Natural Land Cover Research Articles

The Impact of Historical Agricultural Landuse on Selected Site Conditions in the Traditional Landscape of the West Carpathians

Abstract This article is focused on the site conditions of the cultural mountainous West Carpathian landscape (Liptovská Teplička village, Central Slovakia) affected by historical agricultural land use, which also included relief and soil modifications leading to the formation of specific mosaic of agrarian landforms – AL (narrow productive plots separated by balks having character of terraces and mounds). It is based on a pair comparison of sites located side by side; the former is located on the productive plot (former arable land), while the latter is a balk. The pairs were selected in order to capture the representative sample of AL within diverse natural conditions, land cover and management. In order to assess the differences between individual AL, continuous soil water content (SWC) measurements using EC-5 soil moisture sensors were performed. The sensors provided continuous measurements of hourly soil volumetric water content rates (VWC, m3/m3). The data were recorded from April 2018 until December 2018. These data were used to assess individual monitoring localities in terms of SWC temporal stability. Furthermore, at each sampling location, an analysis of soil organic matter content, soil texture and stone content was performed. This research was also supplemented by indirect estimation of some site conditions based on phytoindication method using Ellenberg’s indicator values for moisture, soil reaction, nutrient content, continentality, temperature and light. Our results can be concluded as follows: i) the SWC temporal stability assessment revealed the clear effect of AL, however, it was difficult to identify which factors associated with AL typology were the most significant. The high differences between similar AL types revealed the fact that land use, management and rock content (both at productive plots and balks) affect the SWC temporal stability rather than AL typology and their orientation within the slope, ii) phytoindication method did not show statistically significant differences in site conditions between productive plots and balks, despite the fact that there were some significant differences confirmed in species composition, especially between productive plots and dolomite mounds. These differences are related to a higher number of calciphilous and termophilous species preferring ecotones and forests in mounds and group of mesophilous meadow species in productive plots. In summary, it seems that identified differences in both SWC temporal stability and floristic composition between productive plots and balks reflect the management regime rather than site conditions and formation of mounds represents relatively the most significant impact of traditional agricultural land use on the local environment.

A Multivariate and Spatiotemporal Analysis of Water Quality in Code River, Indonesia.

The efficacy of a water quality management strategy highly depends on the analysis of water quality data, which must be intensively analyzed from both spatial and temporal perspectives. This study aims to analyze spatial and temporal trends in water quality in Code River in Indonesia and correlate these with land use and land cover changes over a particular period. Water quality data consisting of 15 parameters and Landsat image data taken from 2011 to 2017 were collected and analyzed. We found that the concentrations of total dissolved solid, nitrite, nitrate, and zinc had increasing trends from upstream to downstream over time, whereas concentrations of parameter biological oxygen demand, cuprum, and fecal coliform consistently undermined water quality standards. This study also found that the proportion of natural vegetation land cover had a positive correlation with the quality of Code River's water, whereas agricultural land and built-up areas were the most sensitive to water pollution in the river. Moreover, the principal component analysis of water quality data suggested that organic matter, metals, and domestic wastewater were the most important factors for explaining the total variability of water quality in Code River. This study demonstrates the application of a GIS-based multivariate analysis to the interpretation of water quality monitoring data, which could aid watershed stakeholders in developing data-driven intervention strategies for improving the water quality in rivers and streams.

