Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Climate, Land Use And Plant Life Form Distribution In A Semi-Arid Savanna, Christina Skarpe

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Number of plant species, total vegetation cover and the abundance of different life forms are compared over a rainfall gradient between savanna woodland and semi-desert. The effects of different land use intensities are superimposed on the differences in rainfall regimes. The outcome is discussed in the light of present global change scenarios,

Land Subdivision In The Falkland Islands, O W. Summers, W.J R. Haydock, A Kerr

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The Falkland Islands agricultural industry depends mainly on wool production. This paper reviews the structure of an induslry which has changed radically in the last 10 years. Lord Shackleton completed his economic survey of the Falkland Islands in 1976 when there where only 36 fanns, most of which were owned by companies based mainly in the UK, and an absentee-landlord system prevailed. Shackleton advocated that the Falkland Islands Government should purchase large fanns and split them into smaller family units for sale to local people. Presently (1991-92) there are 92 farms and most of the Islands is in local ownership. …

Overview For Exploring The Multisensory Landscape, Brent Chamberlain, Richard Smardon

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Land use change has had a fundamental impact on the livelihoods of people throughout the world. This Special Issue focuses on the research being conducted at the intersection of this land use change and the importance of maintaining landscapes that enrich humanity and our engagement with nature. Within this Special Issue, we explored the value of landscapes that heighten the senses. Visual Resource Stewardship is an area of research that closely aligns with understanding how changes in the environment may be perceived and experienced. Understanding the tools, processes, and theories involved helps us to better understand how land use change …

Land Use Transition In The Grazing Areas Of Narok District, Kenya, W N. Wamicha, V P. D'Costa

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

This work underscores the need for land use transitions in the Kilgoris and Lolgorien divisions of the Narok district, Because of the competition for grass between livestock and wildlife in addition to low technology used by the farmers, concentration of livestock in the area is very low (I SU/3 ha). Although the area is in agroclimatic zones (1-111), with high to medium potential for agricultural production, less than 40% is under cultivation. The main objective of this study was therefore to analyse the environmental and economic aspects of the potential agricultural production in the area. Animal production has 􀀼en found …

Land-Use Change As A Major Driver For Mid-20th-Century Flood Intensity Reduction In The Southeastern Us, Zhixiong Shen, Nicholas Conway, Shaowu Bao, Samuel Muñoz, Andreas Lang

Marine Science

Land-use changes affect hydrologic processes, but their impact on flooding remains obscure amid increasingly heavy precipitation. Instrumental records are short relative to land-use change history and inadequate for flood attribution studies. Here we integrate a high-resolution paleodischarge record spanning the past ∼200 years from the largest basin in the Southeastern United States with instrumental data and hydrological modeling. We find that the 100 yr flood magnitude for large regional rivers exhibits 50%–75% reductions in the mid-20th century. We attribute at least 50% of the reductions to a regional shift from widespread agricultural land to conservation and reforestation and the rest …

Land-Use Governance And Indigenous Engagement In Arctic Alaska And Norway: Successes, Current Gaps, And Paths Forward, Ningning Sun

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

This study aims to analyze the land use governance structures and the role of Indigenous engagement in Alaska and Norway using a comparative approach, with special focus on successful practices, current gaps, and paths forward to achieve equitable governance. Extractive land uses, such as oil and gas extraction and the construction of wind farms, have mixed impacts on Indigenous communities and lead to social and legal issues such as land use conflict and environmental injustice. Previous research has studied land use governance in Arctic countries with regard to Indigenous Peoples, yet there is a lack of literature that spans Alaska …

Bank Erosion Dynamics In Response To Anthropogenic Disturbances In The Cuivre River Watershed Of Missouri, Usa, Nathan Douglas Sines

MSU Graduate Theses

Riverbank erosion is increasingly recognized as a pressing issue exacerbated by human activities. The Cuivre River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, located in northeast Missouri, has limited documentation on bank erosion, with the most recent study conducted in the early 1990s. This research aims to fill this gap by exploring the stream bank erosion dynamics from 1816 to 2015. The objectives are to: (i) understand the channel width dynamics for 1816 to 1994 ii) determine the sediment erosion and deposition volume along the riverbank in the period of 1994 to 2015. iii) identify the anthropogenic disturbances particularly land use …

Rule-In-Use For Community-Based Springs Management Faces Land Use Pressures: Lesson Learned From Manggarai District, Bernadinus Steni, Hariadi Kartodihardjo, Soeryo Adiwibowo, Ruchyat Deni Djakapermana

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

The struggle for water is one of the greatest immediate risks of the climate crisis. Therefore, the institutional challenge of water management is increasingly urgent and requires a number of consensuses to succeed, including community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). A key challenge to the traditional consensus for water conservation is the increasing need for land conversion due to population growth, which in turn deflects decision-making power away from traditional institutions towards external decision-makers such as regional governments. Using Ostrom's conceptual framework of rules of use, this research examines shifting spring water management in the context of Kabupaten Manggarai. The paper …

