Effects Of Land Cover Research Articles

Potential drivers of changing ecological conditions in English and Welsh rivers since 1990

River invertebrate communities across Europe have been changing in response to variations in water quality over recent decades, but the underlying drivers are difficult to identify because of the complex stressors and environmental heterogeneity involved. Here, using data from ∼4000 locations across England and Wales, collected over 29 years, we use three approaches to help resolve the drivers of spatiotemporal variation in the face of this complexity: i) mapping changes in invertebrate richness and community composition; ii) structural equation modelling (SEM) to distinguish land cover, water quality and climatic influences; and iii) geographically weighted regression (GWR) to identify how the apparent relationships between invertebrate communities and abiotic variables change across the area. Mapping confirmed widespread increases in richness and the proportion of pollution-sensitive taxa across much of England and Wales. It also revealed regions where pollution-sensitive taxa or overall richness declined, the former primarily in the uplands. SEMs confirmed strong increases in average biochemical oxygen demand and nutrient concentrations related to urban and agricultural land cover, but only a minority of land cover's effect upon invertebrate communities was explained by average water chemistry, highlighting potential factors such as episodic extremes or emerging contaminants. GWR identified strong geographical variation in estimated relationships between macroinvertebrate communities and environmental variables, with evidence that the estimated negative impacts of nutrients and water temperature were increasing through time. Overall the results are consistent with widespread biological recovery of Britain's rivers from past gross organic pollution, whilst highlighting declines in some of the most diverse and least impacted streams. Modelling points to a complex and changing set of drivers, highlighting the multifaceted impacts of catchment land cover and the evolving role of different stressors, with the relationship to gross organic pollution weakening, whilst estimated nutrient and warming effects strengthened.

Agricultural intensification and urban expansion affect the seasonal flow regime in southern Ontario watersheds

AbstractThe mosaic of urban, agricultural and natural covers that typifies most developed landscapes makes it challenging to identify the primary causes of stream flow perturbation in mixed landcover watersheds. This is especially true in southern Ontario, Canada, where approximately 1/3 of the Canadian population lives in urban areas surrounded by agriculture. Whilst previous studies have examined the impacts of urban or agricultural landcover on stream flow separately, they are rarely considered together. Furthermore, major expansions in tile‐drained (TD) cropland in Ontario over the past several decades could affect the flow regime; however, this has never been examined. This study assessed the effect of landcover on flow regime at 19 proximal watersheds that varied in agriculture (0%–87%), natural (2%–97%) and urban landcover (2%–96%) using the Richards–Baker index (RBI), the coefficient of variation (CV) and a Baseflow index (BFI). Urbanized watersheds were consistently the most flashy (highest RBI and CV), regardless of season, whereas agricultural watersheds had moderately flashy conditions that varied between the growing (GS) and non‐growing seasons (NGS). Natural watersheds were the least flashy and had the highest BFI. Watersheds dominated by TD cropland were flashier during the NGS compared with un‐tiled agricultural watersheds. Furthermore, TD‐streams were warmer in the NGS and cooler in the GS, such that the former could affect ice breakup. A 50‐year analysis at three watersheds showed statistically significant increases in flashiness and decreases in BFI at an urbanizing watershed. In contrast, watersheds that remained agricultural or natural underwent small but significant declines in flashiness and increases in baseflow, potentially due to increases in precipitation and forest maturation. Our results suggest that continued expansions of urban and TD cropland may increase NGS flashiness. In contrast, enhanced soil moisture storage provided by TD could decrease the potential for flooding in the GS in southern Ontario.

Effects of landcover on mesocarnivore density and detection rate along an urban to rural gradient