PolInSAR Coherence and Entropy‐Based Hybrid Decomposition Model

AbstractTarget characterization is an essential aspect of polarimetric decomposition. This technique is capable of categorizing polarimetric signatures for different types of targets based on the scattering mechanisms they follow, enabling straightforward physical interpretation of the targets. The geometric anomalies associated with human‐made targets escalate the degree of randomness in the scattering process, which causes scattering ambiguity for such targets. The second‐order model descriptors do not relate to the actual physical structure and yield predominant volume scattering power. Such urban targets are decomposed as natural targets leading to irrelevant decomposition results. The methods developed to curb the problem are unable to maintain the consistency in the decomposition modeling as they underestimate volume scattering powers for natural landcover. A hybrid decomposition model is proposed herein to solve the problem of predominant volume scattering observed from urban targets by preserving volume scattering powers for natural targets. The model uses eigenvalue‐based decomposition parameters and polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PolInSAR) coherence to decompose ambiguous targets. The proposed model has been tested on NISAR UAVSAR PolInSAR data acquired over the Greenville region, MS, USA. The proposed model has increased the double‐bounce scattering from the urban targets and enhanced the volume scattering from natural landcover as well. By comparing the results with existing decomposition models, it is observed that the proposed model gives a more robust representation of the landcover than the compared decomposition models.

Comprehensive Spatial planning of Sonamarg resort in Kashmir Valley, India for sustainable tourism

The tourism Industry is directly linked with the environment, as tourists mainly travel to natural and green environment destinations. This study has made an attempt to demonstrate the application of Geospatial Approach in evaluation of Master Planning for Sonamarg Resort most visited tourist place of Kashmir valley. Master Plan (MP) for Tourist Resort of Sonamarg was evaluated using topographical settings (Slope, Aspects and Elevation) natural drainage and land use land cover map. Evaluation of Master plan for Sonamarg tourist resort was carried out in two ways i.e., zone vise (A, B, C and D) and slope vise. High resolution Google Earth satellite images of IKONOS were used to analyze current land use land cover in Sonamarg, which are classified into 7 classes. ASTER DEM was used to prepare the slope, elevation and drainage maps. RETScreen Expert was used to get the climate data from NASA to correlate it with the Tourist inflow months. Results indicated that “Zone A” may exhibit conversion from pastures and built up into mixed zone and village settlement; “Zone B” from agriculture to riverfronts; “Zone C” from pasture land to golf course and camping areas; “Zone D” from built up, pastures and recreations sites to golf lodges and facilities areas. Slope vise evaluation indicated that forest should be on higher slope, recreational tourist including Golf Course, River Front and Organized Parks on the moderate slope while built up on the lower slope. The Rapid settlement expansion is seen as one of the potential threats to sustainable development and settlement planning coupled with effective resource utilization and allocation of infrastructure initiatives are other key concerns.

Recent Intensified Runoff Variability in the Hailar River Basin during the Past Two Centuries

AbstractUsing tree-ring data of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica from the Hulun Buir region in northeast China, 12 annual runoff series of the Hailar River spanning the past 202–216 years were established for the first time; these included 11 branches and one for the entire basin. These reconstructions, which could explain 29.4%–52.7% of the total variance for the measured runoffs during 1956–2006, performed well in statistical verification tests. In the whole basin’s reconstruction of 212 years, 34 extreme drought years (16.0%) and 41 extreme pluvial years (19.3%) were identified; 4 of the 10 most extreme years occurred after 1980. The consistent cycle and correlation revealed that the Hailar runoff had a teleconnection with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The sharply increasing variance at the end of the reconstruction, accompanied by the increasing intensity of short cycles (4–8 years), indicated that runoff variability in the Hailar River basin has enhanced in the late twentieth century. This is verified by the drastic fluctuations in water level and area of rivers and lakes, and the frequent shift of natural land cover types in the Hulun Buir area in recent decades. The intensified runoff variability can be connected with the concurrently enhanced ENSO activity. Our study is the first to identify the intensification of recent runoff variability in the semiarid to arid region in northeast China from a long-term perspective. With projected enhancement of ENSO activity, the Hailar River basin will face the increased risk of extreme hydrological events.

Landscape transformation of an urban wetland in Kashmir Himalaya, India using high-resolution remote sensing data, geospatial modeling, and ground observations over the last 5 decades (1965-2018).

