Past Land Use Research Articles

Parks, People, and Pollution: A Relational Study of Socioenvironmental Succession

The urban environmental inequality literature holds that marginalized communities are generally concentrated in neighborhoods with greater levels of industrial pollution and lesser access to parks and playfields. Yet, “green” and “brown” land uses are also linked historically and through contemporary practices of green redevelopment. This article thus begins from the understanding that it is important to analyze both forms of urban land use at once, to avoid mistaking one historical process for another. Focusing on Providence, Rhode Island (1970–2010), we leverage original historical data on the location and operating years of public parks alongside comprehensive industrial site data to analyze the joint transformation of residential populations, parks, and industry over time. We find that park access generally increases for Latinx residents; however, after accounting for increases in park access associated with past industrial land use, we find that census tracts with growing proportions of African American residents are associated with relatively less access to parks than other census tracts. Results reveal additional dimensions to the role of industrial history in shaping the socioenvironmental trajectory of local neighborhoods and additionally emphasize the importance of a historical and relational view of urban land use in urban environmental research.

Development of projects for recultivation of lands using GIS technologies

The necessity of reclamation of disturbed lands as a result of mining is substantiated. Disturbed lands lose all economic importance. In addition, they are a source of pollution of soil and air in the adjacent territories, worsen the living conditions of the population and the appearance of the landscape. The technique of drawing up the working projects for the recultivation of disturbed lands as a result of mining by using the GIS software “Panorama” is considered. The use of this software reduces the time needed to complete a project, reduces the costs and improves the accuracy of project calculations. The use of the technique is shown by the example of the recultivation of disturbed lands in the “Kushbulak” plot of the Karakhtay field. Agricultural reclamation with restoration of pastureland use is recommended. It is planned to create a beach zone with a 30 cm layer of sand in the far northwestern section. It is planned to fill the bottom of the quarry with soil to the design level and create a terrace, as well as work on the land area with a fertile soil layer of 20 cm and planning the surface. The efficiency of reclamation in parallel with the use of a mineral deposit is substantiated.

Can Zn isotopes in sediments record past eutrophication of freshwater lakes? A pilot study at Lake Baldegg (Switzerland)

In this study, the speciation and isotopic composition of Zn were traced across the sediments of a freshwater lake that experienced one hundred years of strong eutrophication, in order to assess the potential of sedimentary Zn isotopes to record such an environmental disturbance. The results indicate that the sedimentary Zn isotope signal varied with the change from pre-eutrophic to eutrophic conditions in the investigated lake. The average δ66ZnJMC value of the dominantly allochthonous lithogenic sediments deposited during the pre-eutrophic period was +0.27‰ ±0.05‰ (i.e. similar to the δ66ZnJMC value of +0.28‰ ±0.05‰ proposed for Bulk Silicate Earth), while enhanced autochthonous biochemical sedimentation during the eutrophic period resulted in significantly lower δ66ZnJMC values down to +0.04‰ ±0.06‰. Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy data revealed a concomitant change in Zn speciation from a dominant fraction of Zn in clay minerals during the pre-eutrophic period to a major fraction of Zn in ZnS during the eutrophic period. A linear regression relating the sedimentary Zn isotope signal to the fraction of Zn in ZnS indicated δ66ZnJMC values of +0.27‰ ±0.06‰ and 0.00‰ ±0.08‰ for Zn in clay minerals and in ZnS, respectively. The enrichment of light Zn in ZnS in the eutrophic sediments is tentatively attributed to enhanced biological uptake of light Zn in the water column, which resulted in an enhanced flux of organic-bound Zn towards the sediments and further transformation of organic Zn into ZnS upon biomass mineralization during early diagenesis. This hypothesis is in agreement with the fractionation towards lighter Zn reported for both biological uptake of Zn and ZnS precipitation. The results of this study emphasize the potential of sedimentary Zn isotopes to register past eutrophic periods in freshwater lakes, and thus to serve as a probe of paleo-environmental conditions and/or past land use at the catchment scale.

Seasonal dynamics of biological productivity the main associations of the steppes of West Kazakhstan

The work presents the results of the author's own research on the study of seasonal dynamics of biological productivity of the main associations of the complex steppes of Western Kazakhstan. In various ecological and microclimatic conditions, the accumulation of above-ground and underground phytomass during the season is considered, as well as the production and destruction processes in plant communities are analyzed. Based on the results of the research, recommendations were developed for the preservation of steppe ecosystems and the rational use of pasture lands during the growing season, including in years with different hydrothermal regimes. The biological productivity of vegetation, in combination with climatic factors, has ensured the fertility of the soils of the steppe zone for centuries, which is the main granary of agriculture and animal husbandry. Practically frontal plowing of the steppe of Kazakhstan, more than 70%, contributed to the transformation of steppe vegetation on large areas.