Drivers Of Variability In Blue Carbon Stocks And Burial Rates Across European Estuarine Habitats, Inés Mazarrasa, Joao M. Neto, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Tim Grandjean, Jordi Garcia-Orellana, Pere Masqué, María Recio, Óscar Serrano, Araceli Puente, José A. Juanes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The implementation of climate change mitigation strategies based on the conservation and restoration of Blue Carbon ecosystems requires a deep understanding of the magnitude and variability in organic carbon (Corg) storage across and within these ecosystems. This study explored the variability in soil Corg stocks and burial rates across and within intertidal estuarine habitats of the Atlantic European coast and its relation to biotic and abiotic drivers. A total of 136 soil cores were collected across saltmarshes located at different tidal zones (high marsh, N = 45; low marsh, N = 30), seagrass meadows (N = 17) and tidal flats …

On-Farm Information: A Valuable Tool For The Sustainable Management Of Mountain Pastures In Protected Natural Areas, N. Mandaluniz, A. Bernués, A. Igarzabal, I. J. L. Riedel, R. Ruiz, A. Sanz, I. Casasús, L. M. Oregui

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Mountain pastures have traditionally been maintained by livestock. The analysis of data concerning farms' characteristics, productive-reproductive management and land use of commercial farms can constitute a real approach to study these systems and the changes that are occurring. This information is necessary to develop new utilisation guidelines, making compatible livestock production and conservation of natural resources. This paper describes a methodological framework to study the issues described above through some examples taken out from a wider research project (Mandaluniz et al., 2003).

Do Species And Functional Diversity Indices Reflect Changes In Grazing Regimes And Climatic Conditions In Northeastern Spain?, F. De Bello, J. Leps, M. T. Sebastià

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Understanding the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity in various ecosystems enables the development of management practices that prevent degradation (Canals & Sebastia, 2000). Each diversity index reflects some compositional properties and could be influenced differently by stress and disturbance factors (Magurran, 2004). In this study, we aim to reveal 1) which management practices and environmental factors affect biodiversity in rangelands of northeastern Spain and 2) the relationship between species diversity and functional diversity (SD and FD).

Net Ecosystem Productivity Of A Grassland In Comparison With An Arable And A Forest Ecosystem, Phillip A. Davis, K. Black, J. Clifton-Brown, G. Lanigan, J. Burke, A. Fortune, M. B. Jones, B. Osborne

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Grassland, arable farming and forests are the major land use categories in Ireland and it is, therefore, important to know the carbon-source/sink strengths of these land use types. Forest ecosystems are also an important and fast growing land use category in Ireland. Here we present a comparison of the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of these three land use categories (grass land, arable and forest) from three sites.

Impact Of Land Use/Cover Change And Slope Gradient On Soil Organic Carbon Stock In Anjeni Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia, Bethel Geremew, Tsegaye Tadesse, Bobe Bedadi, Hero T. Gollany, Kindie Tesfaye, Abebe Aschalew

Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Today’s agri-food systems face the triple challenge of addressing food security, adapting to climate change, and reducing the climate footprint by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). In agri-food systems, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) could affect soil physicochemical properties, particularly soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. However, the impact varies depending on the physical, social, and economic conditions of a given region or watershed. Given this, a study was conducted to quantify the impact of LULC and slope gradient on SOC stock and C sequestration rate in the Anjeni watershed, which is a highly populated and …

The Suitability For Organic Cattle Beef Production Of Mixed Farming Systems In The Highlands Of North East Portugal, J. M. Pires, M. Rodrigues, F. Sousa, A. Bernardo, J. C. Pires, J. Cabanas, H. Resendes, M. J. Ferreira, M. I. Silva, N. Moreira

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The EC Reg. 1804/99 takes account of animal production in organic farming. However, these specifications may limit implementation and expansion of organic animal production, due to environmental and system constraints. Mixed farming, as defined by Spedding (1988) and Grigg (1996), is commonly practiced in the NE highlands of Portugal. Two farms were studied in this region in order to evaluate their suitability for organic cattle beef production, taking account of the technical specifications of the EC regulation.