Wetlands are among the most vulnerable and dynamic ecosystems of the world. Any change in the anthropogenic footprint or climate affects the health of these pristine ecologically and socioeconomically important ecosystems. In the present study, land use land cover changes (LULCC) and fragmentation of natural landscape changes in an urban wetland, Khushalsar, located in the heart of the Srinagar City, were assessed using high-resolution satellite data, geospatial modeling approach, and ground observations over the last ~ 5 decades (1965 and 2018). The spatiotemporal changes in LULC of the wetland were assessed for 3 time periods that include 1965-1980, 1980-2018, and 1965-2018. Additionally, landscape fragmentation tool (LFT) was used to quantify fragmentation of land cover. The analysis of LULCC indicated that built-up areas in the vicinity of the wetland increased by 510% between 1965 and 2018. The aquatic vegetation and marshy lands increased by 150% and 33% respectively. The area under agriculture, plantation, open water, and barren lands decreased mostly taken over by built-up areas. Within the wetland, the area under open water spread reduced by 75% while the aquatic vegetation increased by 150% from 1965 to 2018. The built-up areas including roads also showed a substantial increase. The LFT analysis revealed four categories of landscapes i.e., patch, edge, perforated, and core areas. Since the natural land cover types were taken over by land use predominantly built-up areas, the core natural areas and perforated landscapes in the Khushalsar shrunk by 34% and 94% respectively indicating fragmentation of natural environment. The lack of sewage treatment facility, reckless unplanned urbanization within and in the vicinity of the wetland, is responsible for the degradation of the Khushalsar wetland.

Bird-friendly wine country through diversified vineyards.

Vinecology, the integration of ecological and viticultural practices, focuses on the working landscapes of the Mediterranean-climate biomes to make wine-grape production compatible with species conservation. We examined how maintaining remnant native vegetation and surrounding natural areas in and around vineyards, two primary practices of vinecology, may influence bird community richness and composition across a vineyard landscape. We conducted bird surveys over spring and summer (October-January) at 120 sites across a wine-grape growing region in central Chile. The sites were equally divided across vineyards with and without remnant native vegetation, and sites had varying amounts of adjacent natural land cover. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine individual species responses to remnant vegetation in the vineyard at plot scale (within a 50-m radius) in the surrounding natural area (within a 500-1000 m radius). We used the Horn similarity index to explore overall community differences to quantify variations in endemic species, guild detection levels, and species richness between site types. At the plot scale, 9 out of 30 species were positively associated with the proportion of remnant vegetation and 3 species were negatively associated. Six were positively influenced by the proportion of native vegetation in the surrounding landscape and 3 species were negatively associated with proportion of native vegetation. Although overall total detections and richness were significantly greater in continuous mixed Mediterranean forest, 84.9% of these species were also detected in forest remnants within vineyards. Endemics, insectivores, granivores, and omnivores were all more abundant in vineyards with remnant native vegetation than in vineyards without remnant native vegetation. Our results show the value of maintaining and restoring natural vegetation remnants in vineyards as a tool for bird conservation that can be applied in working landscapes of the New World Mediterranean climate regions.

Outdoor thermal comfort in different settings of a tropical planning region: A study on Sriniketan-Santiniketan Planning Area (SSPA), Eastern India

Outdoor Thermal Comfort (OTC) is largely influenced by urban morphology and geometry of the urban landscape. In this study, the Local Climatic Zones (LCZs) approach was adopted to assess the OTC in different settings of Sriniketan-Santiniketan Planning Area (SSPA) during the summer season. The basic objective of this study is to assess OTC from both subjective and objective perspectives over eight LCZs. This study assessed OTC over LCZs using both field measurements and questionnaire survey. Non-parametric tests such as ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests were also performed to find out the significant difference of perception across LCZs. The result of ANOVA and Krushkal-Walls test showed that subjective perception of OTC across LCZs varied due to diversified physical landscape settings. The result also showed that the maximum (above 40°C) and minimum (28°C) temperature was recorded in built types (particularly compact low rise) and natural land cover types (dense forest and water) respectively. Highest PET was also recorded over the built-up LCZs (about 50°C) that led to this planning region thermally very hot or extreme heat stress. The respondents living in LCZ3 and LCZ6 were more sensitive to the thermal sensation as compared to those living in other LCZs.This study was probably the first attempt dealing with the assessment of OTC over the tropical planning region using LCZ approach from subjective and objective perspectives. Therefore, this research study has an immense potentiality to formulate strategies to deal with the outdoor thermal conditions as well to implement climate sensitive planning for urban sustainability in tropical cities.

