Inform Land Management Research Articles

ASSESSING LANDSAT FRACTIONAL GROUND-COVER TIME SERIES ACROSS AUSTRALIA’S ARID RANGELANDS: SEPARATING GRAZING IMPACTS FROM CLIMATE VARIABILITY

Abstract. Suitable measures of grazing impacts on ground cover, that enable separation of the effects of climatic variations, are needed to inform land managers and policy makers across the arid rangelands of Australia. This work developed and tested a time-series, changepoint detection method for application to time series of vegetation fractional cover derived from Landsat data to identify irregular and episodic ground-cover growth cycles. Utilising the High Performance Computing power of the Google Cloud Compute Engine these cycles were segmented to distinguish grazing impacts from that of climate variability. A measure of grazing impact was developed using a multivariate technique to quantify the rate and degree of ground cover change. The method was successful in detecting both long term and short term growth cycles. Growth cycle detection was assessed against rainfall surplus measures indicating a relationship with high rainfall periods. During periods of ground cover decline, grazing utilisation was observed across four major grasslands. Ground cover change associated with grazing impacts was also assessed against field measurements of ground cover indicating a relationship between both field and remotely sensed ground cover. Cause and effects between grazing practices and ground cover resilience can now be explored in isolation to climatic drivers. This is important to the long term balance between ground cover utilisation and overall landscape function and resilience.

Improved landslide susceptibility prediction for sustainable forest management in an altered climate

Landslide occurrences, which result in significant casualties, economic losses, and ecological impacts, have been increasing worldwide over the last few decades. Thus, it is crucial for future landslide susceptibility to be considered when making long-term plans for timber extraction. Two factors that are known to reduce soil strength and increase landslide susceptibility are clear cutting (due to reduced root contributions to soil strength) and degree of soil saturation. Therefore, as projected climate change is expected to result in storms with higher intensity precipitation in many mountainous regions, these areas are likely to become more susceptible to landslide activity resulting in potentially severe consequences to aquatic habitat due to increased sediment loads. There is a need to investigate potential management plans that simultaneously protect the economic viability of the forest industry and the ecosystem services of the forest. The primary objectives of this study are to explore the impact of timber harvesting on landslide susceptibility under climate change and to create high resolution (10m) landslide susceptibility maps to inform land management decisions in an altered climate. The Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM), a physically-based hydrology model that has been improved to incorporate mass wasting and erosion processes, was used to assess the sensitivity of landslide susceptibility to timber extraction. To investigate the impacts of climate change on landslide susceptibility we applied downscaled output from two General Circulation Models (GCMs) with two greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios, A1B and B1, for the year 2045. The areal extent classified with a high landslide susceptibility increased on average by 7.1% and 10.7% for the B1 and A1B GHG emissions scenarios, respectively. The landslide susceptibility maps produced in this study can enable forest managers to plan for climate change by identifying areas that are more prone to landslide activity under altered climate conditions. The methodologies developed herein can be used by forest managers around the world to better assess landslide potential.

Potential paths for male‐mediated gene flow to and from an isolated grizzly bear population

AbstractFor several decades, grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) have increased in numbers and range extent. The GYE population remains isolated and although effective population size has increased since the early 1980s, genetic connectivity between these populations remains a long‐term management goal. With only ~110 km distance separating current estimates of occupied range for these populations, the potential for gene flow is likely greater now than it has been for many decades. We sought to delineate potential paths that would provide the opportunity for male‐mediated gene flow between the two populations. We first developed step‐selection functions to generate conductance layers using ecological, physical, and anthropogenic landscape features associated with non‐stationary GPS locations of 124 male grizzly bears (199 bear‐years). We then used a randomized shortest path (RSP) algorithm to estimate the average number of net passages for all grid cells in the study region, when moving from an origin to a destination node. Given habitat characteristics that were the basis for the conductance layer, movements follow certain grid cell sequences more than others and the resulting RSP values thus provide a measure of movement potential. Repeating this process for 100 pairs of random origin and destination nodes, we identified paths for three levels of random deviation (θ) from the least‐cost path. We observed broad‐scale concordance between model predictions for paths originating in the NCDE and those originating in the GYE for all three levels of movement exploration. Model predictions indicated that male grizzly bear movement between the ecosystems could involve a variety of routes, and verified observations of grizzly bears outside occupied range supported this finding. Where landscape features concentrated paths into corridors (e.g., because of anthropogenic influence), they typically followed neighboring mountain ranges, of which several could serve as pivotal stepping stones. The RSP layers provide detailed, spatially explicit information for land managers and organizations working with land owners to identify and prioritize conservation measures that maintain or enhance the integrity of potential areas conducive to male grizzly bear dispersal.