Human development has major implications for wildlife populations. Urban-exploiter species can benefit from human subsidized resources, whereas urban-avoider species can vanish from wildlife communities in highly developed areas. Therefore, understanding how the density of different species varies in response to landcover changes associated with human development can provide important insight into how wildlife communities are likely to change and provide a starting point for predicting the consequences of those changes. Here, we estimated the population density of five common mesocarnivore species (coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon (Procyon lotor), and Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)) at 12 study sites along an urban to rural gradient in the greater Fayetteville Area, Northwest Arkansas, USA between November 2021, and March 2022. At each study site, we applied the Random Encounter Model (REM) to data from camera traps to calculate the density of five focal species. Coyote density ranged from 0.5 to 0.93 individuals/km2. Raccoon density ranged from 0.19 to 20.25 individuals/km2. Bobcat density ranged from 0 to 1.06 individuals/km2. Opossum density ranged from 0 to 3.43 individuals/km2. Red fox density ranged from 0 to 0.10 individuals/km2. Coyote and raccoon density showed a positive relationship with anthropogenic noise. Opossum density increased with HUD. Red Fox and bobcat density showed a negative relationship with forest area and a positive relationship with distance to water respectively, however confidence intervals for both species overlapped zero. The density estimates we report based on camera trap data of unmarked animals were consistent with reports from the literature for these same species derived from traditional methods, providing additional support to the REM as a viable, non-invasive method to calculate density of unmarked species. Our second analysis consisted of taking camera level density estimates and treating them as detection rates corrected for camera viewshed and animal movement. Coyote and raccoon detection rate showed a positive relationship with anthropogenic noise. Red Fox detection rate was positively related to developed open space, and negatively related to distance to water. Similarly to red fox, opossums detection rate was higher in areas with more developed open space. We found no evidence that bobcat density or detection rate varied with any of the landcover or anthropogenic variables we measured.

Forecasting land-cover change effects on waterbirds in Xiamen Bay, China: Determining prospective species winners and losers

Waterbirds are vital to coastal wetland ecosystem, and play significant roles in global biodiversity maintenance, cultural and educational services, etc. Waterbirds are particularly vulnerable to environmental change, particularly land-cover change, which has severely degraded their ecological niches. Accordingly, this study developed a waterbird-habitat preference index to quantify waterbird dependence on Xiamen Bay's habitats and a subsidiary waterbird-specific habitat suitability index to predict potential effects of future land-cover change on waterbirds. Results showed that the waterbird-habitat preference index ranged from −9.8 to 18.71, indicating that habitat selection varied greatly among different waterbird species, where tidal flats were the most popular waterbird habitat. Additionally, most waterbird species showed a preference for more than one habitat, which could be indicative of their diverse ecological demands. Effects on waterbirds varied greatly among the three different land-cover scenarios, where positive benefits were predicted under the ecological protection scenario (EPS), while the greatest negative effects were observed under the development and utilization scenario (DUS). Effects also varied among different waterbirds species. Those under the current trend scenario (CTS) (e.g., Tringa brevipes and Calidris ruficollis) could be at risk for species abundance loss (i.e., losers) while others (i.e., Egretta garzetta and Saundersilarus saundersi) could benefit from increased abundance (i.e., winners). Generally, migratory and traveling birds were much more vulnerable than resident birds. Spatially, conservation priority should be given to the Dadeng Waters and those waters adjacent to it (i.e., Tongan Bay and Anhai Bay) because of the highest waterbird loss risk in these areas under a conflict between an urgent need to protect waterbird biodiversity and intense present and future land-cover development. The intent of this study is to provide a useful tool to explore land-cover effects on waterbirds in similar coastal regions, which can provide important information on protection and restoration strategies.

Estimating true density in large, alpine herbivores using Google Earth imagery

Density is a fundamental ecological parameter that is often difficult to estimate in large herbivores due to the wide spatial extent of their populations and imperfect detectability of individuals. We searched Google Earth imagery using an independent double‐observer protocol to estimate elk Cervus elaphus density in Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA, on summer range that had never been systematically surveyed. Detectability of elk was high at 0.836 (95% CRI: 0.769, 0.909) producing high precision in our density estimates. Elk density estimates ranged from a minimum of 8.9 elk km−2 over a 214.8 km2 search area (95% CRI: 7.9, 10.9) to a maximum of 14.0 elk km−2 over 98.5 km2 of nonforested, alpine terrain (95% CRI: 13.5, 14.9). These estimates of elk density are comparable to the highest elk densities ever recorded in Yellowstone which primarily derive from winter, at low elevations, prior to wolf Canis lupus reintroduction. A log‐linear positive effect of open landcover on density suggested preference for open terrain. Multiple survey designs may be possible with satellite imagery that would allow further refinement of noninvasive abundance estimation over large scales.