Sediment retention by natural landscapes in the conterminous United States

Soils provide vital ecosystem services, from sequestering carbon to providing food and moderating floods. Soil erosion threatens the provisioning of these services and degrades downstream water quality. Vegetation plays an important role in soil retention: by holding it in place, soil can continue to provide ecosystem goods and services and protect water resources. The aims of this study were to: (1) develop a 30-meter resolution map of erosion in the conterminous United States, and (2) quantify the soil retention service of natural vegetation. Using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and physiographic and remote sensing datasets, we estimated sheet and rill erosion. We also developed a map of sediment delivery ratio to connect erosion to downstream delivery using hydrologic connectivity. The estimated sheet and rill erosion in the conterminous United States was 1.55 Pg yr−1, of which 0.52 Pg yr−1 reached waterbodies. Natural land cover prevents 12.3 Pg yr−1 of sheet and rill erosion and 5.1 Pg yr−1 in delivery to waterbodies. The value of natural land cover in retaining sediment is a function of the land cover, physiographic characteristics, and spatial context. This study has implications for spatial prioritization of natural land cover preservation and agricultural land management to minimize sediment erosion and delivery.

Land Use Effects on Sediment Nutrient Processes in a Heavily Modified Watershed Using Structural Equation Models

AbstractContemporary land use can affect sediment nutrient processes in rivers draining heavily modified watersheds; however, studies linking land use to sediment nutrient processes in large river networks are limited. In this study, we developed and evaluated structural equation models for denitrification and phosphorus retention capacity to determine direct and indirect linkages between current land use and sediment nutrient processes during base flow in the Fox River watershed, WI, USA. A large spatial‐scale dataset used for this study included sediment nitrogen and phosphorus retention measurements and land use information for 106 sites. The structural equation models for the Fox River watershed identified direct links between current land use and in‐stream sediment nutrient processes. Subwatersheds with agricultural land consisting of more natural land cover had lower surface water nitrate concentrations and higher denitrification enzyme activity than subwatersheds with less alternative cover. This indicates that best management practices implemented in the Fox River watershed that restore natural land cover can improve water quality through nitrogen removal on the agricultural landscape and in the river network. Best management practices are not having the same measurable effects on phosphorus in the river network, most likely due to legacy phosphorus stored in the sediment.

Feedbacks of soil properties on vegetation during the Green Sahara period

During the early to middle Holocene, the Sahara received enhanced precipitation and was covered by steppe-like vegetation with a large-scale hydrographic network of lakes, wetlands and fans, which is known as the Green Sahara (GS). However, most coupled land-atmosphere models underestimate the precipitation and vegetation cover, suggesting that critical atmospheric or land surface processes are lacking in those models. Climate-induced vegetation cover change can modify soil texture and physical properties over the long term, which in turn have feedbacks on vegetation. In this study, we examine five plausible soil-vegetation processes in a land surface model, which are expected to increase soil moisture for plants and possibly sustain equilibrium vegetation for a lower rainfall level. The annual precipitation required during the GS epoch to match the modelled vegetation distribution with paleorecords is inferred. Results demonstrate that these soil-vegetation processes have strong positive impacts on vegetation and soil moisture, especially the increase of soil evaporative resistance. After including all soil feedbacks on vegetation, the model requires only a mean precipitation of ∼400 mm/yr to reproduce the pollen-inferred GS vegetation, instead of ∼600 mm/yr when no soil feedback is included. From the mid-Holocene to pre-industrial period, we infer that terrestrial carbon stocks decrease by ∼58 PgC due to the removal of carbon in vegetation, soil and litter pools of the GS. This work highlights the importance of soil-vegetation interactions for simulating dry-region vegetation coverage in models, and the impacts of natural land cover change on carbon budgets in the geological past.