Using Paleoecology to Inform Land Management as Climates Change: An Example from an Oak Savanna Ecosystem.

Oak savanna, a transitional ecosystem between open prairie and dense oak forest, was once widespread in Minnesota. Upon European settlement much of the oak savanna was destroyed. Recently, efforts to restore this ecosystem have increased and often include the reintroduction of fire. Though fire is known to serve an important role within oak savannas, there are currently few studies which address fire regimes on timescales longer than the last century. This research presents a paleoecological history of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in MN, USA, spanning the last ~8000 years. The objectives of this study were to use charcoal, pollen, and magnetic susceptibility of lake sediments collected from Johnson Slough (JS) within the refuge to evaluate the natural range of variability and disturbance history of the oak savanna within the refuge, assess the success of current restoration strategies, and add to the regional paleoecological history. The mid/late Holocene period of the JS record shows a period of high fire activity from ca. 6500 to 2600 cal year BP, with a shift from prairie to oak savanna occurring over this same period. A (possibly agricultural) disturbance to JS sediments affected the period from ca. 2600 cal year BP to 1963 AD, which includes the time of Euro-American settlement. However, the destruction and subsequent restoration of the oak savanna is evident in a pollen ratio of Quercus:Poaceae, indicating that current restoration efforts have been successful at restoring the oak savanna to within the natural range of variability seen just prior to destruction.

Inventory of standing dead trees in the surroundings of communication routes – The contribution of remote sensing to potential risk assessments

We present a comparison of three approaches to support risk assessment of dead standing trees near communication routes. The three methods consider different possible data available, workflow complexity, results accuracy and practical implementation. The following inventory methods were implemented and evaluated: (1) passive remote sensing (RS), (2) passive remote sensing+GIS (RS+GIS) and (3) active remote sensing (RS+ALS). The study was carried out in the Polish part of Białowieża Forest.The roadside analysis performed throughout Białowieża Forest showed that 1671 sections of routes (72.1% of all those analysed) have standing dead trees in their vicinity. The comparison of the LIDAR based method with the passive remote sensing based methods demonstrated the significant advantage of the former in this kind of research, where precision, accuracy and level of detail of information enable the reliable assessment of risk (even at the single tree). However, this does not preclude the use of the RS methods in this type of analysis; the categorisation of at-risk routes obtained using the latter methods also proved to be satisfactory (with 81% compliance in threat categorisation when compared with the use of the LIDAR based method). Nevertheless, the importance and potentially fatal consequences of RS-based underestimation of potential risk in 16% of cases (episodes) cannot be ignored.At a practical level, our results describe time- and cost-effective methods that bring sufficient information for land managers to handle traffic management in areas with large scale tree mortality.

Seed germination traits of desert perennials

While understanding that seed germination is crucial for ecological restoration activities, the seed traits of desert perennials are understudied. We experimentally determined germination traits of 43 species from 14 families from Hummock grasslands in the Great Sandy Desert, Australia. We defined morphological and physiological seed traits of framework species required for restoration and investigated the effects of fire and temperature on seed germination. We classified dormancy and explored the effect of Karrikinolide, a fire cue derived from smoke, on germination. Seeds of 38 (88%) out of 43 species were dormant: 13 (30%) with physical and 25 (58%) with physiological dormancy. Karrikinolide promoted seed germination of 9 (21%) species across all life-forms except trees, and widened the range of germination temperatures and increased germination rate of one species. Although high germination percentages were obtained over a wide temperature range, germination rate was affected by temperature. Non-dormant seeds and seeds pre-treated to overcome physical dormancy germinated quickly, with times to 50% germination of 1–5 days. Dormancy class differed between life-forms and families. Fast germination of non-dormant seeds is a trait that allows seeds to germinate during short periods of moisture availability. An absence of under-developed embryos is consistent with the global trends for hot deserts. A response to Karrikinolide shows that seed germination is related to a fire cue. These results will inform land managers of effective seed pre-treatments prior to seed broadcasting for restoration, and information on seed germination temperatures and rates will improve the understanding of when and where seeds could germinate in restored sites.

