Land Cover Expansion Research Articles

Multi–Scenario Prediction of Land Cover Changes and Habitat Quality Based on the FLUS–InVEST Model in Beijing

As urbanization accelerates worldwide, understanding the impact of urban expansion on habitat quality has become increasingly critical in environmental science research. This study examines the impact of urban expansion on habitat quality in Beijing, forecasting land cover changes and ecological effects by 2030. Using CA–Markov and FLUS models, the research analyzes habitat quality from 2000 to 2030 through the InVEST model, revealing a significant urban land increase of 1316.47 km2 and a consequent habitat quality decline. Predictions for 2030 indicate varying habitat quality outcomes across three scenarios: ecological priority (0.375), natural growth (0.373), and urban development (0.359). We observed that the natural growth scenario forecasts a further decline in habitat quality, primarily due to increased low–value habitat regions. Conversely, the ecological priority scenario projects a notable improvement in habitat quality. To mitigate habitat degradation in Beijing and enhance regional habitat quality and ecological conditions, it is recommended to control urban land cover expansion, adopt effective ecological conservation policies, and systematically carry out national spatial restructuring and ecological restoration. This research provides vital decision–making support for urban planning and ecological conservation, emphasizing the need for comprehensive land cover and ecological strategies in urban development. Additionally, our findings and methodologies are applicable to other rapidly urbanizing cities worldwide. This demonstrates the broader applicability and relevance of our research, providing a framework for sustainable urban planning in diverse global contexts.

Land cover changes and management effectiveness of protected areas in tropical coastal area of sub-Saharan Africa

Nature-based solutions to ecological challenges have continued to draw significant attention, and are connected to the increased establishment of protected areas as a means for climate and ecological crisis mitigation. This study presents an innovative approach that combines spatial and statistical analysis of land cover change and drivers to evaluate land use management and effectiveness of 22 designated protected areas (PAs) across the tropical coastal regions of sub-Saharan Africa. While the results provided insight into land use management and conservation priorities, it highlighted (1) the use of these protected areas for food production is prevalent, irrespective of its designation. Nevertheless, there is evidence of a decline in cropland in some of the protected areas, suggesting a shift in policy towards conservation land use. (2) The occurrence of forest loss suggests that conservation is weak in most of the protected areas, while wetland conservation efforts are stronger due to their land cover expansion. (3) Population density (human factor) is the most significant driver of land cover change in these protected areas, followed by elevation (natural environment), precipitation (climate), nighttime light (socio-economic), and slope (natural environment). (4) In terms of Ecosystem value, only 15 of the 22 protected areas exhibited an increase in their total ecosystem service value according to land cover change, indicating sustainable land use and measures effectiveness in these protected areas. However, based on an individual land cover assessment, most protected areas showed signs of loss, especially in forests. Given the projected population growth in Africa, a regular assessment of protected areas should be initiated to enable effective and timely management decisions. Additionally, policies to improve the management effectiveness of African protected areas through funding should be a top priority, while taking into consideration the livelihoods of the indigenous people in the area in order to find a sustainable balance.

Beyond Phosphorus: Salinization as a driver of eutrophication symptoms in North American lakes