Implications Of Land Use Changes On The Yields In Dry Matter, Energy And Protein Of Range And Crop Fields In Zamfara Reserve, Northwestern Nigeria, B. S. Malami, P. H. Y. Hiernaux, H. M. Tukur, B. Rischkowsky

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The Zamfara reserve is a 235,500 ha grazing land within the Sudan savannah zone (12º 10' - 13º 05 N; 6º 30' - 7º15' E) of north western Nigeria. Rainfall varies from 500mm in the north to 800mm in the south of the reserve, and is restricted within the months of May - September. The reserve is an important grazing site for the herds of sedentary, transhumant and agro pastoralists. Population growth within the farming communities in the reserve has led to the conversion of more grazing land to croplands. This work was carried out to evaluate the quantity and …

Do Species And Functional Diversity Indices Reflect Changes In Grazing Regimes And Climatic Conditions In Northeastern Spain?, F. De Bello, J. Leps, M. T. Sebastià

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Understanding the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity in various ecosystems enables the development of management practices that prevent degradation (Canals & Sebastia, 2000). Each diversity index reflects some compositional properties and could be influenced differently by stress and disturbance factors (Magurran, 2004). In this study, we aim to reveal 1) which management practices and environmental factors affect biodiversity in rangelands of northeastern Spain and 2) the relationship between species diversity and functional diversity (SD and FD).

Effects Of Landscape Structure On Plants Species Richness In Small Grassland Remnants In Two Different Landscapes, S. A. O. Cousins, O. Eriksson

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

There is an increasing interest in using the landscape as the operational scale in many ecological studies. Current species richness in the landscape may be explained by past land use, and habitats may harbour species favoured by an environment that no longer exists. In this study we have included both a landscape scale and a temporal scale. The objective was to explain species pattern and the effect of isolation, habitat size and surrounding land use, and past land use change, on small grassland remnants in rural landscapes.

Invertebrate Metrics Based On Few Abundant Taxa Outperform Functional And Taxonomic Composition As Indicators Of Agricultural Impacts In Atlantic Rainforest Streams, Rafael Feijó‑Lima, Steven A. Thomas, Flavia Tromboni, Eugenia Zandonà, Eduardo F. Silva‑Junior, Timothy P. Moulton

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Metacommunity studies have demonstrated that local macroinvertebrate communities are structured not only by local environmental conditions but also by spatial processes. Effective bioassessment tools should account for spatial processes while doing so with the least amount of cost. In this study, we applied variance partition techniques based on redundancy analysis to assess the performance of three sets of benthic invertebrate metrics in detecting agricultural land-use effects in a SE Brazil rainforest watershed. Macroinvertebrate data were analyzed separately regarding their taxonomic, functional structure and bioindicator metrics developed for the study region. We stipulated that groups of metrics most sensitive to land-use …

The Future Of Pandemics: Land Use Controls As Means Of Preventing Zoonotic Disease, Bailey Andree

Pace International Law Review

Zoonotic diseases are increasing in frequency as climate change worsens around the world, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the inadequate mechanisms in place to counteract disease spread. This article reviews various zoonotic diseases and their patterns of spread, highlighting land use change as the key driver of disease to demonstrate the need for legal intervention. International land use law is a little-developed subsect of environmental law that holds the key to combating this disease spread, and this article proposes solutions through this legal lens. Land use techniques which may be used to combat disease spread include conservation laws, setback …

Warehouses In The Inland Empire: Displacing Land And Life, Katherine Gelsey

Pomona Senior Theses

The Inland Empire in Southern California embodies unique spatial and social configurations as a consequence of how settler colonialism has manifested locally in the region since the Spanish Mission Period. This work uses GIS software to estimate patterns of land conversion for residential, agricultural, and warehouse land from 2012 to 2022. Preliminary analysis suggests that thousands of people have been displaced by warehouse expansion over the ten-year period. In the twenty-first century, the Southern California logistics industry continues processes of land dispossession and racialized labor exploitation through displacing agricultural and residential land, exposing disproportionately low-income Black and Latine communities living …

Paleolimnological Data Synthesis To Assess Long-Term Ecological Change In Vermont Lakes, Ismar Biberovic

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Lakes are excellent early indicators of environmental change on a landscape scale. Due to their connectedness in the landscape, any alteration of land-cover extends beyond a single watershed and can only be amplified by the effects of climate change. These processes can reflect differently across lakes of various characteristics, however, combined, they can leave a lasting impact on biogeochemical processes of a lake, resulting in profound effects on biological communities residing in it. Lake sediments are terrific archives that integrate and preserve this evidence, which then allows us to investigate the extent to which a lake has changed given its …

The North Platte River Valley: The Intersectionality Between Water Quality And People, Anni Poetzl

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The North Platte River (NPR) Valley of western Nebraska is a semi-arid watershed with row crop production, livestock production, and urban land use activity and has a population of diverse stakeholders. These land use activities contribute to the enrichment of surface waters, such as streams, which can affect human and ecosystem health, as well as economic development and recreational activities. The project objectives are to: (1) quantify the movement of dissolved inorganic nutrients from the land within the NPR Valley to the NPR via tributaries and canals, (2) identify spatiotemporal variability of nutrient limitation of periphyton growth within the NPR, …