Landscape controls on long‐term runoff in subhumid heterogeneous Boreal Plains catchments

AbstractWe compared median runoff (R) and precipitation (P) relationships over 25 years from 20 mesoscale (50 to 5,000 km2) catchments on the Boreal Plains, Alberta, Canada, to understand controls on water sink and source dynamics in water‐limited, low‐relief northern environments. Long‐term catchment R and runoff efficiency (RP−1) were low and varied spatially by over an order of magnitude (3 to 119 mm/year, 1 to 27%). Intercatchment differences were not associated with small variations in climate. The partitioning of P into evapotranspiration (ET) and R instead reflected the interplay between underlying glacial deposit texture, overlying soil‐vegetation land cover, and regional slope. Correlation and principal component analyses results show that peatland‐swamp wetlands were the major source areas of water. The lowest estimates of median annual catchment ET (321 to 395 mm) and greatest R (60 to 119 mm, 13 to 27% of P) were observed in low‐relief, peatland‐swamp dominated catchments, within both fine‐textured clay‐plain and coarse‐textured glacial deposits. In contrast, open‐water wetlands and deciduous‐mixedwood forest land covers acted as water sinks, and less catchment R was observed with increases in proportional coverage of these land covers. In catchments dominated by hummocky moraines, long‐term runoff was restricted to 10 mm/year, or 2% of P. This reflects the poor surface‐drainage networks and slightly greater regional slope of the fine‐textured glacial deposit, coupled with the large soil‐water and depression storage and higher actual ET of associated shallow open‐water marsh wetland and deciduous‐forest land covers. This intercatchment study enhances current conceptual frameworks for predicting water yield in the Boreal Plains based on the sink and source functions of glacial landforms and soil‐vegetation land covers. It offers the capability within this hydro‐geoclimatic region to design reclaimed catchments with desired hydrological functionality and associated tolerances to climate or land‐use changes and inform land management decisions based on effective catchment‐scale conceptual understanding.

Linking LiDAR with streamwater biogeochemistry in coastal temperate rainforest watersheds

The goal of this study was to use watershed characteristics derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to predict stream biogeochemistry in Perhumid Coastal Temperate Rainforest (PCTR) watersheds. Over a 2-day period, we sampled 37 streams for concentrations of dissolved C, N, P, major cations, and measures of dissolved organic matter quality (specific ultraviolet absorbance, SUVA254) and bioavailability. Random forest – classification and regression tree analysis showed that aboveground biomass and structure and watershed characteristics, inclusive of mean watershed slope and elevation, watershed size, and topographic wetness, explained more than 60% of the variation in concentration for most measured constituents. These results indicate this approach may be particularly useful for predicting stream biogeochemistry in small forested watersheds where fine resolution is needed to resolve subtle differences in forest biomass, structure, and topography. Overall, we suggest that the use of LiDAR in many of the small and remote watersheds across the Southeast Alaskan PCTR as well as other forested regions could help inform land management decisions that have the potential to alter ecosystems services related to watershed biogeochemical fluxes.

Effect of temperature and soil organic matter quality on greenhouse-gas production from temperate poor and rich fen soils

Production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from peatland soil is controlled by rates of organic matter decomposition; soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition is influenced by the quality of the SOM and the soil temperature. This study determined the effect of increasing temperature and SOM quality on rates of greenhouse-gas production in lab incubations from peat soils formed under different plant functional types found in temperate rich and poor fens of southern Ontario, Canada. Peat derived from different plant functional type (sedge, shrub, and non-vascular vegetation) between the fens was composed of different amounts of SOM, lignin, and cellulose. Rates of CO2 and CH4 production from the lab slurries increased with increasing temperature; however, the relative increases were specific to the vegetation type overlying the soils. Anaerobic to aerobic production ratios ranged from 7% (Chamaedaphne soils) to >30% (Sphagnum soils). Ratios of potential anaerobic production (CO2 to CH4) generally decreased with increasing temperature. The interaction between temperature and SOM quality was demonstrated through the range of Q10 values (1.09–2.38 for CO2; 2.98–21.40 for CH4). These measures were correlated to lignin and cellulose content and the lingo-cellulose index. Results of this study indicate the variability of greenhouse-gas fluxes from peatland soils is influenced by the SOM quality derived from the overlying vegetation. As the climate warms soil temperatures will increase rates of decomposition, and this study will improve models of temperate peatland carbon cycling and can inform land management planning by providing options for minimizing carbon loss.