The acceleration of global urbanization continues to fuel concerns surrounding water quality impairments in urban lakes, particularly eutrophication. Eutrophication of freshwater environments is generally assumed to be driven by increased anthropogenic phosphorus (P) supplies which can alleviate limitations on primary production. Salinization is also recognized as a stressor on urban freshwater quality, particularly in cold temperate climate regions where salts are applied to road surfaces as de-icing agents. While the ecological damages caused by P enrichment and salinization to freshwaters are both well established, thus far, their impacts on water quality have only been considered independently. Although improvements to the management of urban stormwater and wastewater have decreased P inputs to freshwater systems in recent decades, many lakes worldwide remain eutrophic, as indicated by declining dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations and rising dissolved inorganic P (DIP) concentrations in the hypolimnion. Our previous study of an urban freshwater lake in Ontario, Canada, showed that persistent eutrophication symptoms are linked to salinization associated with impervious land cover expansion, rather than increased external P loading. In this research, we present a multiple decade of water chemistry data analyses for several other urban lakes in Ontario, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to determine how increased lake salinization rates intersect with water temperature and morphometry to alter water column stratification, thus, increasing eutrophication symptoms. Our trend analysis shows progressive salinization (observed through significant increases in chloride or electrical conductivity) of all the lakes investigated. Calculations of lakes mixing indices over time show that, on average, lake stratification is becoming more stable with increased salinity playing a crucial role in enhancing lake stratification. Overall, salinity is becoming a stronger regulator of water density than temperature in the cold temperate urban freshwater lakes of North America. The increasing salinity trends are accompanied by increasing hypolimnion hypoxia and increasing DIP to total P (TP) ratios in all lakes, thereby demonstrating the mechanistic link between salinization and internal P loading. Rising salinity intensifies water column stratification, in turn, reducing the oxygenation of the hypolimnion and enhancing internal P loading from the sediments. These results highlight that stricter management of de-icing salt application rates should be considered to control lake eutrophication symptoms in cold climate regions.

Buried solutions: How Maya urban life substantiates soil connectivity

Soils are a pivot of sustainable development. Yet, urban planning decisions persist in compromising the usability of the urban soils resource. Urban land cover expansion to accommodate an increasing population results in soil sealing. Concealment of and physical obstructions to soils prevent urban populations from engaging with their soil dependency. The concept of soil connectivity recognises that nurturing mutually beneficial soil–society relations is an essential dimension for achieving soil security. The concentrated populations of urban environments acutely require productive soil–society relations and offer the greatest potential for enhancing soil connectivity. Soil connectivity remains notably under-researched, however, resulting in deficient evidence to substantiate exactly how soil connectivity can contribute to sustaining urban life. The entanglement of soil and urban development has been critical throughout history, but seldom recognised in soil security discourse. We review the manifestation of effective soil connectivity in Precolumbian lowland Maya tropical urbanism. Archaeological evidence reveals, first, that lowland Maya urban settlement patterns largely preserved the availability, proximity, and accessibility of soils in the subdivision and configuration of urban open space. Second, Maya urban life included practices that proactively contributed to the formation of soils by adding to the stock of soils and improving beneficial soil properties of the thin and often nutrient-poor soils resulting from the regionally dominant karstic lithology. Third, a range of Maya landscape modifications and engineering practices enabled the preservation and protection of soils within urban environments. We derive evidence-based insights on an urban tradition that endured for well over two millennia by incorporating intensive soil–society relationships to substantiate the concept of soil connectivity. Inspiring urban planning to stimulate soil connectivity through enhancing the engagement with soils in urban life would promote soil security.

Perceived biodiversity, sound, naturalness and safety enhance the restorative quality and wellbeing benefits of green and blue space in a neotropical city

Urban land cover expansion and human population growth are accelerating worldwide. This is resulting in the loss and degradation of green and blue spaces (e.g. parks, waterways, lakes) in cities, which provide resources to sustain biodiversity and improve human wellbeing. The specific characteristics of these spaces (e.g. sounds, species, safety) that enhance or detract from wellbeing are underexplored, yet this knowledge is needed to inform urban planning, management and policies that will ultimately benefit both people and biodiversity. Research of this kind is rarely conducted in the Global South, where rapid urbanisation threatens biodiversity-rich ecosystems of worldwide significance. Here, we examine how perceptions of green, waterway, and dense urban spaces relate to wellbeing in Georgetown, Guyana. Specifically, we use mediation models to test how perceptions of sound, bird species richness, naturalness, and safety concerns contribute to sites being perceived as restorative which, subsequently, influences wellbeing. We assess the accuracy of these site perceptions with objective measures of sound (using a bioacoustic sound index), bird species richness, and percent coverage of vegetation, water, and impervious surfaces. Results showed that if sites were perceived as species rich, containing natural sounds like birdsong, natural rather than artificial, and safe, they were perceived as more restorative, resulting in improved wellbeing. In general, people's perceptions were consistent with objective measures. Green, compared with waterway and dense urban sites, contained more biophonic sounds, higher species richness, greater vegetation and water coverage. Although waterways were biodiverse, they were dominated by anthrophonic sounds, so were perceived as artificial and non-restorative. We shed light on how city planners might augment specific characteristics to improve the wellbeing of urban dwellers, with implications for biodiversity conservation. Our findings provide a scientific evidence base for urban design and management plans that could deliver multiple co-benefits, particularly in biodiversity-rich cities in neotropical regions.