Assessment of the Impacts of Climatic variables on the Lower Usuma Reservoir

This study evaluated the impact of climate variables on the volumes of the Lower Usman Reservoir. The anticipated reservoir inflow, outflow and storage capacity based on the future climatic variable scenarios was investigated. Possible trend scenarios for mean temperature, precipitation, evapo-transpiration and reservoir water level for a 21-years period (2000 to 2020) were determined using Mann Kendall and Sen’s slope. Time series of monthly runoff was simulated for this period consequent upon which the reservoir water level was modeled as a function of temperature, precipitation and evapo-transpiration using Artificial Neural Networks. The modeling output indicates that precipitation, evapo-transpiration and reservoir water level exhibited positive trends at Lower Usma River while temperature exhibited a negative trend. This is with absolute assumption that land-use and land-cover effect on the area under study remained unchanged. Also, water resource feeding application through engineered channelization of precipitation and associated flooding and surface runoff harvesting activities, diverting water to the reservoirs, were observed as a contributing factors to the positive trend of the reservoir water level. The reservoir water level estimated with the Artificial Neural Networks forecast differed by 0.73m3 from the historical value. In the overall analysis, there is an indication of sustainability tendency of the reservoir to furnish public water supply and irrigation. However, the significance of these parameters as rightly capturing the influence of climate and effect, on the reservoir in the region is under continuous research.

Application of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) in Urban Growth Modeling: A Case Study of Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea

Unplanned and rapid urban growth requires the reckless expansion of infrastructure including water, sewage, energy, and transportation facilities, and thus causes environmental problems such as deterioration of old towns, reduction of open spaces, and air pollution. To alleviate and prevent such problems induced by urban growth, the accurate prediction and management of urban expansion is crucial. In this context, this study aims at modeling and predicting urban expansion in Seoul metropolitan area (SMA), Korea, using GIS and XAI techniques. To this end, we examined the effects of land-cover, socio-economic, and environmental features in 2007 and 2019, within the optimal radius from a certain raster cell. Then, this study combined the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model and Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) in analyzing urban expansion. The findings of this study suggest urban growth is dominantly affected by land-cover characteristics, followed by topographic attributes. In addition, the existence of water body and high ECVAM grades tend to significantly reduce the possibility of urban expansion. The findings of this study are expected to provide several policy implications in urban and environmental planning fields, particularly for effective and sustainable management of lands.

Species life-history strategies affect population responses to temperature and land-cover changes.

Human-induced environmental changes have a direct impact on species populations, with some species experiencing declines while others display population growth. Understanding why and how species populations respond differently to environmental changes is fundamental to mitigate and predict future biodiversity changes. Theoretically, species life-history strategies are key determinants shaping the response of populations to environmental impacts. Despite this, the association between species life histories and the response of populations to environmental changes has not been tested. In this study, we analysed the effects of recent land-cover and temperature changes on rates of population change of 1,072 populations recorded in the Living Planet Database. We selected populations with at least 5 yearly consecutive records (after imputation of missing population estimates) between 1992 and 2016, and for which we achieved high population imputation accuracy (in the cases where missing values had to be imputed). These populations were distributed across 553 different locations and included 461 terrestrial amniote vertebrate species (273 birds, 137 mammals, and 51 reptiles) with different life-history strategies. We showed that populations of fast-lived species inhabiting areas that have experienced recent expansion of cropland or bare soil present positive populations trends on average, whereas slow-lived species display negative population trends. Although these findings support previous hypotheses that fast-lived species are better adapted to recover their populations after an environmental perturbation, the sensitivity analysis revealed that model outcomes are strongly influenced by the addition or exclusion of populations with extreme rates of change. Therefore, the results should be interpreted with caution. With climate and land-use changes likely to increase in the future, establishing clear links between species characteristics and responses to these threats is fundamental for designing and conducting conservation actions. The results of this study can aid in evaluating population sensitivity, assessing the likely conservation status of species with poor data coverage, and predicting future scenarios of biodiversity change.