Developing Land Information Management Systems for County Governments in Kenya

Developing Land Information Management Systems for County Governments in Kenya

Scrubbing Up: Multi-Scale Investigation of Woody Encroachment in a Southern African Savannah

Changes in the extent of woody vegetation represent a major conservation question in many savannah systems around the globe. To address the problem of the current lack of broad-scale cost-effective tools for land cover monitoring in complex savannah environments, we use a multi-scale approach to quantifying vegetation change in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. We test whether medium spatial resolution satellite data (Landsat, existing back to the 1970s), which have pixel sizes larger than typical vegetation patches, can nevertheless capture the thematic detail required to detect woody encroachment in savannahs. We quantify vegetation change over a 13-year period in KNP, examine the changes that have occurred, assess the drivers of these changes, and compare appropriate remote sensing data sources for monitoring change. We generate land cover maps for three areas of southern KNP using very high resolution (VHR) and medium resolution satellite sensor imagery from February 2001 to 2014. Considerable land cover change has occurred, with large increases in shrubs replacing both trees and grassland. Examination of exclosure areas and potential environmental driver data suggests two mechanisms: elephant herbivory removing trees and at least one separate mechanism responsible for conversion of grassland to shrubs, theorised to be increasing atmospheric CO2. Thus, the combination of these mechanisms causes the novel two-directional shrub encroachment that we observe (tree loss and grassland conversion). Multi-scale comparison of classifications indicates that although spatial detail is lost when using medium resolution rather than VHR imagery for land cover classification (e.g., Landsat imagery cannot readily distinguish between tree and shrub classes, while VHR imagery can), the thematic detail contained within both VHR and medium resolution classifications is remarkably congruent. This suggests that medium resolution imagery contains sufficient thematic information for most broad-scale land cover monitoring requirements in heterogeneous savannahs, while having the benefits of being cost-free and providing a longer historical archive of data than VHR sources. We conclude that monitoring of broad-scale land cover change using remote sensing has considerable potential as a cost-effective tool for both better informing land management practitioners, and for monitoring the future landscape-scale impacts of management policies in savannahs.

Analyzing Rice Production Issues in the Niger State Area of Nigeria’s Middle Belt

Nigeria’s vast areas of land under rice cultivation did not augment self-sufficiency and that prompted a policy shift towards increased local production with some effects. From that, Niger state emerged and remains a major contributor to agricultural productivity in the country. Despite being a major hub with vast acreages and the third largest rice producing state of the nation, it is faced with several sectoral challenges impeding rice farming. Yet very little has been done over the years to assess the trends in local rice production to gauge yield potentials and develop new models for improved decision making capability. Accordingly, this paper adopted a mix-scale technique of descriptive statistics and GIS to analyse changing trends in rice production in Niger state. There is a focus on the issues, temporal profile of agricultural trends especially rice production and other crops, the factors and mapping of selected indices. The result shows that despite notable drops in the 1990s, production and land under rice for Niger state surpassed most of its neighbors in every category from 2006 through 2010. During these periods, Niger state’s land under rice cultivation increased notably as well. The GIS mapping of the trends points to dispersions and changes in land under rice cultivation and production as well as indicators located within the larger agricultural structure coupled with widespread diffusion of fertilizer use in the state. With the changes attributed to post-harvest losses and the lack of storage devices and socio-economic and miscellaneous elements from climate change to others. The paper recommended several remedies including the need for storage and bulk handling devices to open up rice markets, the design of geospatial and land information management systems and constant monitoring of ecosystems adjacent to rice farms.

The study of land management and geographic information support of municipal building in Ukraine

The urgent problems and methods of land management and geoinformation support of the municipal building branch for the development of Ukrainian settlements according to the cities of leading European countries are considered in the article. The methodology of keeping and control of municipal building cadastre under the modern conditions at regional, state and world levels is elaborated. The approaches to land management and creation of municipal building cadastre and main principles of the work in cadastre system of Ukrainian cities were systematized and generalized; the possibilities of the solution of practical tasks as to information systems in general geoinformation system of municipal building cadastre were established. It was established, that the specificity of information system that provides the municipal building decisions is not only in data structure but in the necessity to involve the retrospective and forecasting data along with actualized ones that is a function of municipal building data bank.