Recognition Of Land Use On Open-Pit Coal Mining Area Based On Deeplabv3+ And Gf-2 High-Resolution Images, Zhang Chengye, Li Feiyue, Li Jun, Xing Jianghe, Yang Jinzhong, Guo Junting, Du Shouhang

Coal Geology & Exploration

A highly efficient means is provided by remote sensing and deep learning to keep tracking of land use in open-pit coal mining area. Based on the high–resolution images from the domestic GF-2 satellite, a DeepLabv3+ model was utilized to achieve recognition of land use on open-pit coal mining area. In addition, a comparison was made among Deeplabv3+, U-Net, FCN, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Maximum Likelihood Method. Firstly, samples data from high-resolution images were produced and sensitivity tests were conducted to determine the optimal cutting size and mode of the sample. Then, the deep neural network model (DeepLabv3+) was …

Built Environment, Land Use, And Crime: A Las Vegas Study, Stacey Lynn Clouse

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined land use and crime against persons and crime against property in Las Vegas, Nevada at varying spatial levels of analysis. Using crime data provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Clark County Assessor’s office, results at the macro-level of analysis reveal that property crime rates concentrated on commercial, transportation, communication and utilities, and industrial land use, whereas violent crime concentrated at commercial, multi-residential, and civic, institutional, and recreational land use. Upon examining the subtypes of land use that generate or radiate more crime, property crime concentrated on transportation land use, class 1 resorts, and …

Managing Grassy Woodlands: Balancing Production And Conservation Of Resources, John G. Mcivor, Neil D. Macleod, S. Mcintyre

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Eastern Australian eucalypt woodlands are important agricultural areas that have been widely modified during two centuries of European-style use. Despite this they contain important natural resources including significant biodiversity. Long term sustainability of production depends on maintaining resources and management must be for both production and conservation. A research program on four properties in south east Queensland showed the properties were in generally good condition although all had some problems, and has highlighted a number of significant costs and barriers to adopting a more balanced approach to production and conservation.

A Remote Sensing Perspective: Mapping The Human Footprint In The Zambezi Region Of Namibia., Ariel E Weaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “human footprint” can be used as a general proxy to estimate human activities across the landscape. The human footprint in the Zambezi Region of Namibia is critically important for regional management of conservation efforts and land use planning. The land covers in the Zambezi Region are characteristically difficult to separate spectrally, due to a highly heterogeneous savanna landscape. Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Random Forest (RF) methods are notable for their ability to improve classification accuracies of remotely sensed imagery. In this study, I investigate the extent of the human footprint in the Zambezi Region of Namibia, using …

Influence Of Seasonality And Agricultural Practices On Soil Microbes In Kamishihoro, Japan, Y. Madegwa, Y. Uchida

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Soil microbes are important for maintenance of soil fertility and ecosystem functions. Agricultural practices such as land use, seasonality and fertilizer application effect the soil microbial community structure. However, the effect of these management practices on soil microbes and related functions, especially in one specific region, is still not clear.

Therefore, the study was conducted in Kamishihoro, Japan, to determine effect of land use (cropland, grassland), season (summer, spring) and fertilizer (anaerobic digestate, control) on soil microbial community and functions. Experimental procedure included DNA extraction, quantification, purification, amplification of 16SrRNA (bacterial gene) and Next Generation Sequencing (Ion PGM). Data analysis …

Pervasive Changes In Stream Intermittency Across The United States, Kendra E. Kaiser

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Non-perennial streams are widespread, critical to ecosystems and society, and the subject of ongoing policy debate. Prior large-scale research on stream intermittency has been based on long-term averages, generally using annually aggregated data to characterize a highly variable process. As a result, it is not well understood if, how, or why the hydrology of non-perennial streams is changing. Here, we investigate trends and drivers of three intermittency signatures that describe the duration, timing, and dry-down period of stream intermittency across the continental United States (CONUS). Half of gages exhibited a significant trend through time in at least one of the …

Spatial Variability Of Nonpoint Source Yields In Ozark Highlands Watersheds Under Historical And Recent Land Use Conditions, Tyler J. Pursley

MSU Graduate Theses

Many of the environmental problems facing communities today stem from historical as well as present land use disturbances related to agriculture, urbanization, and resource extraction. It is important to evaluate a range of land use and soil effects on nonpoint source (NPS) pollution to fully understand land use-water quality relationships. The Ozark Highlands region has undergone significant phases of land use change throughout its settlement history and is actively developing today (2020). This study used nonpoint nitrogen (TN), phosphorus (TP), and sediment (TSS) yields predicted by the US EPA’s Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Loads (STEPL) model to evaluate human …

Rangeland Use Changing Effect On Soil Infiltration In Northeastern Of Iran, Hamid Mostafalou, Mohammadreza Tatian, Reza Tamartash, Hamid Jalilvand, Safar Gholi Khajeh

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.