metrics and to offer new thinking other than traditional urban development thinking.

Sustainable Development Compromise[d] in the Planning of Metro Vancouver’s Agricultural Lands—the Jackson Farm Case

This research provides analysis of the case of the Jackson Farm development application, embedded within the particular dynamics of the municipal, regional, and provincial sustainability land use policy culture of the Metro Vancouver region, in Canada. Within a culture of appreciation of the increasing need for sustainability in land use policy, including the protection of agricultural lands at the provincial level through the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), to urban intensification and protection of the green zone at the regional scale, lies a political conflict that comes into focus in individual land use decisions, within municipalities struggling for autonomy. This case is neither driven strictly by “the politics of the highest bidder” nor by policy failure; the case of the Jackson Farm is instead a case of the challenges of implementing inter-governmental coordination and collaborative governance in a context of both significant sustainability policy and urban growth. The process can be seen to follow an ecological modernization agenda, seeking “win–win” alternatives rather than recognizing that typical compromises, over time, may tip the direction of development away from sustainability policy goals. Understanding the twists, turns, and eventual compromise reached in the case of the Jackson Farm brings to light the implications of the shift in the regional planning culture which may necessitate a less flexible, more structured prioritization of competing goals within plans and policies in order to meet sustainability goals. We highlight this, and present an alternative implementation process within the existing policy regime with potential to aid the specific goal of agricultural land protection.

Changes in Agricultural Land Use in the Context of Ongoing Transformational Processes in Slovakia

Transformational changes after 1989 were primarily caused by major social changes, including those in the economy and agriculture. Slovakia is also affect by globalization processes. The aim of this article is to characterize the changes in agricultural land use and their spatial distribution in relation to the political transformation of society after 1989, using the Dunajská Streda, Levice, Prievidza and Stará Ľubovňa districts as examples. These districts contain all individual agricultural production types in Slovakia. Changes in agricultural land use were analyzed on the basis of the total areas of land use categories for these districts between 1980 and 2010 and for municipal cadastral areas in selected districts between 2000 and 2010. Two basic indicators of changes in land use were selected for this purpose. The first was the percentage increase or decrease in individual land use categories and the second was the dominant processes in land use based on analysis of the main landscape processes. The cumulative surfaces of selected crops and their products were analyzed using a simple continuous diagram depicting the course of harvesting areas between 1980 and 2010. Crop yields were analyzed by linear regression. The tendency for disappearance of agricultural land use was confirmed in the less agriculturally active areas of Slovakia. This decrease in agricultural land use was at the expense of an increase in urban areas and in the processes of greening, forestation and water body construction.

Individualized Pastureland Use: Responses of Herders to Institutional Arrangements in Pastoral China

This paper analyzes increasingly individualized herding behavior after the implementation of a grazing ban policy in northern China based on empirical research in 12 pastoralist villages. The findings reveal that de-collectivization of pastureland has not necessarily led to direct changes in individual land use strategies. Instead, a wider institutional context influenced by the implementation of a grazing ban has led to more individualized herding and increased short-term considerations of profit maximization in the study area, both of which are seen to undermine the sustainable use of pastureland. Based on our observations of herder responses to privatization, the grazing ban and a short experiment with lifting the grazing ban, we propose that the special characteristics of grassland and pastoralism call for institutions that facilitate locally originated pasture land use practice (e.g., co-operative herding, self-organized management) instead of exclusive reliance on a rigidly defined private property regime focused on fixed property boundaries.

Combining system dynamics and hybrid particle swarm optimization for land use allocation

Urban land use spatial allocation is crucial to lots of countries that are usually under severe environmental and demographic pressures, because it can be used to alleviate some land use problems. A number of models have been proposed for the optimal allocation of land use. However, most of these models only address the suitability of individual land use types and spatial competition between different land uses at micro-scales, but ignore macro-level socio-economic variables and driving forces. This article proposes a novel model (SDHPSO-LA) that integrates system dynamics (SD) and hybrid particle swarm optimization (HPSO) for solving land use allocation problems in a large area. The SD module is used to project land use demands influenced by economy, technology, population, policy, and their interactions at macro-scales. Furthermore, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is modified by incorporating genetic operators to allocate land use in discrete geographic space. The SDHPSO-LA model was then applied to a case study in Panyu, Guangdong, China. The experiments demonstrated the proposed model had the ability to reflect the complex behavior of land use system at different scales, and can be used to generate alternative land use patterns based on various scenarios.