Change of impervious surface area and its impacts on urban landscape: an example of Shenyang between 2010 and 2017

ABSTRACT Introduction One of the most striking features of urbanization is the replacement of the original natural land cover type by artificial impervious surface area (ISA). However, the extent of the contribution of various environmental factors, especially the growth of 3D space to ISA expansion, and the scope and mechanism of their influences in dramatically expanding cities, are yet to be determined. The boosted regression tree (BRT) model was adopted to analyze the main influencing factors and driving mechanisms of ISA change in Shenyang, China between 2010 and 2017. Outcomes The nearly complete-coverage ISA (≥0.7) increased from 42% in 2010 to 47% in 2017. The percentage of landscape with a high ISA fraction increased, while the landscape evenness and diversity of ISA decreased. The BRT analysis revealed that elevation, regional population density, and landscape class had the largest influences on the change of urban ISA, contributing 22.55%, 18.16%, and 11.18% to the model, respectively. Conclusion Overall, topographic and socioeconomic factors had the greatest influence on urban ISA change in Shenyang, followed by land use type and building pattern indices. The trend of high aggregation was strong in large commercial and residential areas. The 3D expansion of the city had an influence on its areal expansion.

Assessing How Land-Cover Change Associated with Urbanisation Affects Ecological Sustainability in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana

Intensive land-cover changes (LCC) driven by unplanned urbanisation continue to threaten the sustainability of ecological assets in many cities in Africa. Evaluating the nature and processes of these changes is key to understanding the extent to which ecological instability may be affecting sustainability futures. This study employed integrated remote sensing, GIS, land accounting techniques and utilisation of high-resolution Quickbird and Worldview 2 images to analyse actual (2008–2017) and future (2017–2030) LCC and explored implications for ecological sustainability in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana. After mapping and classifying actual LCC, multi-layer perception (MLP) neural network and Markov chain were employed to predict future LCC for the year 2030. The results indicate that the built-up area increased substantially from 27% in 2008 to 46% in 2017 and is expected to rise to 73% by 2030. In contrast, open-space (10%), forestlands (5%) and grassland/farmlands (49%) decreased progressively (2008–2030). In effect, these land-cover types experienced area turnover ˃100% during the actual and predicted period, indicating high vulnerability of natural land cover to urban growth, ecological degradation and resource depletion. These findings highlight significant implications of LCC for ecological sustainability in the study area. A proactive land-cover/use management plan is necessary to ensure sustainable urban development and ecological land conservation.

Influences of landscape change and winter severity on invasive ungulate persistence in the Nearctic boreal forest

Climate and landscape change are drivers of species range shifts and biodiversity loss; understanding how they facilitate and sustain invasions has been empirically challenging. Winter severity is decreasing with climate change and is a predicted mechanism of contemporary and future range shifts. For example, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) expansion is a continental phenomenon across the Nearctic with ecological consequences for entire biotic communities. We capitalized on recent temporal variation in winter severity to examine spatial and temporal dynamics of invasive deer distribution in the Nearctic boreal forest. We hypothesized deer distribution would decrease in severe winters reflecting historical climate constraints, and remain more static in moderate winters reflecting recent climate. Further, we predicted that regardless of winter severity, deer distribution would persist and be best explained by early seral forage subsidies from extensive landscape change via resource extraction. We applied dynamic occupancy models in time, and species distribution models in space, to data from 62 camera traps sampled over 3 years in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Deer distribution shrank more markedly in severe winters but rebounded each spring regardless of winter severity. Deer distribution was best explained by anthropogenic landscape features assumed to provide early seral vegetation subsidy, accounting for natural landcover. We conclude that deer dynamics in the northern boreal forest are influenced both by landscape change across space and winter severity through time, the latter expected to further decrease with climate change. We contend that the combined influence of these two drivers is likely pervasive for many species, with changing resources offsetting or augmenting physiological limitations.