Strategies to improve the explanatory power of a dynamic slope stability model by enhancing land cover parameterisation and model complexity

AbstractDespite the importance of land cover on landscape hydrology and slope stability, the representation of land cover dynamics in physically based models and their associated ecohydrological effects on slope stability is rather scarce. In this study, we assess the impact of different levels of complexity in land cover parameterisation on the explanatory power of a dynamic and process‐based spatial slope stability model. Firstly, we present available and collected data sets and account for the stepwise parameterisation of the model. Secondly, we present approaches to simulate land cover: 1) a grassland landscape without forest coverage; 2) spatially static forest conditions, in which we assume limited knowledge about forest composition; 3) more detailed information of forested areas based on the computation of leaf area development and the implementation of vegetation‐related processes; 4) similar to the third approach but with the additional consideration of the spatial expansion and vertical growth of vegetation. Lastly, the model is calibrated based on meteorological data sets and groundwater measurements. The model results are quantitatively validated for two landslide‐triggering events that occurred in Western Austria. Predictive performances are estimated using the Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC). Our findings indicate that the performance of the slope stability model was strongly determined by model complexity and land cover parameterisation. The implementation of leaf area development and land cover dynamics further yield an acceptable predictive performance (AUC ~0.71‐0.75) and a better conservativeness of the predicted unstable areas (FoC ~0.71). The consideration of dynamic land cover expansion provided better performances than the solely consideration of leaf area development. The results of this study highlight that an increase of effort in the land cover parameterisation of a dynamic slope stability model can increase the explanatory power of the model. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Spatio-Temporal Urban Expansion Analysıs in a Growing City of Oyo Town ,Oyo State, Nigeria Using Remote Sensing And Geographic Information System (GIS) Tools

The assessment of the land use / land cover expansion that occurred in the area over a period of thirty years is the utmost priority of this research work. Multi temporal Landsat satellite imageries TM 1984, 1990 and ETM+ 2002, 2014 from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website were used as the primary dataset. Area of interest was clipped in ArcGIS 9.3 environment, image enhancement and image classification were adequately done using ENVI 4.5 remote sensing software. Using supervised classification algorithm, the images were classified into bare soil, built-up area, vegetation, water body and wetland; these were then used to carry out change detection analysis or time series analysis. Results obtained from the analysis of built-up area dynamics for the past three decades revealed that the town has been undergoing urban expansion processes. The expansion was prolonged both from urban centre to adjoining non-built-up areas in all directions. The total built up area in the town has expanded from 28.04sq/km in 1984 to 49.51 sq/km in 2014 at an average expansion rate of 0.7, 0.4 and 0.9 per annum during 1984 – 1990, 1990 – 2002 and 2002 – 2014 study periods respectively. The study period from 2002 – 2014 was the time at which the town experienced the highest urban expansion. The analysis of spatial trend revealed that the urban landscape has experienced a process of sprawling and fragmented development pattern particularly in the fringe areas while the town centre underwent infill and edge expansion development processes. The fringe areas show scattered expansion pattern. Quantifying urban expansion patterns and development processes of the past trends can help better understand the dynamics of built up area and guide sustainable urban development planning of the future urban growth.

