This paper presents an objective approach for quantifying the amount of mangrove loss caused by expansion of shrimp farms in three villages of Krabi Province, Thailand. Landsat images from three time periods of shrimp farm development (pre-shrimp farms – 1989, development – 2001, and post-development – 2007) were analyzed using unsupervised classification algorithm. A post-classification change detection comparison approach revealed only moderate mangrove exploitation and shrimp farms, which displaced a variety of land-cover types in addition to mangroves.

South Atlantic coastal plain streams are unique and understudied freshwater environments that provide crucial habitats for a wide range of aquatic taxa. We investigated patterns in fish assemblages across South Carolina's coastal plain, and developed statistical models to identify the dominant multiscale abiotic environmental factors that influence assemblage structure.

Questions: Which are the factors that influence forest and shrubland loss and regeneration and their underlying drivers? Location: Central Chile, a world biodiversity hotspot. Methods: Using land-cover data from the years 1975, 1985, 1999 and 2008, we fitted classification trees and multiple logistic regression models to account for the relationship between different trajectories of vegetation change and a range of biophysical and socio-economic factors.

Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) hyperspectral imagery was acquired over the Little Miami River Watershed in Ohio, USA, which was one of the largest hyperspectral image acquisitions. A hierarchical approach was employed using two different classification algorithms: ‘image object segmentation’ for level 1 and ‘spectral angle mapper’ (SAM) for level 2. This classification scheme was developed to overcome the spectral inseparability of urban and rural features and to deal with radiometric distortions due to cross-track illumination.

Export-oriented shrimp aquaculture appeared in the coastal landscape of Peru in the late 1970s. Its rapid development has entailed both positive and negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts across the newly emerging shrimp farming territory of the Tumbes river delta. Here we combine ground surveys and interviews with remote sensing analysis of the transformed environment in order to characterize and quantify the nature, origin and scale of the environmental and social impacts caused by the intrusion of aquaculture.

In Mediterranean mountains, the abandonment of traditional land-uses is promoting a rapid forest expansion. This trend may be exacerbated by nature reserves, which further limit human disturbance in mountain contexts. We investigated whether ecological parameters, landscape structure, and management policy influenced vegetation cover/dynamics over a 14-year period in the Pollino National Park, a large protected area in southern Italy. Based on remote sensed and field data we obtained land-cover maps referred to 2004, 1997, and 1990.

The joint effects of poplar biomass productivity and land costs on poplar production economics were compared for 12 Minnesota counties and two genetic groups, using a process-based model (3-PG) to estimate aboveground biomass productivity. The counties represent three levels of productivity which, due to spatial stratification, were analogous to three biomass supplysheds. An optimal rotation age (ORA) was calculated that minimizes the annualized, discounted per-dry megagrams biomass cost for each county, genetic group and land cover, and for two discount rates (5 and 10 %).

Alaria alata is a potential zoonotic parasite, which is widely distributed in Eurasia. To assess the risk of human infection, it is important to know the spatial distribution pattern of the parasite and factors influencing this pattern. To investigate these relationships, 1612 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses were randomly collected from the whole Hungarian territory, and the intestines were examined by sedimentation and counting technique. The spatial distribution of the parasite was highly clumped.

This paper discusses transitions in land use evidenced by the case of the Suoi Muoi catchment area in NW mountain of Vietnam. Land use transitions were detected from LANDSAT and SPOT satellite images taken over the last 40 years. The maps showing changes in land use were linked with biophysical properties of the land such as slope gradient, elevation and soil type, and cultural characteristic of various ethnic groups by means of logistic regression model.

A ca. 2010, 30m resolution map depicting annually tilled areas across the conterminous United States was developed. Input sources included fouryears, spanning 2008–2011, of annual national-level coverage Cropland Data Layer (CDL) land cover classifications as produced by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Derived total land area under tillage from the aggregate CDL product equaled 112.8million hectares (278.7million acres).

Identifying the patterns of land cover change (LCC) and their main proximate causes and underlying driving forces in tropical rainforests is an urgent task for designing adequate management and conservation policies. The Lachuá region maintains the largest lowland rainforest remnant in Guatemala, but it has been highly deforested and fragmented during the last decades. This is the first paper to describe the patterns of LCC and the associated political and socioeconomic factors in the region over the last 50� years.

Although protected areas have become the primary mechanism for biodiversity conservation, their establishment can have long-term impacts on land use, land cover, and livelihoods of people living near them. Where land use and resource extraction is severely limited, local people turn to resource pools outside parks. Kibale National Park in western Uganda is a remnant of a previously larger, mid-altitude forest region surrounded by dense agricultural settlement.