Influence of land-use/land-cover change on landscape connectivity for an endemic threatened amphibian (Argenteohyla siemersi pederseni, Anura: Hylidae)

Modifications in natural landcover generally result in a loss of habitat availability for wildlife and it’s persistence will depend largely on their spatial configuration and functional connections. Argenteohyla siemersi is a threatened and endemic amphibian whose habitat is composed of forest patches near rivers and water bodies edges. This study aimed to analyse the accessible habitat for this species and identify key elements to maintain its ecological network in two different types of land uses: an anthropized area with extensive cattle raising and a protected area. The structural and functional characteristics of both landscapes were analyzed. The connectivity at landscape level and the contribution of each habitat patch were evaluated through simulation models with different dispersion distances in the context of the graph theory. In both landscapes, nine types of landcover were identified with different compositions. Remarkable differences were found in habitat connectivity for this amphibian species between both landscapes. As the percentage of dispersion distance increases, reachable habitat increases as well, although with higher percentages in the protected area. Two corridors were identified in the protected landscape and one in the rangeland one; patches and key links constituted all of them. The present work provides spatially explicit results with a quantitative basis. It could be useful as a tool for the development of management plans aimed at guaranteeing the functionality of the ecological network for this endangered species and, therefore, contribute to its long-term conservation.

Climate–Water–Ecosystem–Interactions: Insights from Four Continent’s Case Studies

The interaction of climate with aquatic ecosystems is a multidisciplinary field of research involving water quantity and quality issues and having strong socio-economic implications. This special issue hosts 10 studies undertaken in 7 countries of 4 continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The issue provides a wide spectrum of natural and artificial case-studies and covers a broad range of climatic conditions. Most of the studies adopted a modelling (50%) or a field (40%) approach and focused on water-quantity (60%), while the remaining were equally subdivided between water-quality and biogeochemistry. Forty percent of the papers directly face climate change. The diversity of approaches and case studies is the main aspect characterizing this special issue. Despite this high diversification, in relation to water-quantity related issues, we can identify the following messages: high attention to extreme meteorological events, drought in particular, even in regions once considered rich in water (e.g., northern Italy); fragility of agricultural and water supply systems in the face of extreme weather events, in particular in low-income countries (e.g., Madagascar); more attention to climate change compared to land cover/use change but importance of natural land cover to efficiently face the incoming climate change, in particular, in agriculture ecosystems. From a water quality biogeochemistry point of view, we can point out: sensitivity of lakes to climate change with the risk of biodiversity loss; need to reduce nutrient loads to mitigate eutrophication related problems, exacerbated by climate change; in particular, reduction of nitrogen loads from agriculture run-off, to reduce N2O emissions in large-shallow Chinese environments.

Geospatial assessment of ecosystem health of coastal urban wetlands in Ghana

A comprehensive assessment of ecosystem health of wetlands is needed to guide protection and restoration activities. However, the conventional methods used in evaluating ecosystem health of wetlands largely rely on field observational data which often do not provide spatio-temporal perspectives to the assessment. Geospatial assessment of remotely sensed data has enormous potentials for assessing ecosystem health of wetlands at different temporal and spatial scales. This study employed geospatial techniques to assess ecosystem health of Densu Delta, Sakumo II and Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Sites over a 32-year period using structure, function and resilience indicators. Landsat satellite images of 1985, 2002 and 2017 were obtained for this study. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to weight the indicators. The importance of the ecosystem health indicators in decreasing order was as follows: Structure > Resilience > Function. The findings of the study also indicated that ecosystem health of the wetlands progressively deteriorated in 2002 and 2017 compared to the reference year of 1985. In 2002, the Densu Delta experienced the least decline (11.8%) from the 1985 state among the three wetlands and Sakumo II recorded the highest deterioration (38.0%). Unlike 2002, in 2017 the health of the Densu Delta experienced the worse deterioration (46.3%) whereas Sakumo II recorded the least decline (26.2%). Ecosystem health of Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site deteriorated at a similar magnitude, 27.0% and 29.1% in 2002 and 2017, respectively. The critical underlying factor for the degradation of the wetlands is urbanization largely due to increase in human population which led to the expansion of built-up areas in the wetlands, fragmentation of natural land use and land cover (LULC) classes and reduction of vegetation cover.