Remote sensing investigation of anthropogenic land cover expansion in the low-elevation coastal zone of Liaoning Province, China

Anthropogenic land cover (ALC) expansion is one of the major drivers of regional environmental change in coastal zones. With increasing scientific and political interest in regional aspects of global environmental changes, there is a strong impetus to better understand the patterns, causes and environmental consequences of ALC expansion in the low elevation coastal zone (LECZ) of Liaoning province, China, one of the areas in the nation with fast economic growth and high population density. Satellite remote sensing images (Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI) obtained from 1990 to 2014 were employed to detect anthropogenic land cover changes. Based on the multi-period land cover data, we analyzed the process of ALC expansion and investigated the main drivers and regional implications of these changes. Our analyses documented 1317 km2 growth of anthropogenic land cover, with industrial land having the largest expansion of 609 km2. Dramatic aquaculture pond expansion (+565 km2), residential land sprawl (+323 km2) and arable land decline (−270 km2) also characterized the changes in anthropogenic land covers. There are remarkably differences in ALC changes in the periods of 1990–2000 and 2000–2014: industrial land, aquaculture pond and residential land expanded slowly during the first period, but grew rapidly in the second period. Arable land experienced a small decline (−46 km2) during 1990–2000 and a considerable reduction (−224 km2) during 2000–2014. Socioeconomic factors such as increasing population, booming economy and changing policies were the most significant factors driving ALC expansion. Substantial expansion of ALC has caused extensive environmental issues in the study region.

Numerical simulations on influence of urban land cover expansion and anthropogenic heat release on urban meteorological environment in Pearl River Delta

Urbanization is an extreme way in which human being changes the land use/land cover of the earth surface, and anthropogenic heat release occurs at the same time. In this paper, the anthropogenic heat release parameterization scheme in the Weather Research and Forecasting model is modified to consider the spatial heterogeneity of the release; and the impacts of land use change and anthropogenic heat release on urban boundary layer structure in the Pearl River Delta, China, are studied with a series of numerical experiments. The results show that the anthropogenic heat release contributes nearly 75 % to the urban heat island intensity in our studied period. The impact of anthropogenic heat release on near-surface specific humidity is very weak, but that on relative humidity is apparent due to the near-surface air temperature change. The near-surface wind speed decreases after the local land use is changed to urban type due to the increased land surface roughness, but the anthropogenic heat release leads to increases of the low-level wind speed and decreases above in the urban boundary layer because the anthropogenic heat release reduces the boundary layer stability and enhances the vertical mixing.

Impactos recientes de los cambios ambientales en los recursos hídricos superficiales de la cuenca del Duero

In recent decades, the environmental changes due to human development have put pressure on water resources in the Mediterranean basin, a region where availability of water has been historically limited. In this work we analyze the evolution and variability (1961-2005) of streamflows in one of the largest rivers basin of the Iberian Peninsula, the Duero River basin. Moreover, the factors responsible for such evolution are assessed. Results show a significant and generalized decrease of water resources in the basin, together with changes in the timing of monthly distribution. Climate itself, with quasi-stationary precipitation and increasing temperatures in the long-term, is not enough to explain the decreasing streamflows. Thus, observed land-cover expansion in the headwaters is thought to be increasingly contributing to the hydrological depletion. On the other hand, impoundment of water through dams is increasing in the basin and consequently contributing the hydrological change. Results offer the basis for future projections of water availability in scenarios of water scarcity due to forthcoming climate change

Temporal Analysis of Incompatible Land-Use and Land-Cover: The Proximity between Residential Areas and Gas Stations in Bucharest Suburban Area

Abstract Incompatible land-use and land-cover indicate the trend in territorial planning and generate instability and conflicts leading to degradation in terms of environmental quality. Urban landscape structure of Bucharest suburban area has changed lately, especially due to expansion of residential areas, increasing the risks of a chaotic urban development. The consequences of this residential expansion have led to malfunctions, outlining a disadvantage area due to environmental problems. In this context, residential areas are frequently located in the proximity of gas stations in Bucharest suburban area. This paper presents the relation between residential areas and gas stations in order to evaluate causes that led to their proximity. Results have pointed out using a number of 60 gas stations (21 gas stations in residential areas and 39 in non-residential areas) the causes and the temporal dynamics of locational conflicts, suggesting that unplanned development and residential agglomeration are the main consequences of territorial conflicts. In this respect of incompatible land-use and land-cover expansion, it is required an evaluation and hierarchy in order to start new coherent plans of space development.