СЕЗОННАЯ ДИНАМИКА БИОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ПРОДУКТИВНОСТИ ОСНОВНЫХ АССОЦИАЦИЙ СТЕПЕЙ ЗАПАДНОГО КАЗАХСТАНА

В работе приводятся результаты собственных исследований автора по изучению сезонной динамики биологической продуктивности основных ассоциаций комплексных степей Западного Казахстана. В различных экологических и микроклиматических условиях рассматривается накопление надземной и подземной фитомассы в течение сезона, а также анализируются продукционно-деструкционные процессы в растительных сообществах. По результатам исследований разработаны рекомендации по сохранению степных экосистем и рациональному использования пастбищных угодий в течение вегетационного сезона, в том числе в годы с разным гидротермическим режимом.Биологическая продуктивность растительности степей, в сочетании с климатическими факторами, на протяжении веков обеспечивают плодородие почв степной зоны, которая является основной житницей земледелия и животноводства. Практически фронтальная распашка степей Казахстана, более чем на 70%, способствовала трансформации степной растительности на больших площадях.

Understorey species distinguish late successional and ancient forests after decades of minimum human intervention: A case study from Slovenia

The main species composition drivers in temperate deciduous forests are environmental conditions, a stand's age and the site history, e.g., the succession stage and past land use, as well as disturbance regime and current management. We compared plant species diversity and composition in late successional and ancient forests, co-occurring on the same small river island applying species accumulation curves and nonmetric multidimensional scaling, respectively. Given the island's geomorphological characteristics, we expected these to be very similar before human intervention in the past. The forests experienced differing disturbance regimes in the past, while over the last 30 years, human intervention has been the same and reduced to a minimum. The ancient forest in this study had two major characteristics defining it as old, mature forest: continuity of presence for more than 200 years and specific composition. The late successional forest experienced major disturbance in the 20th century and was allowed natural regeneration by bordering on the ancient forest, representing a potential species pool, and by decades of minimum human intervention. Our results showed that, even though there was no difference in species richness, we could still detect differences between the forests, particularly in the abundance and species composition of the understorey, among which geophytes had the most indicative importance. To make our results useful on a broader scale, we composed from the literature a species list of plants indicative for ancient forest and tested its application. These results are important for distinguishing between old and mature secondary stands and particularly for identifying old forest stands, which should be conserved and, in the case of fragmented landscapes, included in a network connecting forest fragments.

How well do Immediate Protection Areas conserve biodiversity in Victorian forests?

Context Protected areas are necessary to conserve biodiversity. Their locations, design and management can have major impacts on their effectiveness. In timber and pulpwood production forests of Victoria, Australia, Immediate Protection Areas (IPAs) were established by the Victorian Government to conserve biodiversity. IPA identification has overlooked much of 30 years of reserve selection science. This has resulted in poor selection of locations for protection, lack of attention to habitat suitability for target species, and a destructive past land use history that has eroded current habitat suitability. Aims Our aim was to assess the suitability IPAs for threatened species, including Leadbeater’s Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) and the Southern Greater Glider (Petauroides volans). Methods We assessed aspects of effectiveness of IPAs for forest-dependent species of conservation concern. We compared the IPAs to a prioritised protected area network using Marxan accounting for past forest disturbances, including logging and high severity wildfires. Key results We found IPAs failed to include the most suitable habitat areas, capturing only 11.7% of modelled habitat for Leadbeater’s Possum and 5.3% for the Southern Greater Glider. Our analyses also revealed large parts of the IPA network had been clearcut logged, eroding habitat value for many species. Conclusions Given IPAs do not protect substantial amounts of important habitat for threatened species such as Leadbeater’s Possum and Southern Greater Glider, we conclude the current IPAs are unlikely to adequately protect biodiversity from logging. Implications The IPAs need to be better designed to improve their effectiveness for biodiversity conservation. We provide recommendations on how this might be done.

