As in many other developing countries, cities in Bangladesh have witnessed rapid urbanization, resulting in increasing amounts of land being taken over and therefore land cover changing at a faster rate. Until now, however, few efforts have been made to document the impact of land use and land cover changes on the climate, environment, and ecosystem of the country because of a lack of geospatial data and time-series information.

The abandonment of traditional rural life in mountain areas has favoured the expansion of forest in the headwaters of Pyrenean rivers. In this paper, we (i) analyse hydro‐climatic trends at the annual and monthly scales in three nested sub‐catchments in a central Pyrenean basin and (ii) quantify the relative contribution of climate change and forest cover on the observed changes in runoff. Land use maps indicate an increase in the forest cover in all sub‐basins for the period 1987–2009.

Urbanization is a global phenomenon with still unknown consequences for vegetation dynamics of urban ecosystems, especially in subtropical areas of developing countries. In this paper we analyze the vegetation productivity trend associated to urban densification and urban expansion during the last decade, in twelve cities of northern Argentina. We used time series analysis of MODIS-NDVI images to reconstruct the phenological patterns to retrieve a productivity trend under three spatial classes of urban dynamics: (1) urban, (2) expansion and (3) periphery.

Effectively identifying soil properties in relation to non-point source (NPS) phosphorus pollution is important for NPS pollution management. Previous studies have focused on particulate P loads in relation to agricultural non-point source pollution. In areas undergoing rapid urbanization, dissolved P loads may be important with respect to conditions of surface infiltration and rainfall runoff. The present study developed an integrated model for the analysis of both dissolved P and particulate P loads, applied to the Meiliang Bay watershed, Taihu Lake, China.

(1) Land‐use intensification in agricultural landscapes has led to changes in the way habitats and resources are distributed in space. Pests and their natural enemies are influenced by these changes, and by the farming intensity of crop fields. However, it is unknown whether the composition of landscapes (amount and diversity of land cover types) or their configuration (spatial arrangement of cover types) are more important for natural enemy diversity, and how they impact crop damage and yields. In addition, effects of interactions between local farming practices (organic vs.

CONTEXT: Tropical forest regeneration is increasingly prominent as agro-pastoral lands are abandoned. Regeneration is characterised as favouring ‘marginal’ lands; however, observations of its drivers are often coarse or simple, leaving doubt as to spatial dynamics and causation. OBJECTIVES: We quantified the spatial dynamics of forest regeneration relative to marginality and remnant forest cover in a 3000 km² pastoral region in northern tropical Australia.

CONTEXT: The Mongolian Plateau, comprising Inner Mongolia, China (IM) and Mongolia (MG) is undergoing consistent warming and accelerated land cover/land use change. Extensive modifications of water-limited regions can alter ecosystem function and processes; hence, it is important to differentiate the impacts of human activities and precipitation dynamics on vegetation productivity. OBJECTIVES: This study distinguished between human-induced and precipitation-driven changes in vegetation cover on the plateau across biome, vegetation type and administrative divisions.

Land use/land cover changes (LULCCs) represent the result of the complex interaction between biophysical factors and human activity, acting over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. The aim of this work is to quantify the role of biophysical factors in constraining the trajectories of land abandonment and urbanization in the last 50 years.

Loglinear models for three-dimensional contingency tables was used with data from 21 rainfall stations and 7 hydrometric stations in the Luanhe river basin, northeast China, for short term prediction of drought severity class. Loglinear models were fitted to drought class transitions derived from standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized runoff index (SRI) time series to find which series was more suitable for hydrological drought class prediction 1 and 2 months ahead, respectively.

The Member States of the European Union have committed to the maintenance and protection of forest lands. More precisely, the Member States aim to ensure the sustainable development and management of the EU's forests. For 2013, Eurostat's statistics about primary and secondary wood products in the European forest land (65% thereof privately owned) estimate a roundwood production of 435 millionm3 in total. Harmonised information, i.e., spatially and temporarily differentiated, on forestry and wood harvesting activities in the European forests are missing however.

Forest fragmentation constitutes one of the main consequences of land cover change worldwide. Through this process gaps in habitat coverage are created and the ability of populations in the remaining fragments to maintain themselves is put in doubt. Hence, two options need to be considered: conserving the remaining forest fragments, and restoring habitat in some deforested patches with the aim of reestablishing the connections among the fragments. We established a mathematical index (SIR) that describes the suitability of individual habitat patches for restoration within a landscape.

Accurate representation of actual terrestrial surface types at regional to global scales is an important element for many applications.