Context Reptiles, especially snakes, can cause a fear reaction in the public and are, therefore, a good model to examine human–wildlife conflicts. Human city dwellers often respond to the presence of snakes or other reptiles by calling out the responsible agency for animal control, which has to mediate the situation. Aims To determine how the temporal and spatial occurrence of human–reptile conflicts were associated with environmental conditions and socio-economic factors in a large Brazilian city (Belo Horizonte).

The objective of this article is to investigate whether it is possible to use Landsat data together with ancillary data and temporal context to accurately identify land covers found in the fallow areas of Montane Mainland Southeast Asia's (MMSEA's) difficult-to-map swidden landscapes. A rule-based non-parametric hybrid classification method that integrates knowledge about the vegetation regrowth patterns in these landscapes with analysis of Landsat imagery is developed. The method is applied to three upland districts of the Nghe An Province, Vietnam.

The past two decades saw rapid and massive urbanization and industrialization in China. Despite much research has been reportedly done at local and regional scales, little has been reported on the trajectories, patterns, and drivers of these two intertwining processes at the national level. This is mainly due to the fact that until recently, high resolution spatial data of land use and land cover change were not available at national level. The research reported in this paper aimed to fill this knowledge gap.

The role of vegetation analysis by remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to support plans for sustainable development is discussed through a proposal of an index of ecosystem “integrity” or of regeneration capacity. The index is based on the vegetation “mass” of a given land cover type and the capacity that such mass has to contrast soil erosion. The index is therefore taking into account the effects of human activities and not merely the state of ecosystems in terms of their components.

A study on different types of bioindicator was carried out to detect river habitat quality in Central Italy. It was investigated the effectiveness of different bioindication models based on three biotic components: (i) vascular plants – hemeroby index for aquatic (Hw) and terrestrial species (Hₛ), and Ellenberg's soil nutrients indicator (N); (ii) aquatic macroinvertebrates – extended biotic index (EBI); (iii) soil microarthropods – index of soil biological quality (QBS-ar).

Regional faunas are structured by historical, spatial and environmental factors. We studied large‐scale variation in four ecologically different beetle groups (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae, Carabidae, Hydrophiloidea, Cerambycidae) along climate, land cover and geographical gradients, examined faunal breakpoints in relation to environmental variables, and investigated the best fit pattern of assemblage variation (i.e. randomness, checkerboards, nestedness, evenly spaced, Gleasonian, Clementsian).

Fecal pollution enters coastal waters through multiple routes, many of which originate from land-based activities. Runoff from pervious and impervious land surfaces transports pollutants from land to sea and can cause impairment of coastal ocean waters. To understand how land use practices and water characteristics influence concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and pathogens in natural waters, fourteen coastal streams, rivers, and tidal lagoons, surrounded by variable land use and animal densities, were sampled every six weeks over two years (2008 & 2009).

Estimation of land use during the Holocene is crucial to understand impacts of human activity on climate change in preindustrial period. Until now it is still a key issue to reconstruct amount and spatial distribution of prehistoric land use due to lack of data. Most reconstructions are simply extrapolations of population, cleared land amount per person and land suitability for agriculture. In this study, a new quantitative prehistoric land use model (PLUM) is developed based on semi-quantitative predictive models of archeological sites.

Dams strongly impair the fluvial environment by altering downstream flows. We analysed riverscapes downstream of three dams and hypothesized that different dam types in rivers with diverse history of land-use and land cover (LULC) change have significant riparian cover differences at diverse biogeomorphic units (banks, riverbanks, islands). We performed a temporal comparison using pre-dam (1965) and post-dam (2013) high-resolution airborne imagery. A new approach was devised to correct the spatial offset between historical and contemporary imagery.

Steppe, an important belt to protect North China from dust storms, is vulnerable and has been degraded in recent decades because of climatic change and heavy grazing. In order to improve steppe management, this study presents a framework for the monitoring of grazing intensity in Xilingol steppe of middle Inner Mongolia, northern China, by integrating the CENTURY ecosystem model-based simulation and remotely sensed MODIS data-based inversion.

The paper gives an overview on the trends in the usage of landscape metrics as indicators for: land use changes, habitat functions (biodiversity, habitats), landscape regulating functions (fire control, microclimate control, etc.), and information functions (landscape aesthetics). We reviewed papers published in international peer-reviewed journals that are indexed by the Institute of Science Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge from 2000 to 2010. The terms “landscape metrics”, “landscape indexes” and “landscape indices” were searched.

Water resources are influenced by various factors such as weather, topography, geology, and environment. Therefore, there are many difficulties in evaluating and analyzing water resources for the future under climate change. In this paper, we consider climate, land cover and water demand as the most critical factors affecting change in future water resources. We subsequently introduce the procedures and methods employed to quantitatively evaluate the influence of each factor on the change in future water resources.