On 8 October 2005, a devastating earthquake struck northern Pakistan and several parts of Pakistani- and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The severely hit areas lie in close proximity to the most tectonically active region of the western Himalayas. The earthquake destroyed close to 400 000 houses and over 75 000 people lost their lives. The intensity of the earthquake was such that it triggered widespread landslides, which caused considerable destruction of the area's forests, and blocked the mountain roads and rivers.

Land cover is considered to have significant influence on the hydrologic response of a river basin. In this study, we assessed how changes in land cover over time affected flood behaviour from 1988 to 2005, in the Upper Ping River Basin, northern Thailand. We correlated the types of land cover with rainfall–runoff behaviour for smaller and larger flood events taking place during this period. To quantify land cover, nine Landsat 5 TM images taken during the dry season (January or February) were obtained and processed to examine inter-annual land cover changes.

BACKGROUND: South America is one of the most species diverse continents in the world. Within South America diversity is not distributed evenly at both local and continental scales and this has led to the recognition of various areas with unique species assemblages. Several schemes currently exist which divide the continental-level diversity into large species assemblages referred to as biomes.

We present the first comprehensive multi-temporal analysis of land-cover change for California across its major ecological regions and primary land-cover types. Recently completed satellite-based estimates of land-cover and land-use change information for large portions of the United States allow for consistent measurement and comparison across heterogeneous landscapes. Landsat data were employed within a pure-panel stratified one-stage cluster sample to estimate and characterize land-cover change for 1973-2000.

Land use and land cover change, perhaps the most significant anthropogenic disturbance to the environment, mainly due to rapid urbanization/industrialization and large scale agricultural activities. In this paper, an attempt has been made to appraise land use/land cover changes over a century (1914–2007) in the Neyyar River Basin (L=56 km; Area = 483.4 km²) in southern Kerala – a biodiversity hot spot in Peninsular India.

The Aquatic Warbler is a threatened Afro-Palaearctic migrant with a largely unknown distribution in the winter (non-breeding) season. Protection of wintering sites may be crucial for the conservation of the species. Previous studies have identified extensive areas of north-western sub-Saharan Africa that could potentially be occupied by the species during winter. However, these studies have not necessarily differentiated between potentially suitable and unsuitable habitat types at a spatial resolution appropriate for targeting field surveys.

In the present work a computation of wind shear coefficients (WSCs) based on 1-h measured wind data has been performed by three stations located over coastal sites in Southern Italy, i.e., Brindisi (BR), Portoscuso (PS) and Termini Imerese (TI). Wind observations have been collected through a 6-year period (January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2002) by wind mast recording at the same two sensor heights (i.e., 10 and 50m AGL), thus enabling a proper wind profile analysis. WSC overall mean values were found to be 0.271 at BR, 0.232 at PS, and 0.150 at TI.

This work aimed to understand the distribution of five bacterial pathogens in O’ahu coastal streams and relate their presence to microbial indicator concentrations, land cover of the surrounding watersheds, and physical–chemical measures of stream water quality. Twenty-two streams were sampled four times (in December and March, before sunrise and at high noon) to capture seasonal and time of day variation. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio vulnificus, and V. parahaemolyticus were widespread —12 of 22 O’ahu streams had all five pathogens.

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome and contains the headwaters of three major hydrological basins in Brazil. In spite of the biological and ecological relevance of this biome, there is little information about how land use changes affect the chemistry of low-order streams in the Cerrado. To evaluate these effects streams that drain areas under natural, rural, and urban land cover were sampled near Brasília, Brazil. Water samples were collected between September 2004 and December 2006. Chemical concentrations generally followed the pattern of Urban > Rural > Natural.

Many regions are still threatened with frequent floods and water resource shortage problems in China. Consequently, the task of reproducing and predicting the hydrological process in watersheds is hard and unavoidable for reducing the risks of damage and loss. Thus, it is necessary to develop an efficient and cost-effective hydrological tool in China as many areas should be modeled.

This paper presents a novel database of ground and remotely sensed data from the United Kingdom, which is uniquely suited to scaling-up multispectral measurements from a single plot to the scale of satellite sensor observations. Multiple aircraft and satellite sensors were involved, and most of the data were acquired on a single day in June 2006, providing a synoptic view which, at its largest extent, covered most of southern England and Wales.

Mato Grosso has emerged as the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate, and with the most dynamic changes in vegetation and land cover. In this article, we focus on the following two main objectives: (i) to quantitatively assess the extent of vegetation change over the past two decades for more accurate eco-climatic impact analysis; and (ii) to clarify the causes to the changes in this state, with special focus to agro-pastoral activities and roads networks.