TABLE 2 - uploaded by Terry L. Sohl
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The need for comprehensive, accurate information on landcover change has never been greater. While remotely sensed imagery affords the opportunity to provide information on land-cover change over large geographic expanses at a relatively low cost, the characteristics of land-surface change bring into question the suitability of many commonly used m...
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... however, individual, distinct land-cover conversions occur locally and over rela- tively small areas. Table 2 shows the average patch size for various land-cover transition types for six ecoregions from the Land Cover Trends project. Although certain land-cover tran- sitions exhibit larger average patch sizes (such as forest to clear-cut and forest to mining), patch sizes of most land-cover transitions average around 4 hectares for the ecoregions in this study. ...
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... LULC change is primarily a local event, since the characteristics of such change can vary dramatically from one region to another. In order to capture the uniqueness of each region it is necessary that LULC studies are conducted at local to regional scales to better understand the cumulative impacts at multiple scales (Sohl et al. 2004). Over the years land use and cropping patterns in the western Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh have been changing. ...
Background: Monitoring the changing pattern of vegetation across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment. Land use pattern in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Western Himalayas has been undergoing rapid modifications due to changing cropping patterns, rising anthropogenic pressure on forests and government policies. We studied land use change in Solan Forest Division of Himachal Pradesh to assess species wise area changes in the forests of the region. Methods: The supervised classification (Maximum likelihood) on two dates of IRS (LISS III) satellite data was performed to assess land use change over the period 1998-2010. Results: Seven land use categories were identified namely, chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest, broadleaved forest, bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) forest, ban oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) forest, khair (Acacia catechu) forest, culturable blank and cultivation. The area under chir pine, cultivation and khair forests increased by 191 ha (4.55 %), 129 ha (13.81 %) and 77 ha (23.40 %), whereas the area under ban oak, broadleaved, culturable blank and bamboo decreased by 181 ha (16.58 %), 152 ha (6.30 %), 71 ha (2.72 %) and 7 ha (0.47 %), respectively. Conclusions: The study revealed a decrease in the area under forest and culturable blank categories and a simultaneous increase in the area under cultivation primarily due to the large scale introduction of horticultural cash crops in the state. The composition of forests also exhibited some major changes, with an increase in the area of commercially important monoculture plantation species such as pine and khair, and a decline in the area of oak, broadleaved and bamboo which are facing a high anthropogenic pressure in meeting the livelihood demands of forest dependent communities. In time deforestation, forest degradation and ecological imbalances due to the changing forest species composition may inflict irreversible damages upon unstable and fragile mountain zones such as the Indian Himalayas. The associated common property externalities involved at local, regional and global scales, necessitate the monitoring of land use dynamics across forested landscapes in developing future strategies and policies concerning agricultural diversification, natural forest conservation and monoculture tree plantations.
... Spectral change is the broadest of all land change terminologies that could include all kinds of land changes (e.g., changes caused by vegetation phenology and abrupt/gradual land surface changes), as well as the spectral changes that have nothing to do with land change on the ground, such as atmospheric influences and data noise. On the other hand, land surface change (the region within red dashed line in Fig. 4), which shared the same area as land cover change, has also gained a lot of visibility in remote sensing studies of land change de Beurs et al., 2015;Sohl et al., 2004;Woodcock et al., 2020;Zhu and Woodcock, 2014). Land surface change or land cover change includes all land change (e.g., all kinds of land cover conversions and modifications) that occurs on the Earth's surface, except for cyclic changes that are often caused by vegetation phenology and snow/ice seasonality. ...
The discipline of land change science has been evolving rapidly in the past decades. Remote sensing played a major role in one of the essential components of land change science, which includes observation, monitoring, and characterization of land change. In this paper, we proposed a new framework of the multifaceted view of land change through the lens of remote sensing and recommended five facets of land change including change location, time, target, metric, and agent. We also evaluated the impacts of spatial, spectral, temporal, angular, and data-integration domains of the remotely sensed data on observing, monitoring, and characterization of different facets of land change, as well as discussed some of the current land change products. We recommend clarifying the specific land change facet being studied in remote sensing of land change, reporting multiple or all facets of land change in remote sensing products, shifting the focus from land cover change to specific change metric and agent, integrating social science data and multi-sensor datasets for a deeper and fuller understanding of land change, and recognizing limitations and weaknesses of remote sensing in land change studies.