Land-use and land-cover affect inland fish catch in two rivers of Central Africa

Land-cover change can affect inland fisheries, which underpin food security of millions of people worldwide. Removal of forests from very large floodplains has been found to decrease fish catch via loss of feeding and nursery habitat for fish. However, it is unknown if similar effects occur in smaller rivers with limited floodplain areas. Little is also known about the mechanisms by which land-cover changes affect inland fish catch. Here, we assessed land-use and land-cover (LULC) effects on fish catch, diet, and condition at sites in two medium-sized rivers of Cameroon, in Central Africa. We found that LULC explained 30% of the variation in fish catch, with the catch of five species being positively, and of two species being negatively, related to floodplain forests. The niche breadth of fish diets was higher in the river surrounded by forests than in the river surrounded by agricultural land. However, contrary to expectations, condition of the fish, as indicated by occurrence of diseases or deformities, eroded fins, lesions or tumors, was not related to LULC. Our results support the notions that floodplain forests support fish populations in rivers with limited floodplain areas in ways similar to that of rivers with large floodplains, and that LULC affects fish populations via changes in fish diets and instream habitat features (i.e., riparian canopy closure, water clarity, substrate heterogeneity, and habitat volume). These effects imply that prevailing changes in LULC threaten the food and livelihood security services provided by inland fisheries, highlighting the importance of policies that maintain native vegetation along riverbanks and in floodplain areas.

Land-cover, climate and fjord morphology drive differences in organic matter and nutrient dynamics in two contrasting northern river-fjord systems

Climate and land-use changes are leading to impacts on individual ecosystems as well as shifts in transfer dynamics between interconnected systems. At the land-ocean interface, changes in riverine inputs of organic matter (OM) and nutrients have the potential to lead to shifts in coastal carbon and nutrient cycling with consequences for ecosystem structure and function. In this study, we assess OM and nutrient dynamics for two contrasting Norwegian river-to-fjord systems: a boreal system with a forested catchment draining into a narrow fjord (‘narrow boreal system’), and a subarctic system where lowland forests and mountainous regions drain into a broad fjord (‘broad subarctic system’). We characterized seasonal organic carbon and nutrient concentrations and DOM absorption properties for samples collected along transects from river to outer fjord during 2015/2016. While differences in catchment properties drove contrasts in river chemistry between the two study rivers, fjord morphology and hydrodynamics as well as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nutrient concentrations in marine receiving waters predicted water-chemistry patterns along the transect. The narrow boreal system, with high riverine DOC and nutrient concentrations, was structured mainly by a horizontal salinity gradient from river to outer fjord, with limited impact of seasonality. In contrast, the broad subarctic system tended to be dominated by vertical salinity stratification, with strong between-date differences in surface water salinity linked to seasonality in river discharge. These dynamics were also reflected in the strong horizontal gradients in DOC, nutrients and DOM properties in the narrow boreal system, in contrast to the broad subarctic system, where strong seasonality paired with a lack of strong contrast between riverine and marine concentrations of DOC and most nutrients led to an uncoupling between salinity and other water chemistry variables. In the narrow boreal system, terrestrial OM dominated both the particulate and dissolved OM pools, while OM in the broad subarctic system was derived primarily from marine phytoplankton. Non-linear declines in NO3 + NO2 were observed consistently in the boreal system and during the productive spring season in the subarctic system, suggesting biological uptake and a potentially important role of these rivers as sources of bioavailable N to coastal ecosystems. The results from these two case studies highlight the complex and interacting effects of catchment land-cover, river water chemistry and discharge, fjord morphometry and hydrodynamics in structuring the transport, fate and potential impacts of terrestrially-derived nutrients and organic matter in northern coastal environments.

Genetic integrity of European wildcats: Variation across biomes mandates geographically tailored conservation strategies

Hybridisation between domestic and wild taxa can pose severe threats to wildlife conservation, and human-induced hybridisation, often linked to species' introductions and habitat degradation, may promote reproductive opportunities between species for which natural interbreeding would be highly unlikely. Using a biome-specific approach, we examine the effects of a suite of ecological drivers on the European wildcat's genetic integrity, while assessing the role played by protected areas in this process. We used genotype data from 1217 putative European wildcat samples from 13 European countries to assess the effects of landcover, disturbance and legal landscape protection on the European wildcat's genetic integrity across European biomes, through generalised linear models within a Bayesian framework. Overall, we found European wildcats to have genetic integrity levels above the wildcat-hybrid threshold (ca. 83%; threshold = 80%). However, Mediterranean and Temperate Insular biomes (i.e., Scotland) revealed lower levels, with 74% and 46% expected genetic integrity, respectively. We found that different drivers shape the level of genetic introgression across biomes, although forest integrity seems to be a common factor promoting European wildcat genetic integrity. Wildcat genetic integrity remains high, regardless of landscape legal protection, in biomes where populations appear to be healthy and show recent local range expansions. However, in biomes more susceptible to hybridisation, even protected areas show limited effectiveness in mitigating this threat. In the face of the detected patterns, we recommend that species conservation and management plans should be biome- and landscape-context-specific to ensure effective wildcat conservation, especially in the Mediterranean and Temperate Insular biomes.