Measured extent of agricultural expansion depends on analysis technique

AbstractConcern is rising that ecologically important, carbon‐rich natural lands in the United States are losing ground to agriculture. We investigate how quantitative assessments of historical land‐use change (LUC) to address this concern differ in their conclusions depending on the data set used through an examination of LUC between 2006 and 2014 in 20 counties in the Prairie Pothole Region using the Cropland Data Layer, a modified Cropland Data Layer dataset, data from the National Agricultural Imagery Program, and in‐person ground‐truthing. The Cropland Data Layer analyses overwhelmingly returned the largest amount of LUC with associated error that limits drawing conclusions from it. Analysis with visual imagery estimated a fraction of this LUC. Clearly, analysis technique drives understanding of the measured extent of LUC; different techniques produce vastly different results that would inform land management policy in strikingly different ways. Best practice guidelines are needed. © 2017 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Science in the Supply Chain: Collaboration Opportunities for Advancing Sustainable Agriculture in the United States

Core Ideas Sustainability indicators for US agriculture demonstrate improvement since 1980. Emerging multi‐stakeholder initiatives are seeking to drive further improvement. Collaboration with the scientific community is key to achieving improvements. Consumers and corporations are increasingly interested in understanding the sustainability of agricultural supply chains and reducing the environmental impacts of food, fiber, feed, and fuel production. This emerging need to quantify environmental impacts from agricultural production creates an opportunity for collaboration with the scientific community. Without such collaboration, sustainability efforts risk failure by adopting unrealistic goals or misguided approaches. This commentary explores the role of science in Field to Market, a nonprofit organization developing a sustainability program for US commodity crops, and highlights opportunities to address emerging science challenges. We evaluate changes over the past 35 years in key environmental impacts of crop production used to inform land managers as well as companies that are committed to improvements. Achieving improvements will only be possible if three key gaps are addressed regarding available simulation models and data, scale of implementation and uncertainty, and effectiveness of conservation practices. Filling these gaps presents an opportunity for dialogue between scientists, farmers, and private‐sector stakeholders to advance scientific knowledge and promote the common objective of sustainable agriculture.

A method for mapping Australian woody vegetation cover by linking continental-scale field data and long-term Landsat time series

ABSTRACTThere is a significant need to provide nationwide consistent information for land managers and scientists to assist with property planning, vegetation monitoring applications, risk assessment, and conservation activities at an appropriate spatial scale. We created maps of woody vegetation cover of Australia using a consistent method applied across the continent, and made them accessible. We classified pixels as woody or not woody, quantified their foliage projective cover, and classed them as forest or other wooded lands based on their cover density. The maps provide, for the first time, cover density estimates of Australian forests and other wooded lands with the spatial detail required for local-scale studies. The maps were created by linking field data, collected by a network of collaborators across the continent, to a time series of Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ images for the period 2000–2010. The fractions of green vegetation cover, non-green vegetation cover, and bare ground were calculated for each pixel using a previously developed spectral unmixing approach. Time series statistics, for the green vegetation cover, were used to classify each pixel as either woody or not using a random forest classifier. An estimate of woody foliage projective cover was made by calibration with field measurements, and woody pixels classified as forest where the foliage cover was at least 0.1. Validation of the foliage projective cover with field measurements gave a coefficient of determination, R2,of 0.918 and root mean square error of 0.070. The user’s and producer’s accuracies for areas mapped as forest were high at 92.2% and 95.9%, respectively. The user’s and producers’s accuracies were lower for other wooded lands at 75.7% and 61.3%, respectively. Further research into methods to better separate areas with sparse woody vegetation from those without woody vegetation is needed. The maps provide information that will assist in gaining a better understanding of our natural environment. Applications range from the continental-scale activity of estimating national carbon stocks, to the local scale activities of assessing habitat suitability and property planning.