... Spectral change is the broadest of all land change terminologies that could include all kinds of land changes (e.g., changes caused by vegetation phenology and abrupt/gradual land surface changes), as well as the spectral changes that have nothing to do with land change on the ground, such as atmospheric influences and data noise. On the other hand, land surface change (the region within red dashed line in Fig. 4), which shared the same area as land cover change, has also gained a lot of visibility in remote sensing studies of land change de Beurs et al., 2015;Sohl et al., 2004;Woodcock et al., 2020;Zhu and Woodcock, 2014). Land surface change or land cover change includes all land change (e.g., all kinds of land cover conversions and modifications) that occurs on the Earth's surface, except for cyclic changes that are often caused by vegetation phenology and snow/ice seasonality. ...
... The use of remote sensing data has been instrumental in monitoring the changing pattern of vegetation across diverse landscapes. Hence, several studies have been conducted to identify and map bamboo forest cover using remotely sensed data at global scale (Wang et al., 2009;Goswami et al., 2010;Xu et al., 2012;Carvalho et al., 2013;Han et al., 2014;Li et al., 2016;Fava and Colombo 2017;Du et al., 2018;Liu et al., 2018;Zhao et al., 2018;Zhang et al., 2019) However, studies conducted at the local level are of critical importance to better understand the cumulative impact at multiple scales (Sohl et al., 2004;Shah and Sharma 2015). ...
Bamboo forests, which are an integral part of the eco-system and an important source of socio-economic life for rural communities in the vast savannah lowlands of Ethiopia, are experiencing significant changes. Therefore, examining bamboo forest cover changes and identifying responsible drivers for the changes are of the greatest importance for sustainable management of these useful resources. This study was intended to examine the spatio-temporal bamboo forest dynamics in the Lower Beles River Basin, north-western Ethiopia. A combination of pixel-based hybrid classification techniques and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was employed to analyze bamboo forest cover changes from 1985 – 2019. Focus group discussions, questionnaire, key informant interview and observation were used to identify the drivers for bamboo forest cover change. The study findings indicate that bamboo has experienced significant spatio-temporal change over the study period (1985 - 2019) in the study District. In the base year (1985), bamboo covered 5.1% (5,277.1 ha) of the study area. Significant decline in bamboo forest had occurred in 2001 when the bamboo forests suffered the greatest devastation and shirked to 1.6%. In 2019, the bamboo has been rehabilitated from degradation and increased significantly. However, the net change over the study periods was negative where the bamboo forests declined by 0.8% (831.14 ha). The observed changes in bamboo forest cover were driven by an interplay of multiple factors. Agricultural land expansion, wildfire, free grazing, lack of regulatory mechanisms and improper harvesting and expansion of settlement areas were the top five drivers respectively while conflict, mass flowering and tenure contributed for the change. Therefore, the bamboo forests deserve great attention, and the results from this study imply the need for the concerted efforts of stakeholders for sustainable management, utilization and conservation of the bamboo resources.
... 'Oak Woodlands) ecoregions [61] and the 46 associated counties contained therein ( Fig 1A). Ecoregions are commonly used in land use and land cover change research [62,63] as they represent areas with common biotic, abiotic, aquatic, and bio-geophysical attributes. Counties are more commonly used spatial units for data collection and dissemination on cropland trends, land use change, and water use. ...
With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially explicit future land use scenarios and their associated county-level water use demand out to 2062. We examined a range of potential water demand futures sampled from a 20-year record of historical (1992–2012) data to develop a suite of potential future land change scenarios, including low/high change scenarios for urbanization and agriculture as well as “lowest of the low” and “highest of the high” anthropogenic use. Future water demand decreased 8.3 billion cubic meters (Bm³) in the lowest of the low scenario and decreased 0.8 Bm³ in the low agriculture scenario. The greatest increased water demand was projected for the highest of the high land use scenario (+9.4 Bm³), high agricultural expansion (+4.6 Bm³), and high urbanization (+2.1 Bm³) scenarios. Overall, these scenarios show agricultural land use decisions will likely drive future demand more than increasing municipal and industrial uses, yet improved efficiencies across all sectors could lead to potential water use savings. Results provide water managers with information on diverging land use and water use futures, based on historical, observed land change trends and water use histories.
... Most parcel-based applications focus on the urbanization process or localscale agricultural land use, with few efforts providing high thematic detail across the entire suite of LULC classes present on the landscape. LULC change occurs locally over relatively small patches (Sohl, Gallant, & Loveland, 2004), but aggregate LULC change across broad regions scales up to national, continental, and global ecological impacts. In assessing these LULC impacts on ecosystem services, Nelson et al. (2009) noted a lack of assessments that combined the rigor of small, local studies with the breadth of broad-scale assessments. ...