The past is never dead: legacy effects alter the structure of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages

Land use is the most common and widespread threat to lotic ecosystem health and freshwater biodiversity conservation. The legacy effects of past anthropogenic land use and cover may also affect the structure and functioning of current lotic ecosys¬tems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages to evaluate the potential legacy effects of anthropogenic land use on headwater streams in the Neotropical Savanna. We tested three hypotheses. (1) The legacy effects on macroinvertebrates of the riparian zone are more important than those of the entire catchment. (2) Recent deforestation has a stronger effect on the current taxonomic structure of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages than historical deforestation. (3) Sen-sitive taxa respond more readily than tolerant taxa to historical deforestation. To test these hypotheses, we estimated deforestation over the last 30 years for 97 stream sites in 5 hydrological units and tested it against benthic macroinvertebrate abundance, taxa richness, EPT abundance, EPT richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and Simpson diversity. The two first hypotheses were cor¬roborated, as Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices were significantly correlated with deforestation in the riparian zone (p < 0.05) and these diversity variables were positively correlated with older deforestation, meaning that such sites tended to recover their diversity over time after a deforestation event. The third hypothesis was only partially supported because EPT (sensitive taxa) did not represent most taxa with significant correlations with historical deforestation at catchment scale, but were the only taxa to do so at the 200 m riparian buffer. We conclude that recent deforestation has more significant effects, but past deforestation still plays a significant role in the structure and functioning of lotic ecosystems.

Long-Term Effects of Fertilizer Application and Irrigation on Soils Under Pasture Land Use

Long-Term Effects of Fertilizer Application and Irrigation on Soils Under Pasture Land Use

Coastal ecosystem service in response to past and future land use and land cover change dynamics in the Yangtze river estuary

Climate change and anthropogenic activities are increasingly threatening estuarine and coastal zones. These effects lead to complex positive and negative feedback among sustainable development pillars of human, society, economy and environment according to the integrated sustainability perspective. Only limited studies have calculated comprehensive impact assessments of land conversions between land and sea, invasive species expansion, and inundation impacts on natural wetlands under future scenarios. To fill-in this research gap, this study aims to conduct a long-term temporal analysis (1960–2015) of land use and land cover change (LULC), and future ecosystem service value (ESV) loss for intertidal wetlands predicted in the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE). The results show that, over recent decades, impervious constructed areas and Spartina alterniflora-covered saltmarsh have increased to 10.7% and 2.61%, respectively, whereas native species saltmarshes and tidal flats have decreased to 0.04% and 1.1%, respectively. The total ESV increased significantly during 1960–2000 but significantly declined during 2000–2015. The highest total ESV was US$ 3.8 billion in 2010, considering the approximate contributions of natural and artificial wetlands. Similarly, the ESV of the S. alterniflora saltmarshes reached US$ 0.7 billion in 2015. The total intertidal wetlands area could decrease to 8071–8248/ha by 2100. The total ESV of intertidal wetland ecosystems would decrease by approximately one billion dollars between 2015 and 2050. An enhanced understanding of the economic impacts regarding coastal management, restoration, and conservation is of profound importance for improving coastal resilience, sustainable development, and adaptation of coastal societies to climate change in the Yangtze River Estuary.

Adapting to the Little Ice Age in pastoral regions: An interdisciplinary approach to climate history in north-west Europe

This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regions where livestock farming was dominant, a neglected subject due to the scarcity of detailed written records regarding pastoral land use. It argues that landscape-level histories which include pollen evidence and archaeology can address this challenge and reveal local processes of climate adaptation. Here we focus on Ireland and Scotland and a fascinating rise in small-scale cereal cultivation on upland pastures during the Little Ice Age. Bayesian modeling is used to test the chronological resolution of field evidence and compare it with climate reconstructions. We can see that the cultivation emerged in late medieval times, when cattle were facing climate-related stresses, and increased in early modern times during the Little Ice Age’s main phase. We suggest that it started in an indirect adaptation to climate change, supplementing supplies of food and fodder for pastoralists, but increased as rural populations and external market demands grew. There is a need for finer temporal resolution in pollen records and archaeology, as well as greater integration with socio-economic history, if we are to be more certain about changes in the relative significance of climate in pastoral land use.

Obsidian projectile point conveyance patterns in the lower Humboldt Valley, Nevada

Despite their ubiquity, surface occurrences of obsidian artifacts at archaeological sites throughout western North America have traditionally been viewed as unworthy of serious attention because of the difficulty in dating them. In the past 40 years, the time sensitivity of certain Great Basin projectile point types has been established, which brings the importance of surface collections more center stage. With the coming of age and refinement of geochemical methods, obsidian artifacts from these surface sites can now be analyzed using nondestructive instrumental methods and matched to their geological eruptive origin on the basis of congruence in trace and rare earth element chemistry. Many of these surface assemblages in the Great Basin contain considerable numbers of obsidian projectile points that, when matched to their chemical source of origin, open up entirely new ways to investigate change and continuity in past land use and social relations. The present study was conducted in the lower Humboldt Valley of western Nevada, where large numbers of obsidian projectile points have been collected by professional archaeologists over the past century and housed in academic institutions and museums. In this study, more than 900 obsidian projectile points and bifaces were analyzed from 24 sites and localities within the lower Humboldt Valley using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) to bring data to bear on the question of whether changes in obsidian source use occurred there over the past 5000 years (as determined by time-sensitive projectile points). Significant changes were identified in the direction and distance-to-source of arrow points vs. dart points, and in the source and direction of Humboldt series points and of Humboldt Basal-notched bifaces, which implicate directional shifts through time in social relations among peoples using—and during some periods living at sites in—the lower Humboldt Valley. These results provide independent data to evaluate current views about land use, artifact conveyance, social relations, and technological change in the western Great Basin and beyond.