Modes of land development in Shanghai

Land development modelling and simulation provides critical information and insights for city land resource planning and management. However, studies on simulating urban land development often treat it as a singular and uniform process and neglect place-based decision-making processes and multiple tracks of how urban land is developed. This study attempts to identify the locally embedded, place-based processes of land conversion and redevelopment during the reform period in Shanghai. In doing so, this study conducts in-depth interviews and collects extensive land use and planning data to examine the land development decision-making processes of the city. In conjunction with the content analysis of government documents and urban planning results, this study proposes to frame the current land development of Shanghai into State-led Market-based Land Development, Informal Land Development, State-led Land Redevelopment, State-approved Independent Development, and Megaproject-based Land Development, according to land use types, property rights, and intermediate agencies. By comparing urban planning and actual land use change data, the study delineates the location and estimate magnitude of each of the land development modes in Shanghai. Different from market-based land development systems, the results show that the state interventions in the land market has been prevalent to create a unique government-led land development system with multiple approaches and land use change trajectories in Shanghai. The result explains why current land development modelling and simulation cannot mimic the actual land development process properly. Furthermore, the study provides the empirical basis for new theorization of land development in China.

Oil palm–community conflict mapping in Indonesia: A case for better community liaison in planning for development initiatives

Conflict between large-scale oil-palm producers and local communities is widespread in palm-oil producer nations. With a potential doubling of oil-palm cultivation in Indonesia in the next ten years it is likely that conflicts between the palm-oil industry and communities will increase. We develop and apply a novel method for understanding spatial patterns of oil-palm related conflicts. We use a unique set of conflict data derived through systematic searches of online data sources and local newspaper reports describing recent oil-palm land-use related conflicts for Indonesian Borneo, and combine these data with 43 spatial environmental and social variables using boosted regression tree modelling. Reports identified 187 villages had reported conflict with oil-palm companies. Spatial patterns varied with different types of conflict. Forest-dependent communities were more likely to strongly oppose oil-palm establishment because of their negative perception of oil-palm development on the environment and their own livelihoods. Conflicts regarding land boundary disputes, illegal operations by companies, perceived lack of consultation, compensation and broken promises by companies were more associated with communities that have lower reliance on forests for livelihoods, or are located in regions that have undergone or are undergoing forest transformation to oil-palm or industrial-tree-plantations. A better understanding of the characteristics of communities and areas where different types of conflicts have occurred is a fundamental step in generating hypotheses about why certain types of conflict occur in certain locations. Insights from such research can help inform land use policy, planning and management to achieve more sustainable and equitable development. Our results can also assist certification bodies (e.g. the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil-RSPO, and the Indonesian and Malaysian versions, ISPO and MSPO), non-government-organisations, government agencies and other stakeholders to more effectively target mediation efforts to reduce the potential for conflict arising in the future.

Determinants of fire activity during the last 3500 yr at a wildland–urban interface, Alberta, Canada

Long-term records of wildfires and their controlling factors are important sources of information for informing land management practices. Here, dendrochronology and lake sediment analyses are used to develop a 3500-yr fire and vegetation history for a montane forest in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The tree-ring record (AD 1771–2012) indicates that this region historically experienced a mixed-severity fire regime, and that effective fire suppression excluded widespread fire events from the study area during the 20th century. A sediment core collected from Little Trefoil Lake, located near the Jasper townsite, is analyzed for subfossil pollen and macroscopic charcoal (>150 μm). When comparing the tree-ring record to the 3500-yr record of sediment-derived fire events, only high-severity fires are represented in the charcoal record. Comparisons between the charcoal record and historical climate and pollen data indicate that climate and vegetation composition have been important controls on the fire regime for most of the last 3500 yr. Although fire frequency is presently within the historical range of variability, the fire return interval of the last 150 yr is longer than expected given modern climate and vegetation conditions, indicating that humans have become the main control on fire activity around Little Trefoil Lake.

Land use/land cover analysis and ecosystem services valuation in the central highlands of Ethiopia

We assessed the land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics and its associated changes in ecosystem service values for the Toke Kutaye district (ca 72,700 ha) in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Four satellite images of the study area, distributed between 1973 and 2014 were analyzed using Arc GIS software to assess the LULC changes of the area. In addition, we carried out an ecosystem services valuation, based on the identified LULC types and on the ecosystem services values database. Six LULC types were identified in the study area (forest, shrub/bush land, grassland, cultivated land, settlement, and bare land). Forest cover decreased 83% between 1973 and 2014. Settlement and cultivated land increased by 471 and 222%, respectively. The overall ecosystem services value reduced by 68%, and this was mainly due to deforestation. The use of LULC analysis combined to ecosystem services valuation improved our understanding of deforestation trends in the study area. We recommend the integration of LULC analysis and ecosystem service valuation as a tool that could better inform land managers and policy-makers in their decision-making processes.