NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will carry the first combined spaceborne L-band radiometer and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system with the objective of mapping near-surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw state globally every 2-3 days. SMAP will provide three soil moisture products: i) high-resolution from radar (~3 km), ii) low-resolution from radiometer (~36 km), and iii) intermediate-resolution from the fusion of radar and radiometer (~9 km).

Low rainfall, water scarcity and land degradation severely intimidate the production capacities of the rangelands in the arid environments. Water harvesting focuses on improving the productive use of rainwater on the local scale (field to subcatchment scale) before the runoff water leaves the geographical unit in question. The aim is to mitigate the effects of temporal water shortages to cover both domestic and agricultural needs.

Protected areas (PAs) cover 12� % of terrestrial sub-Saharan Africa. However, given the inherent inadequacies of these PAs to cater for all species in conjunction with the effects of climate change and human pressures on PAs, the future of biodiversity depends heavily on the 88� % of land that is unprotected. The study of biodiversity patterns and the processes that maintain them in human-modified landscapes can provide a valuable evidence base to support science-based policy-making that seeks to make land outside of PAs as amenable as possible for biodiversity persistence.

Vertical vegetation structure in rangeland ecosystems can be a valuable indicator for monitoring rangeland health or progress toward management objectives because of its importance for assessing riparian areas, post-fire recovery, wind erosion, and wildlife habitat. Federal land management agencies are directed to monitor and manage rangelands at landscapes scales, but traditional field methods for measuring vegetation heights are often too costly and time consuming to apply at these broad scales.

In the western United States, livestock grazing often co-exists with recreation, cultural resource management and biodiversity protection on federal and state protected rangelands as well as on many local government open space areas. While the value of livestock grazing for managing rangeland vegetation to reduce fire fuel loads and improve wildlife habitat is increasingly recognized by resource management professionals, public concerns, and conflict between recreationist and livestock have led to reductions in public land grazing.

Pasture rest is a possible strategy for improving land condition in the extensive grazing lands of northern Australia. If pastures currently in poor condition could be improved, then overall animal productivity and the sustainability of grazing could be increased. The scientific literature is examined to assess the strength of the experimental information to support and guide the use of pasture rest, and simulation modelling is undertaken to extend this information to a broader range of resting practices, growing conditions and initial pasture condition.

The classification of land usage in mountain grassland bovine areas is important for the management of forage production and grazing in grass-based livestock systems. The present paper proposes a novel, hierarchical neural network-based approach towards the classification of land usage in these areas. A survey of 72 farms was conducted in the Massif Central (France). Information was gathered on geographical characteristics and cutting and/or grazing practices on three general groups of fields: cut only, cut and grazed and grazed only fields.

The semi-arid grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China have been degraded by long-term grazing. A series of ecological restoration strategies have been implemented to improve grassland service. However, little is known about the effect of these ecological restoration practices on soil carbon and nitrogen storage.