Analysis and prediction of land use/ land cover changes and its impacts on the corridors of cattle grazing routes in Benue state, Nigeria

ABSTRACT It is becoming increasingly common for cattle grazing routes to be encroached upon and changed to other land uses, and there is no clear indication of just how far these changes will go. The dynamics of land cover and how land is being used in the corridor of cattle grazing routes have received a great deal of attention. In view of this, it is imperative to assess past and future land use and land cover (LU/LC). The study aims to examine the trajectory of LU/LC changes in the cattle grazing route corridor in Benue state. The study used Landsat satellite images from 1980, 2000, and 2020, with a combination of field observations and interviews. A 200-meter buffer was created around the grazing routes, which were used to subset the Landsat images. The Random Forest supervised classification algorithm was used to classify the Landsat images. Cellular Automata (CA) and Land Change Modeler (LCM) were used to simulate the future LU/LC pattern of the grazing routes for 2050. Based on the findings, cropland and built-up areas had grown dramatically at the expense of forest and grassland. Cropland increased at an average rate of 18.18 km2/yr between 1980 and 2000. The study recommends stringent measures to regulate the causes of LU/LC changes in cattle grazing corridors.

Land Use Changes in the Southeastern United States: Quantitative Changes, Drivers, and Expected Environmental Impacts

Land use change analysis provides valuable information for landscape monitoring, managing, and prioritizing large area conservation practices. There has been significant interest in the southeastern United States (SEUS) due to substantial land change from various economic activities since the 1940s. This study uses quantitative data from the Economic Research Service (ERS) for landscape change analysis, addressing land change among five major land types for twelve states in the SEUS from 1945 to 2012. The study also conducted a literature review using the PSALSAR framework to identify significant drivers related to land type changes from research articles within the region. The analysis showed how each land type changed over the period for each state in the time period and the percentage change for the primary drivers related to land use change. The literature review identified significant drivers of land use and land cover change (LULCC) within the SEUS. The associated drivers were categorized into natural and artificial drivers, then further subdivided into eight categories related to land type changes in the region. A schematic diagram was developed to show land type changes that impacted environmental changes from various studies in the SEUS. The results concluded that Forest land accounted for 12% change and agricultural land for 20%; population growth in the region is an average of 2.59% annually. It also concluded that the need for research to understand past land use trends, direction and magnitude of land cover changes is essential. Significant drivers such as urban expansion and agriculture are critical to the impending use of land in the region; their impacts are attributed to environmental changes in the region and must be monitored.

Land use and land cover changes influence the land surface temperature and vegetation in Penang Island, Peninsular Malaysia.

The ecological changes in vegetation and land of an area can be monitored and managed through the assessment of its past and present land use and land cover (LULC). In this study, we assessed the changes in the LULC of Penang Island between 2010 and 2021. We also determined the corresponding impacts on the land surface temperature (LST) and vegetation index in the form of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Landsat-5 and Landsat-8 were selected for the study. The LULC types were classified using both supervised and unsupervised multivariate maximum likelihood techniques. The LULC change analysis revealed a considerable increase in the urbanized areas (45.71%), a slight increase in the forests (1.57%) and a sizeable reduction in the agricultural/herbaceous areas (- 33.49) of the city within the stipulated period. The urbanized areas were observed to have the highest LST in 2010 and 2021 (28.75-34.0°C) followed by the bare land (29.76-29°C). The increase in temperature could have been driven by the reduction in the greenness of the city coupled with the openness of vegetation cover. Similarly, strong positive correlations were observed between the LST and NDVI in the urbanized areas (R2 = 0.92), and bare lands (R2 = 0.86). We, therefore, hypothesize that urbanization is the main driver of the LULC changes on Penang Island.

