Macroinvertebrate species composition data are often expressed as proportional abundances when assessing water-quality conditions or responses to disturbance. Proportional abundances represent the probability of belonging to one of many mutually exclusive and exhaustive groups (taxa). Proportional abundances have some unique properties that must be considered when analyzing these data: 1) the probabilities of group membership must sum to 1 and 2) a change in any 1 group affects all other groups.

This work describes the methodological approach used for mapping the potential infiltration areas of the Guaratinguetá watershed (160 km2), situated in Southeastern Brazil. The method is considered a qualitative approach, which takes into account thematic maps (geology, pedology, geomorphology, and land use/land cover) and the precipitation spatial distribution. A group of experts in Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering has applied an infiltration potential scale factor that ranges from 5 (highest influence) to 1 (lowest influence).

Land use and land cover changes (LUCC) are recognized as one of the most relevant drivers of biodiversity loss in ecosystems. Through the analysis of satellite images, this article quantifies the LUCC that occurred between 1985 and 2008 in the Colombian Andes. Four submodels of changes were analyzed: deforestation, crop intensification, conversion to pastures, and abandonment.

Groundwater vulnerability assessment is an important task in water resources and land management. The most sophisticated among the vulnerability assessment techniques is the GIS-based DRASTIC model. However, despite its popularity, it is marred with excessive subjectivity glitches; little research has been conducted to address the shortcomings associated with this method. This study investigates various issues regarding the application of the GIS-based DRASTIC model through a critical review of relevant literatures.

Conservation and monitoring of forest biodiversity requires reliable information about forest structure and composition at multiple spatial scales. However, detailed data about forest habitat characteristics across large areas are often incomplete due to difficulties associated with field sampling methods. To overcome this limitation we employed a nationally available light detection and ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing dataset to develop variables describing forest landscape structure across a large environmental gradient in Switzerland.

On the basis of research and the data of large-scale soil mapping of the old drained territories new threshold values of the organic substance content in peat-mineral horizon for branch degraded histosols from agropeat soils are presented in the conditions of the Republic of Belarus. In course of the study there were analyzed arable peat soils and residual glezative degroturfzems (peat and inorganic soil, mineral and residual turf, mineral and post-turf ones).

This paper examines the combined effects of catchment complexity in terms of physiography, land use patterns, and lithology on the export of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and dissolved silica from heterogeneous nested catchments in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. Using results from water quality monitoring at 24 sampling sites, we determined the first-order controls on these fluxes.

Complexity embedded in coastal management leads to numerous questions as to how inherent spatial and temporal linkages among evapotranspiration (ET), depth to groundwater and land-use/land-cover change (LUCC) could affect the dynamics among these seemingly unrelated events. This article aims to address such unique dynamics in the nexus of physical geography and ecohydrology.

The gap between point measurements made during a measurement campaign and the required discrete data of human thermal comfort in the form of maps could be overcome by statistical or numerical models. City planners usually demand thermal maps with a resolution below 50m. The required input data for the statistical models were meteorological data at high resolution as well as land use and land cover data including morphological data. Meteorological data were obtained through car traverses on a measuring campaign on hot summer days in July 2014.

The aim of this study is to produce georeferenced ecological information about the suitable habitats available for gaur Bos gaurus in Chandoli tiger reserve, India (17° 04′ 00″ N to 17° 19′ 54″ N and 73° 40′ 43″ E to 73° 53′ 09″ E). Habitat suitability index (H.S.I.) was developed using multiple logistic regression (MLR) integrated with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS).

The Cerrados of central Brazil have undergone profound landscape transformation in recent decades due to agricultural expansion, and this remains poorly assessed. The present research investigates the spatial-temporal rates and patterns of land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes in one of the main areas of agricultural production in Mato Grosso State (Brazil), the region of Primavera do Leste. To quantify the different aspects of LULC changes (e.g.

Economic globalization manifests in landscapes through regional integration initiatives involving trans-boundary infrastructure. While the relationships of roads, accessibility and land cover are well-understood, they have rarely been considered across borders in national frontier regions. We therefore pursue an analysis of infrastructure connectivity and land cover change in the tri-national frontier of the southwestern Amazon where Bolivia, Brazil and Peru meet, and where the Inter-Oceanic Highway has recently been paved.