Absence of a Luxury Effect on bird alpha diversity in a rapidly developing African city, but surrounding landscape is key

Aspiring towards cities that are sustainable and equitable, as detailed by Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, has become increasingly relevant given the growing human population in urban areas. A key part of guaranteeing that cities meet Goal 11 is to ensure equitable access to urban green spaces, and the biodiversity that they support, for all residents. However, there is evidence from developed world cities of a Luxury Effect, where wealthier residents have greater access to urban biodiversity than poorer residents. To test for this Luxury Effect in a developing world city, we measured bird species richness and diversity in 27 urban green spaces in Johannesburg, South Africa, to examine how socio-economic and ecological drivers influence urban biodiversity. We found no evidence of a Luxury Effect with the median income of neighbourhoods surrounding the green spaces having no significant effect on bird richness or diversity. There were, however, ecological effects with surrounding natural land-cover negatively correlated to richness, and a positive influence of wetland connectivity on richness. The negative effect of natural land-cover is possibly due to the relatively low bird diversity of the natural grasslands surrounding Johannesburg. The positive effect of wetland connectivity and the lack of a Luxury Effect indicate that the use of waterbodies to historically separate populations has buffered poorer neighbourhoods from depreciated biodiversity within the selected green spaces. The effect of wetlands also further emphasises the importance of water availability on urban biodiversity. This indicates that historical land use decisions can still influence how biodiversity is distributed in urban landscapes.

Scale-depended effects of hydromorphology and riparian land-use on benthic invertebrates and fish: implications for large river management

Large river management is in increasing demand to establish the ecological quality set by sustainability-oriented legislation. However, there is still a lack of research regarding most relevant scales at which pressures should be addressed. In this study, we compared the relative effects of riparian land-cover at 16 different buffer sizes and hydromorphology at four different river lengths on benthic invertebrate (BI) and fish assemblages in large rivers. Environmental data were obtained digitally (applying GIS) on a broad range of abiotic conditions and were related to biological data using direct gradient analyses. Compared to land-cover, hydromorphology showed greater effect on BI and fish, with in-channel habitat quality characteristics explaining most biotic variability. Both assemblages were best explained by hydromorphology inventoried at the largest 5,000 m scale. We found, however, consideration of longer river segments to be more important for explaining fish variability. Riparian land-cover explained similar percentages of biotic variability across most analysed riparian buffers. Nevertheless, a significant effect of riparian length rather than width was identified. Our findings indicate that, in large rivers, hydromorphological and riparian land-cover conditions affect BI and especially fish at generally longer river segments, implying potential ecological benefits of management measures implemented at larger spatial scales.

Effects of land-cover and watershed protection futures on sustainable groundwater management in a heavily utilized aquifer in Hawai\u2018i (USA)

Groundwater sustainability initiatives, including sustainable yield and watershed policy protection policies, are growing globally in response to increasing demand for groundwater, coupled with concerns about the effects of climate and land-cover change on groundwater supply. Improved understanding of the impacts of watershed management on groundwater yields and management costs—particularly in the broader context of climate and land-cover change—is critical to inform these initiatives and facilitate integrated land and water management. This study develops a novel, spatially explicit groundwater hydrologic ecosystem services framework, which combines stakeholder-defined land-cover scenarios, sustainable yield estimation using a groundwater simulation optimization approach, and economic valuation, and applies it in the most heavily utilized aquifer Hawai‘i (USA). Sustainable yield estimates and resulting differences in replacement costs are estimated for six land-cover scenarios (with varying levels of urban development and watershed management) crossed with two water demand scenarios in a context of a dry future climate (Representative Concentration Pathway [RCP] 8.5 mid-century). Land-cover change is found to be an important, though less significant drive of changes in groundwater recharge than climate change. The degree of watershed protection, through preventing the spread of high-water-use, invasive plant species, is projected to be a much stronger land-cover signal than urban development. Specifically, full forest protection increases sustainable yield by 7–11% (30–45 million liters per day) and substantially decreases treatment costs compared with no forest protection. Collectively, this study demonstrates the hydrologic and economic value of watershed protection in a context of a dry future climate, providing insights for integrated land and water policy and management in Hawai‘i and other regions, particularly where species invasions threaten source watersheds.