Land use and land cover (LULC) change occurs at a local level within contiguous ownership and management units (parcels), yet LULC models primarily use pixel-based spatial frameworks. The few parcel-based models being used overwhelmingly focus on small geographic areas, limiting the ability to assess LULC change impacts at regional to national scales. We developed a modified version of the Forecasting Scenarios of land-use change (FORE-SCE) model to project parcel-based agricultural change across a large region in the United States Great Plains. A scenario representing an agricultural biofuel scenario was modeled from 2012 to 2030, using real parcel boundaries based on contiguous ownership and land management units. The resulting LULC projection provides a vastly improved representation of landscape pattern over existing pixel-based models, while simultaneously providing an unprecedented combination of thematic detail and broad geographic extent. The conceptual approach is practical and scalable, with potential use for national-scale projections.
... LULC change is primarily a local event, since the characteristics of such change can vary dramatically from one region to another. In order to capture the uniqueness of each region it is necessary that LULC studies are conducted at local to regional scales to better understand the cumulative impacts at multiple scales (Sohl et al. 2004). Over the years land use and cropping patterns in the western Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh have been changing. ...
Background
Monitoring the changing pattern of vegetation across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment. Land use pattern in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Western Himalayas has been undergoing rapid modifications due to changing cropping patterns, rising anthropogenic pressure on forests and government policies. We studied land use change in Solan Forest Division of Himachal Pradesh to assess species wise area changes in the forests of the region.
Methods
The supervised classification (Maximum likelihood) on two dates of IRS (LISS III) satellite data was performed to assess land use change over the period 1998–2010.
Results
Seven land use categories were identified namely, chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest, broadleaved forest, bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) forest, ban oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) forest, khair (Acacia catechu) forest, culturable blank and cultivation. The area under chir pine, cultivation and khair forests increased by 191 ha (4.55 %), 129 ha (13.81 %) and 77 ha (23.40 %), whereas the area under ban oak, broadleaved, culturable blank and bamboo decreased by 181 ha (16.58 %), 152 ha (6.30 %), 71 ha (2.72 %) and 7 ha (0.47 %), respectively.
Conclusions
The study revealed a decrease in the area under forest and culturable blank categories and a simultaneous increase in the area under cultivation primarily due to the large scale introduction of horticultural cash crops in the state. The composition of forests also exhibited some major changes, with an increase in the area of commercially important monoculture plantation species such as pine and khair, and a decline in the area of oak, broadleaved and bamboo which are facing a high anthropogenic pressure in meeting the livelihood demands of forest dependent communities. In time deforestation, forest degradation and ecological imbalances due to the changing forest species composition may inflict irreversible damages upon unstable and fragile mountain zones such as the Indian Himalayas. The associated common property externalities involved at local, regional and global scales, necessitate the monitoring of land use dynamics across forested landscapes in developing future strategies and policies concerning agricultural diversification, natural forest conservation and monoculture tree plantations.
... Land use and land cover change is a rare and local event ( Sohl et al., 2004), spatially and temporally variable, frequently clustered in space or particularly intense in some periods ( Loveland and DeFries, 2004). Although the changes generally occur at the local scale, there are cumulative impacts at broader scales, even globally ( Loveland et al., 1999). ...
... Although the changes generally occur at the local scale, there are cumulative impacts at broader scales, even globally ( Loveland et al., 1999). Most of the studies have been developed at the local scale because there is a greater availability of accurate and reliable spatial data for small areas, but since the '70s the development of remote sensing techniques have allowed a growing number of mesoscale and global studies ( Sohl et al., 2004). For this reason, there is an increasing interest in using multiple spatial and temporal scales, which requires making stronger links across scales, with integrative and complementary studies between macro and microscale ( Olson et al., 2004). ...
... The main problem of large-area assessments at global, national or regional scales-or in highly heterogeneous landscapes-is that they can easily mask critical sub-global or sub-regional variations ( Lambin and Geist, 2006). For this reason, in order to properly understand the geographical variability of a given phenomenon, it is common to use spatial stratifications or breakdowns to separately analyze the objective of study ( Sohl et al., 2004). These spatial frameworks can be defined using diverse criteria or interests such as administrative boundaries, ecological regions, watershed or protection categories ( Loveland and DeFries, 2004). ...
