Soil erosion by water is considered a major cause for land degradation in Jordan, where 0.14 cm of productive top soil is eroded annually. This investigation is intended to estimate the annual soil loss in Wadi Kerak watershed, and to examine the spatial patterns of soil loss and intensity, as an essential procedure for proper planning of conservation measures. To achieve these objectives, the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model has been applied in a geographical information system framework.

In the present study, remote sensing techniques, GIS models and field measurements are integrated to identify and map groundwater potential zones at Wadi Yalamlam (Sa’diyah) basin, Makkah Province, Western Saudi Arabia. The study area is located in the Arabian Shield heterogeneous basement terrain. It is characterized by insignificant primary porosity and permeability and is mainly covered by massive and altered gneissose granites, diorite, and gabbro and metamorphosed basalts.

The research of the landscape structure and its changes was carried out in a part of the Horná Orava region. Landscape structure was studied and compared in 2 periods (1958 and 2001). Two types of changes were identified: anthropogenic and succession. Succession processes were spontaneous, anthropogenic-conditioned or successive, which were linked with land use changes, reduction of traditional management of non-forest vegetation (mowing, grazing) and consequent climax succession.

Due to constant decrease in farmlands, it is important to identify the best lands useful for sustainable agriculture (productive and profitable agriculture that protects the environment and that is socially equitable). This requirement has resulted in the development of land suitability maps for agriculture by combining several factors of various natures and of differing importance.

KEY MESSAGE : We compiled 2,458 biomass equations from 168 destructive sampling studies in Indonesia. Unpublished academic theses contributed the largest share of the biomass equations. The availability of the biomass equations was skewed to certain regions, forest types, and species. Further research is necessary to fill the data gaps in emission factors and to enhance the implementation of climate change mitigation projects and programs.

Recent advances in ecological modeling have focused on novel methods for characterizing the environment that use presence-only data and machine-learning algorithms to predict the likelihood of species occurrence. These novel methods may have great potential for land suitability applications in the developing world where detailed land cover information is often unavailable or incomplete.

Accelerated soil erosion, high sediment yields, floods and debris flow are serious problems in many areas of Iran, and in particular in the Golestan dam watershed, which is the area that was investigated in this study. Accurate land use and land cover (LULC) maps can be effective tools to help soil erosion control efforts.

Best management practices (BMPs) have been widely used in managing agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANSP) at the watershed level. Most BMPs are related to land use, tillage management, and fertilizer levels. In total, seven BMP scenarios (Reforest1, Reforest2, No Tillage, Contour tillage, and fertilizer level 1–4) that are related to these three factors were estimated in this study.

Competing uses of land mean that regulations aimed at environmental conservation often conflict with the land-use rights of rural households. Several reports suggest that this has occurred with the introduction of the Natural Forest Protection Programme (NFPP) in China, one of the world's largest logging ban programmes. This paper investigates whether households should be compensated for infringements on property rights, drawing on institutional economics literature on regulation.

Smart growth is an approach to urban planning that provides a framework for making community development decisions. Despite its growing use, it is not known whether smart growth can impact physical activity. This review utilizes existing built environment research on factors that have been used in smart growth planning to determine whether they are associated with physical activity or body mass.

The influence of land use patterns on water quality in a river system is scale‐dependent. In this study, a four‐order hierarchical arrangement method was used to select water sampling sites and to delineate sub‐basins in the Daliao River Basin, China. The 20 sub‐basins were classified into four spatial scales that represented four different stream orders. Pearson correlation analysis was used to quantify relationships between land use composition and the river's physical‐chemical variables for all samples collected.

Global biodiversity is changing rapidly driven by human alteration of habitat, and nowhere this is more dramatic than in insular habitats. Yet land-cover change is a complex phenomenon that not only involves habitat destruction but also forest recovery over different time scales. Therefore, we might expect species to respond in diverse ways with likely consequences for the reorganization of regional assemblages. These changes, however, may be different in tropical islands because of their low species richness, generalist habits and high proportion of endemics.