Spatial disintegration and arable land security in Egypt: A study of small- and moderate-sized urban areas

While commonly associated with regional ‘mega-cities’, rapid urbanization in the less-developed world has also begun to define growth in small- and moderate-sized settlements on the periphery of major metropolitan areas. The dispersal of population growth to these smaller areas holds significant implications for environmental, economic, and social health, and threatens local food security, increases congestions, and induces difficulty in service provision. This study examines the effects of spatial disintegration and rapid urbanization in the stock of arable land in Egypt. To assess this issue, the study will meet three objectives. First, we evaluate the relationship between population growth and urban land cover expansion in small- and moderate-sized settlements in Egypt. Second, we consider the role of selected geographic determinants in influencing the growth of these areas through the use of a regression model. The selection of an appropriate model type is a sub-objective and will be discussed further. Third, these drivers of growth will be assessed through their effects on the country’s stock of arable land. These objectives will be met through the development and application of the regression models, in order to examine the relationship between urban land expansion and several independent variables. An increase in population is found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on corresponding urban land cover area. Surprisingly, the variables commonly associated with urbanization in Egypt – proximity to major roads, the capital of Cairo, and the Nile River – though exhibiting a positive relationship with urban growth, are not statistically significant in the selected case studies. This research underlines the necessity for a combined approach to policy formation – with input from policy fields as varied as agriculture, urban planning, and land reclamation – to slow outward growth and maintain arable land stocks.

Carbon consequences of land cover change and expansion of urban lands: A case study in the Seattle metropolitan region

Understanding the role humans play in modifying ecosystems through changing land cover is central to addressing our current and emerging environmental challenges. In particular, the consequences of urban growth and land cover change on terrestrial carbon budgets is a growing issue for our rapidly urbanizing planet. Using the lowland Seattle Statistical Metropolitan Area (MSA) region as a case study, this paper explores the consequences of the past land cover changes on vegetative carbon stocks with a combination of direct field measurements and a time series of remote sensing data. Between 1986 and 2007, the amount of urban land cover within the lowland Seattle MSA more than doubled, from 1316 km 2 to 2798 km 2, respectively. Virtually all of the urban expansion was at the expense of forests with the forested area declining from 4472 km 2 in 1986 to 2878 km 2 in 2007. The annual mean rate of urban land cover expansion was 1 ± 0.6% year −1. We estimate that the impact of these regional land cover changes on aboveground carbon stocks was an average loss of 1.2 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 in vegetative carbon stocks. These carbon losses from urban expansion correspond to nearly 15% of the lowland regional fossil fuel emissions making it an important, albeit typically overlooked, term in regional carbon emissions budgets. As we plan for future urban growth and strive for more ecologically sustainable cities, it is critical that we understand the past patterns and consequences of urban development to inform future land development and conservation strategies.

Managing the adverse thermal effects of urban development in a densely populated Chinese city

Guangzhou city in South China has experienced an accelerated urban development since the 1980s. This paper examines the impact of the urban development on urban heat islands through a historical analysis of urban–rural air temperature differences. Remote sensing techniques were applied to derive information on land use/cover and land surface temperatures and to assess the thermal response patterns of land cover types. The results revealed an overriding importance of urban land cover expansion in the changes in heat island intensity and surface temperature patterns. Urban development was also related to a continual air temperature increase in the 1980s and 1990s. The combined use of satellite-derived vegetation and land cover distributions with land surface temperature maps provides a potential useful tool for many planning applications. The city's greening campaigns and landscaping designs should consider the different cooling effects of forest, shrubs and grassy lawns for temperature control and should plant more tall trees.