Land use and land cover change is a major component of global change, which directly alters habitat composition, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The regional analysis of land cover changes in heterogeneous landscapes can be masked by spatial variations caused by both bioclimatic and socioeconomic factors. Recognizing these influences, however, can be critical for designing conservation policies suited for each region. In this study, we examined the main processes of land cover change in Spain during c. 20 years (1987–2006), using CORINE land cover maps and five comparative spatial frameworks based on biomes (temperate and Mediterranean) and protection levels (Nationally Designated areas, European Natura Net 2000 and unprotected areas). We observed high land cover persistence (ca. 93%) throughout Spain, but with important anthropization processes and internal changes in natural areas – which experienced a slight decrease – while, agrarian areas remained almost stable. However, there were significant differences in the occupation, intensity and direction of change depending on the biome and protection level. The Mediterranean region had lower persistence and higher anthropization processes than the temperate region, suggesting a high vulnerability to land cover changes for natural habitat and related species. Overall, we observed a lower intensity of anthropization processes in protected areas, increasing the persistence of natural and agrarian areas; key habitats for species conservation. The highest persistence of natural areas corresponds to Nationally Designated Protected (NDP) areas, while in Natura Net 2000 we found the highest agrarian areas persistence. Nevertheless, Natura Net 2000 areas – with the exception of those nominated as NDP – had the largest increase of artificial surfaces as well as the highest internal processes of change within natural areas due to disturbances. The trends reported in this study suggest the importance of effective management plans and conservation measures that ensure both habitat and species conservation, especially in the Mediterranean region. In the case of Natura Net 2000, where traditional agricultural and livestock activities had a larger importance, it would be advisable to definitively implement the pending management plans, which are feasible and compatible with local human activities.
... Therefore, the sampling framework for future surveys must consider the full range of land use and physiographic variation across the PPR, with increased survey effort allocated to high-risk landscapes such as grasslands on fertile soils and wetlands in agricultural settings. Obtaining useful data may require new techniques or local collection, as classification error and thematic resolution of remotely sensed data will likely be insufficient to detect small changes typical of land surface change [55]. ...
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is the most important waterfowl production area in North America. However, waterfowl populations there are predicted to decline because of climate-related drying of wetlands. Consequently, changes in the geographic focus of PPR waterfowl conservation have been recommended, which could have long-lasting and costly impacts. We used a 40-year dataset of pond counts collected in the PPR to test hypotheses about climate-related drying. We assessed May (1974-2013) and July (1974-2003) pond numbers in 20 waterfowl survey strata to determine if trends in pond numbers were consistent with predictions of drying. We also assessed trends in precipitation and temperature for the 20 strata and developed models describing May pond numbers from 1974 through 2010 as a function of precipitation, temperature, the previous year's pond numbers, and location. None of the 20 strata showed significant declines in May pond numbers, although seven strata showed increases over time. July pond numbers declined significantly in one stratum, and increased in seven strata. An index to hydroperiod showed significant increasing trends in three strata, and no strata had decreasing trends. Precipitation increased significantly in two strata and decreased in two from 1974 to 2010; no strata showed significant changes in temperature. The best linear model described pond numbers within all strata as a function of precipitation, temperature, the previous year's pond numbers, and the latitude and longitude of the stratum, and explained 62% of annual variation in pond numbers. We hypothesize that direct effects of climate change on prairie pothole wetlands and waterfowl may be overshadowed by indirect effects such as intensified land use and increased pressure to drain wetlands. We recommend that an adaptive, data-driven approach be used to resolve uncertainties regarding direct and indirect effects of climate change on prairie wetlands and waterfowl, and guide future conservation efforts.
... There are legitimate reasons for the errors in operational-scale land-cover products. Spatiotemporal ambiguities in the spectral characteristics of land cover make it difficult to optimize a classification system for all cover types at once for all places in the landscape [66], [94], as demonstrated by image pattern effects on our annual results (Figure 4). For this reason, NASS focuses on Figure 7. Approach we used versus future algorithm modification for identifying potential grassland sites for placing apiaries. ...
Pollination is a critical ecosystem service affected by various drivers of land-use change, such as policies and programs aimed at land resources, market values for crop commodities, local land-management decisions, and shifts in climate. The United States is the world's most active market for pollination services by honey bees, and the Northern Great Plains provide the majority of bee colonies used to meet the Nation's annual pollination needs. Legislation requiring increased production of biofuel crops, increasing commodity prices for crops of little nutritional value for bees in the Northern Great Plains, and reductions in government programs aimed at promoting land conservation are converging to alter the regional landscape in ways that challenge beekeepers to provide adequate numbers of hives for national pollination services. We developed a spatially explicit model that identifies sites with the potential to support large apiaries based on local-scale land-cover requirements for honey bees. We produced maps of potential apiary locations for North Dakota, a leading producer of honey, based on land-cover maps representing (1) an annual time series compiled from existing operational products and (2) a realistic scenario of land change. We found that existing land-cover products lack sufficient local accuracy to monitor actual changes in landscape suitability for honey bees, but our model proved informative for evaluating effects on suitability under scenarios of land change. The scenario we implemented was aligned with current drivers of land-use change in the Northern Great Plains and highlighted the importance of conservation lands in landscapes intensively and extensively managed for crops.
