Approximately 20% of novel emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and 50% of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases have been attributed to land-use change. It is a clear threat to global biodiversity and ecosystem services and a key driver of EIDs. The project investigates the mechanisms underlying disease emergence by assessing the impacts of land-use change, measured as forest fragmentation, on viral diversity and bat host assemblages.

A model of land allocation at the aggregate watershed level was developed assuming profit/net benefit maximization under risk neutrality. The econometric land use model was analyzed as an equation by equation SURE model as all the independent variables were the same for both equations. In analyzing effect of land use change on water quality, we took year 2005 as our baseline and postulated three land use scenarios.

Global harvested area of crops has expanded (+8%) in the period of 2004-2011. Nevertheless, some crops such as maize, sugarcane, and oilseeds expanded area more rapidly than the average rise. Although, some economists attribute this effect to biofuel production, economy also has encouraged expansion in cropland to satisfy food demand. This paper analyzes the impact that biofuel production and economic variables has had on harvested area for corn, sugar, and oilseeds.

Climate change, coupled with biofuels development and other factors may well be changing US land usage patterns. We use a spatial econometric approach to estimate the drivers of US land use transitions in recent years. We consider transitions between six major land uses: agricultural land, forest, grassland, water, urban, and other uses. To examine drivers, we use a two-step linearized, spatial, multinomial logit model and estimate land use transition probabilities.

The conversion of lands used for food crop production to other uses, the ongoing expansion of cultivated areas, and the situation of unused or under-used cropland in Cambodia needs to become closely regulated. The problem of unused and under-used agricultural lands being held for speculative purposes requires serious attention. Specific policy actions could include promulgating agricultural land law and land-use regulations and creating a national Agricultural Land Research and Development authority. These and other recommendations are proposed in this policy brief.

We present a Bayesian method that simultaneously identifies the model structure and calibrates the parameters of a cellular automaton (CA). The method entails sequential assimilation of observations, using a particle filter. It employs prior knowledge of experts to define which processes might be important in the system, and uses empirical information from observations to identify which ones really are and how these processes should be parameterized.

Process-based spatio-temporal component models simulate real world processes, using encapsulated process representations that operate at individual spatial and temporal discretisations. These component models act as building blocks in the construction of multi-disciplinary, multi-scale integrated models. Coupling these independent component models, however, involves aggregation or disaggregation of the exchanged variables at model runtime, since each of the component models exposes potentially different spatial and temporal discretisations.

Colonisation by, and spread of, animal species from the temperate zone are rather uncommon observations in the tropics. The study provides the first reports of two snail species of the genus Zonitoides in Sabah, Borneo, namely Z. arboreus (Say, 1819) and Z. nitidus (O.F. Muller, 1774). The identification was aided using partial sequences of 28S rDNA, and the barcoding sequence of COI. So far, the two Zonitoides species were found in locations where the natural forest cover had been disturbed, and only in the montane forest at elevations between 1500 and 2000 m a.s.l..

This is the first paper that estimates the global land use change impact of growth of the bioenergy sector. Applying time-series analytical mechanisms to fuel, biofuel and agricultural commodity prices and production, we estimate the long-rung relationship between energy prices, bioenergy production and the global land use change. Our results suggest that rising energy prices and bioenergy production significantly contribute to the global land use change both through the direct and indirect land use change impact.

This is the rst paper that estimates the global land use change impact of growth of the bioenergy sector. Applying time-series analytical mechanisms to fuel, biofuel and agricultural commodity prices and production, we estimate the long-rung relationship between energy prices, bioenergy production and the global land use change. Our results suggest that rising energy prices and bioenergy production signicantly contribute to the global land use change both through the direct and indirect land use change impact.

A study is conducted to describe the historical overview of agricultural land use in Malaysia with the aim of identifying the challenges of agricultural land use in a dynamic economic system. Economic policies were explained with major policies instruments. The effects of these policies on patterns of agricultural land use in 1960–2005 were assessed. Findings identified three broad economic eras in Malaysia: Agricultural (1960-1974); Industrial (1975-1999) and Urbanization eras (2000-date).

IAI projects funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Canada's IDRC included support of research in the La Plata Basin, which has experienced extensive land use changes. Projects examine the effects of hydrological and climate change on agriculture, as well as how land use feeds back into effects on regional hydrology and climate, both economically and socially. Several articles in this newsletter present results of these interactions, such as an economic analysis of flooding, effects on soil carbon stocks, and drivers of land use change.