Agriculture impacts benthic insects on multiple scales in the Eastern Amazon

Brazilian Amazon is facing ongoing threat due to deforestation. Eastern Amazon (EA), however, is an old colonization front, where rural landscape is dominated by secondary vegetation (capoeira) and cattle ranching. The effects of land-use land-cover (LULC) at catchment, riparian and local scales upon stream insect assemblages (SIA) were analyzed from 17 catchments. Agriculture development, daily variation in temperature, dissolved oxygen and sodium concentrations explained variations of 33.7% in taxa composition and 58.5% in functional feeding groups. Partial Least Squares Regression revealed complex effects on SIA, pointing to interactions of LULC at all scales, but stronger at the riparian. Capoeira placed varied effects upon SIA, positive and negative and weaker than agriculture or forest cover. In order to warrant optimal conditions to the stream biota, indicating a sustained flow of ecosystem services, both forest fragments and capoeira patches should be adequately managed, especially along and closer to the aquatic habitat network.

Assessing Land-Cover Effects on Stream Water Quality in Metropolitan Areas Using the Water Quality Index

This study evaluated the influence of different land-cover types on the overall water quality of streams in urban areas. To ensure national applicability of the results, this study encompassed ten major metropolitan areas in South Korea. Using cluster analysis, watersheds were classified into three land-cover types: Urban-dominated (URB), agriculture-dominated (AGR), and forest-dominated (FOR). For each land-cover type, factor analysis (FA) was used to ensure simple and feasible parameter selection for developing the minimum water quality index (WQImin). The chemical oxygen demand, fecal coliform (total coliform for FOR), and total nitrogen (nitrate-nitrogen for URB) were selected as key parameters for all land-cover types. Our results suggest that WQImin can minimize bias in water quality assessment by reducing redundancy among correlated parameters, resulting in better differentiation of pollution levels. Furthermore, the dominant land-cover type of watersheds, not only affects the level and causes of pollution, but also influences temporal patterns, including the long-term trends and seasonality, of stream water quality in urban areas in South Korea.

Seasonal variation in the effects of artificial light at night on the occurrence of nocturnally migrating birds in urban areas.

Urban areas often contain large numbers of migratory bird species during seasonal migration, many of which are nocturnal migrants. How artificial light at night (ALAN) and urban landcover are associated with the diurnal occurrence of nocturnal migrants within urban areas across seasons has not been explored. Here, we use eBird bird occurrence information to estimate the seasonal species richness of nocturnally migrating passerines (NMP) within 333 well surveyed urban areas within the contiguous USA. We model the relationship between seasonal NMP species richness and ALAN, proportion of tree canopy cover, and proportion of impervious surface. NMP species richness reached its highest levels during spring and autumn migration and lowest during the winter and summer. Greater tree canopy cover was associated with higher NMP species richness during spring and autumn migration and the summer. A 10% increase in the proportion of tree canopy cover was associated with a 2.0% increase in NMP species richness during spring migration, a 1.8% increase during autumn migration, and a 0.9% increase during the summer. More impervious surface was associated with higher NMP species richness during the winter. A 10% increase in the proportion of impervious surface was associated with a 6.1-9.8% increase in NMP species richness. Higher ALAN was associated with lower NMP species richness during the winter and summer, and higher NMP species richness during spring and autumn migration. A 50% increase in ALAN was associated with a 3.0-3.6% decrease in NMP species richness during the winter, a 1.7% increase during spring migration, a 2.1% decrease during the summer, and a 5.0% increase during autumn migration. These findings highlight the variable effects of ALAN and urban landcover on the seasonal occurrence of NMP species in urban areas, the value of tree canopy cover during migration and the breeding season, and the importance of reducing ALAN during migration.