Impact of Urbanization on the Simulation of Extreme Rainfall in the City of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

AbstractThe city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is characterized by a hot and arid desert climate. On occasion, however, extreme precipitation events have led to flooding that caused extensive damage to human life and infrastructure. This study investigates the effect of incorporating an urban canopy model and urban land cover when simulating severe weather events over Jeddah using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model at a convective-permitting scale (1.5-km resolution). Two experiments were conducted for 10 heavy rainfall events associated with the dominant large-scale patterns favoring convection over Jeddah: (i) an “urban” experiment that included the urban canopy model and modern-day land cover and (ii) a “desert” experiment that replaced the city area with its presettlement, natural land cover. The results suggest that urbanization plays an important role in modifying rainfall around city area. The urban experiment enhances the amount of rainfall by 26% on average over the Jeddah city area relative to the desert experiment in these extreme events. The changes in model-simulated precipitation are primarily tied to a nocturnal heat-island effect that modifies the planetary boundary layer and atmospheric instability of the convective events.

Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Change in River Beas Floodplain, Punjab

Floodplains are the most fragile ecosystems of the world which attracted the humans since the dawn of civilizations. Due to their resource enrichment, these remained center of attraction to fulfill the socio-economic needs of people. As a result, the natural land cover of these floodplains are under the influence of human induced activities. River Beas Floodplain of Punjab has also witnessed such changes. Human intervention in these landscapes has depleted natural wealth and has altered its land use. Construction of upstream dam and artificial embankments and diversion of water through canals further paved the ways for intensification of land use changes. The outcome of these human actions is that wetlands, barren land, and river channels has reduced. On the other hand, agriculture and settlements recorded a sharp increase in recent decades. The growth of agricultural area and human settlements are putting pressure on the natural resources and depleting the human environment relationship in the floodplain. This study utilized multi-temporal satellite data from Landsat for the classification of land use and land cover.

Ormanlarda iklim değişikliğinin etkilerinin belirlenmesinde bazı önemli parametreler: Cerle planlama birimi örneği, Antalya, Türkiye

Climate change is one of the most detrimental issues of the earth in this century. It is evident that a change in climate parameters would affect considerably the entire global ecosystem’s environment. On the other hand, different forest related parameters such as natural disaster occurrence or land cover change of forest ecosystems could also help to understand the effects of climate change besides climate parameters such as temperature, precipitation or relative humidity. Therefore, in this study, selected parameters describing climate change were tried to display in a Mediterranean forest planning unit called “Cerle” located in Antalya. Firstly, trend analysis was carried out using climate parameters in the selected study area to detect the amount of climate change. Then, different natural disaster occurrences such as forest fire, windstorm, insects and pest attack evolution were displayed over a period of 30 to 50 years. Spatiotemporal changes for the same period were also tried to be demonstrated, based on historical and actual maps to identify the impact of climate change on the structure and composition of forest ecosystems. In brief, Mann-Kendall test results showed significant increasing trends in annual mean temperature and precipitation. Moreover, the natural development of crimean pine as a result of land use change analysis, as well as the increasing frequency of wildfires and windstorm leading to salvage cutting have been interpreted as the impact of climate change. It is concluded that changes in selected climate parameters are very important to display the climate change digitally. The outputs of this study could help in future forest management planning decisions and determination of silvicultural prescriptions. Furthermore, the obtained results might be the basis for the integration of climate change to forest management planning related to future climate projections and scenarios.