Land Management of the Areas of High Landscape Values: An Economic Model

This paper presents selected results of the research entitled Planning the Space of High Landscape Values, Using Digital Land Analysis, with Economic Appraisal, supervised by Dr. Paweł Ozimek, Cracow Technical University, conducted since 2009. Usually, we do not pay attention to surrounding landscapes in our everyday life. However, for the persons who deal with spatial planning, geography, natural environment, or cultural heritage, the validity and value of landscape are the terms which do not have to be defined. The first part of the paper is dedicated to the landscape features that decide about its value. The author discusses whether those features are the same as those we want to protect and how we can appraise landscape values. The next part contains an analysis of the economic bases of development. In reference to space, the analysis and opinion on land use in the context of the development of usable functions are essential. Consequently, the identification of the limitations connected with the protection of landscape and delimitation of the areas on which such limitations exist are required. Another component consists in the determination of the land requirements associated with existential and economic needs of the local population. Such a general balance of needs and requirements is the starting point of the adoption of development policies and action programmes. The programmes should include the location of individual projects and capital investments on land, as well as their proper timing co-ordination. Owing to the complexity of the tasks, the option analysis is the preferred method of search for the best possible solution. The reconciliation of individual land use (title to land), public and business land uses, with the protection of environmental and cultural values, can be difficult or next to impossible to attain. Therefore, we need some mechanisms to compensate the losses occurring in individual interests and in local, regional, or national development. The choice of options for local or regional development is based on balancing the costs and benefits that depend on the sizes of both protected and non-protected areas. In conclusion, the author attempts at answering the questions whether the landscape and landscape values can be saved owing to their economic assets, and what instruments should be implemented to utilize economic mechanisms of protection.

Impacts of land use change on watershed streamflow and sediment yield: An assessment using hydrologic modelling and partial least squares regression

► We examined how land use changes affect streamflow and sediment. ► Farmland, forest and urban areas are the strongest contributors to streamflow change. ► Farmland and forest also contribute to changes in sediment yield. ► PLSR is a practicable methodology and can eliminate variable co-linearity. Understanding how changes in individual land use types influence the dynamics of streamflow and sediment yield would greatly improve the predictability of the hydrological consequences of land use changes and could thus help stakeholders to make better decisions. Multivariate statistics are commonly used to compare individual land use types to control the dynamics of streamflow or sediment yields. However, one issue with the use of conventional statistical methods to address relationships between land use types and streamflow or sediment yield is multicollinearity. In this study, an integrated approach involving hydrological modelling and partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to quantify the contributions of changes in individual land use types to changes in streamflow and sediment yield. In a case study, hydrological modelling was conducted using land use maps from four time periods (1978, 1987, 1999, and 2007) for the Upper Du watershed (8973 km 2 ) in China using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Changes in streamflow and sediment yield across the two simulations conducted using the land use maps from 2007 to 1978 were found to be related to land use changes according to a PLSR, which was used to quantify the effect of this influence at the sub-basin scale. The major land use changes that affected streamflow in the studied catchment areas were related to changes in the farmland, forest and urban areas between 1978 and 2007; the corresponding regression coefficients were 0.232, −0.147 and 1.256, respectively, and the Variable Influence on Projection (VIP) was greater than 1. The dominant first-order factors affecting the changes in sediment yield in our study were: farmland (the VIP and regression coefficient were 1.762 and 14.343, respectively) and forest (the VIP and regression coefficient were 1.517 and −7.746, respectively). The PLSR methodology presented in this paper is beneficial and novel, as it partially eliminates the co-dependency of the variables and facilitates a more unbiased view of the contribution of the changes in individual land use types to changes in streamflow and sediment yield. This practicable and simple approach could be applied to a variety of other watersheds for which time-sequenced digital land use maps are available.