Comparisons on the effects of temperature, runoff, and land-cover on carbonate weathering in different karst catchments: insights into the future global carbon cycle

This study compares and analyzes high-frequency hydrochemical data from three karst catchments in the mountainous Gadenalpe (GAC, Austrian Alps), Tsanfleuron-Sanetsch (TSC, Swiss Alps), and Banzhai (BZC, SW China) regions, to differentiate the effects of temperature, runoff, and land-cover on carbonate weathering. The results show that when bare rock dominates in the recharge area, as in the GAC and TSC, the seasonal discharge variations account for the most significant change in HCO3− concentration. In these two alpine catchments, maximum HCO3− concentrations occurred in the cold season when the areas were covered by snow and discharge was low, whereas minimum HCO3− concentrations occurred in the warm season, when snowmelt and/or glacier melt caused higher discharge and dilution. In contrast, control by the strong seasonal variation in soil respiration in the subtropical catchment (BZC), caused by the well-developed forest cover, exceeded the negative impact of temperature on carbonate weathering. This led to higher HCO3− concentrations during the summer growing season than in the winter dormant season. This study demonstrates that the occurrence of different soils/vegetation has a profound impact on the behavior of carbonate weathering on land, from negative temperature- and discharge-driven correlations in alpine catchments to positive soil CO2-driven correlation in subtropical catchments. Based on the equilibrium modeling of HCO3− concentration for a global temperature range, it is predicted that under future global warming, karst regions in cold climates with vegetation cover will have increasing CO2 consumption potential, whereas karst regions in warm climates will have decreasing CO2 consumption potential.

Effects of Climate and Land-Cover Changes on Soil Erosion in Brazilian Pantanal

The Pantanal biome integrates the lowlands of the Upper Paraguay Basin (UPB), which is hydrologically connected to the biomes of the Cerrado and Amazon (the highlands of the UPB). The effects of recent land-cover and land-use (LCLU) changes in the highlands, combined with climate change, are still poorly understood in this region. Here, we investigate the effects of soil erosion in the Brazilian Pantanal under climate and LCLU changes by combining different scenarios of projected rainfall erosivity and land-cover management. We compute the average annual soil erosion for the baseline (2012) and projected scenarios for 2020, 2035, and 2050. For the worst scenario, we noted an increase in soil loss of up to 100% from 2012 to 2050, associated with cropland expansion in some parts of the highlands. Furthermore, for the same period, our results indicated an increase of 20 to 40% in soil loss in parts of the Pantanal biome, which was associated with farmland increase (mainly for livestock) in the lowlands. Therefore, to ensure water, food, energy, and ecosystem service security over the next decades in the whole UPB, robust and comprehensive planning measures need to be developed, especially for the most impacted areas found in our study.

Effects of landcover changes on net primary production (NPP)-based exergy in south-central of Chile

A new indicator for the accounting effect of landcover is defined based on the integration of thermodynamics (exergy analysis) and ecology (net primary production (NPP)). The indicator NPPEX allows quantifying and assessing the impacts of landuse changes, in spatial and temporally dimensions. This study is focused on the effect of landuse changes on NPP-based exergy for the south-central of Chile from 2000 to 2014. The exergy-based spatially characterization factor (NPPEX) was estimated based on the time series of NPP extracted from MODIS and exergy conversion factor. Finally, the dynamic of NPPEX changes by the transition of each landuse type was studied for identifying the driver force influencing on biomass productivity. Results confirmed the important influence of forestry policy on land use changes, in particular, the forest transitions during the two last decade, which exhibit a cover increase of 28% between 1994 and 2014 established mainly on land destined to crops, native forest, and shrubs. In consequences, the highest land efficiency (NPPEX) was obtained for exotic tree plantations (88.25–91.4 MJex m−2yr−1) during all studied period, due to high carbon stock per square meter associated to its intensive forest management. From the transition of landcover changes point of view, there was produced a positive effect on NPPEX, being the exotic tree plantation expansion the main driver of gains of NPPEX. Nevertheless, this expansion has carried out severe local environmental impacts (i.e., ecosystem fragmentation, biodiversity loss, topsoil compaction, losses of Biobío Basin's morpho-sedimentary regulation capacity, etc.).