Exploratory GIS: Modelling Past Land Use and Occupancy with Functional Connectivity, Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area, NSW, Australia

Exploratory GIS models present multiple different conceptual versions of space. This article focusses on the landscape level pathways between areas defined as suitable for land use and occupancy within the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area (WLRWHA), New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Models of the potential connections between ecologically significant land use patches and key hydrology provide iterative networks of functional connectivity, highlighting salient pathways of past land use and occupancy of Country. The shape of the connections between places is important to understanding Country from the inside. Outputs from these network models are a powerful visualisation tool because they display areas where contact with the 19^thc Europeans, particularly through fence construction and ground water appropriation, caused greater levels of exploitation and damage than currently recognised. Concomitantly, the benefit of situating these network techniques within an exploratory framework cannot be understated. The iterative nature of the exploratory design allows for multiple presentations of the connectivity between the spaces within the WLRWHA and therefore multiple ways of knowing and seeing space. Modelling the potential pathways between suitable patches opens the door to discussions about the diverse possible corridors of activity within pre-European settlement of Country and the corollary discussion of how European settlement substantially impacted upon these connections and continues to impact on a living Country.

Modelling past and future land use and land cover dynamics in the Nakambe River Basin, West Africa

Modelling past and future land use and land cover dynamics in the Nakambe River Basin, West Africa

A 22-Site Comparison of Land-Use Practices, E-coli and Enterococci Concentrations.

Land-use practices can greatly impact water quality. Escherichia (E.) coli and Enterococcus are accepted water quality indicators. However, surprisingly little research has been conducted comparing both organisms' population density relationships to land use practices and water quality. Stream water grab samples were collected monthly (n = 9 months) from 22 stream monitoring sites draining varying land use practice types in a representative mixed-land-use watershed of the northeastern United States. E. coli and enterococci colony forming units (CFU per 100 mL) were estimated (n = 396) and statistically analyzed relative to land use practices, hydroclimate, and pH, using a suite of methods, including correlation analysis, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Correlation analyses indicated significant (p < 0.05) relationships between fecal indicator bacteria concentrations, water quality metrics and land use practices but emphasized significant (p < 0.05) negative correlations between pH and instream enterococci concentrations. PCA and CCA results indicated consistent spatial differences between fecal indicator bacteria concentrations, pH, and land use/land cover characteristics. The study showed that pH could be considered an integrated proxy variable for past (legacy) and present land use practice influences. Results also bring to question the comparability of E-coli and enterococci relative to dominant land use practices and variations in pH and provide useful information that will help guide land use practice and water pollutant mitigation decision making.

Veld restoration strategies in South African semi-arid rangelands. Are there any successes?—A review

Rangeland deterioration is a major challenge faced especially by communal farmers in most of the developing countries including South Africa. The high population of people and livestock exert pressure on the rangeland leading to deterioration which results to economic loss, due to a reduction in agricultural activities such as livestock production. The rehabilitation of degraded lands has substantial returns from an environmental, economic and social perspective. Except for the powerful economic justification, initiation of restoration and rehabilitation of lands is still required to address the continuing land degradation across the world. To gain an insight on the impact of rangeland degradation, the basic restoration strategies need to be assessed and implemented. In this review, we have highlighted an overview of rangeland degradation in South Africa; Livestock dependency in rangelands; causes and consequences of rangeland degradation which include the economic impact of rangeland degradation; and rehabilitation strategies. Soil, climate, grazing management are some of the major factors to consider when adopting the veld restoration strategies. In South Africa, all restoration methods can be practiced depending on the area and the nature of degradation. Moreover, past land use system records and rehabilitation resources such as material and skilled labour can be required to have a successful rangeland rehabilitation.

Estimating land cover-based soil organic carbon to support decarbonization and climate resilience planning in Massachusetts

Land management and land cover change exert a strong influence on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. As scientific, political, and business communities increase their awareness of the essential roles SOC plays in climate regulation and ecosystem functions, efforts to quantify the impacts of land use and management on SOC have increased rapidly. Existing methods of estimating SOC stocks from widely available data do not account for land cover, and are therefore of limited usefulness in understanding the impacts of past and future land use change. This project explores a method of linking land cover to SOC using data from public datasets and the scientific literature, to provide an SOC Inventory for Massachusetts, and compares the results to those derived from a common baseline approach. Our method derives average land cover SOC values by combining data from the USDA-NRCS Rapid Carbon Assessment and the National Cooperative Soil Characterization Database with values from a meta-analysis of scientific literature. These are applied to the total area of the 20 most abundant land cover classes of Massachusetts. We compare this land cover-based approach with a baseline using SOC values found in the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), applied to each soil map unit found within Massachusetts. Our approach produced an estimated stock of 481 million metric tons of SOC, 29% and 109 million metric tons greater than the SSURGO baseline. We use these estimates to explore the use of the land cover based SOC values to project the impacts of likely land cover change by 2050.