Land use rationales in desert fringe agriculture

Population growth has often been suggested to explain field expansion in Sahelian land use systems. Yet recent research increasingly acknowledges that villagers do not necessarily enlarge their fields as a response to increased food requirements. This paper suggests that drivers such as population growth should be connected to land cover changes by taking villagers' individual land use decisions into account. The links between drivers, individual land use decisions and land cover changes are explored in a small village in northern Burkina Faso, Yomboli, for the period 1956–2010. The analysis is based on measurements of the cultivated area, participant observation, interviews and questionnaires. Three waves of land cover changes are identified: field expansion between 1956 and 1991; field contraction from 1991 to 1995; and field expansion and contraction between 1995 and 2010. The results show shifting links between drivers, individual land use decisions and land cover outcomes throughout the period. The paper argues that villagers' earlier decisions on field enlargement have primarily been propelled by the driver of population growth, whilst recent decisions seem to be more influenced by individual rationales than general drivers of change. Moreover, the results show that villagers' decisions on field size are not solely economic judgements of cost and benefit. Rather, their decisions are anchored in three broad categories of rationality: economic, ecological and sociocultural rationality. This does not imply that villagers are economically ignorant, but that the concept of rationality assumes different meanings in a Sahelian context. The findings demonstrate as well the shifting influence of these rationalities as economic rationality has been replaced by sociocultural rationality over the last decade.

Floristic composition patterns of Mediterranean annual non-nitrophilous grasslands in Eastern Portugal

Helianthemetea guttati communities are pioneer spring and early summer ephemeral grasslands, dominated by non-nitrophilous therophytes. In Continental Portugal, these communities have not yet been fully investigated, and thus the objectives of the present study are: (1) to identify community types in therophytic grasslands; (2) to recognize those communities that configure the European priority habitat 6220* (pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals); (3) to establish environmental gradients underlying their spatial variation; (4) to assess how floristic composition is affected by land use factors. Vegetation sampling using phytosociological methodology was carried out on 80 grasslands. Modified Twinspan classification and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied for the classification and ordination of relevés whereas partial CCA (pCCA) and variation partitioning were used to assess the relative influence of individual land use factors. Some 270 species were identified across 11 community types whose floristic patterns were mainly explained by environmental gradients related to altitude and soil type while land use variables could only explain a small part of the floristic variation. Based on biogeography and the determination of diagnostic species, four phytosociological new associations and a new subassociation are proposed: Holco-Brachypodietum distachyi, Holco-Micropyretum tenellae, Micropyro-Anthoxanthetum aristati and Leontodonto-Vulpietum bromoidis vulpietosum membranaceae.

Land use effect and hydrological control on nitrate yield in subtropical mountainous watersheds

Abstract. Nitrate export in small subtropical watersheds is rarely observed and the estimation of individual land use nitrate yield from a mixed combination within catchments has scarcely been studied. In this study the nitrate concentrations at 16 nested catchments in the Chi-Chia-Wan watershed in Central Taiwan were measured during 2007–2008. A 3-layer TOPMODEL was applied to estimate daily discharge for ungauged sub-catchments. The observed nitrate concentrations and the simulated discharges were used for nitrate flux estimations through four flux methods. Meanwhile, a new deconvolution computation was developed to resolve the nitrate yield of each land use from within the mixed combinations. The results showed that the observed mean NO3-N concentration in relatively pristine catchments was approximately 0.145 ± 0.103 mg l−1, which is comparable with other forestry catchments around the world. However, the higher rainfall/runoff, substantial N deposition, and other nitrogen sources resulted in significantly higher annual export of approximately 238–1018 kg-N km−2 yr−1. Our deconvolution computation showed that the background yield of natural forestry was ~351 ±62 kg-N km−2 yr−1. On the other hand, the extremely high nitrate yield of active farmland was ~308, 170 ± 19 241 kg-N km−2 yr−1 due to over-fertilization. The deconvolution computation technique is capable of tracing the mixed signals at the outlet back to the nitrate productions from varied land use patterns. It advances the application of river monitoring network. The typical values of nitrate yields can serve as a guideline for land management. Comparing the nitrogen input and output, we found some nitrogen missing in the cycling which may indicate certain removal processes and we therefore suggest further study to be carried out to fully understand nitrogen cycling in subtropics.