Direct applications of remote sensing thermal infrared (TIR) data in landscape ecological research are rare due to limitations in the sensors, calibration, and difficulty in interpretation. Currently there is a general lack of methodology for examining the relationship between land surface temperatures (LST) derived from TIR data and landscape patterns extracted from optical sensors. A separation of landscapes into values directly related to their scale and signature is a key step.

The Queensland Koala Phascolarctos cinereus and possum harvests were regulated from 1906-1927 and 1906-1936, respectively. Before that, there was an uncontrolled harvest. Historical data from the harvest period were analysed to gain information on P. cinereus and possum (mainly Trichosurus vulpecula) population ecology and status. P. cinereusi> numbers peaked in southern Queensland around the turn of the century or in the first decade of the 20th century.

Although the designation of greenbelts around cities has been a common practice for several decades, some greenbelts have not been successfully protected from development. To explore the forces driving the construction of greenbelts, this paper examines how past land use and land cover decisions and current socioeconomic factors have affected the development of the artificial greenbelt zone in China’s Shanghai metropolitan area. Using aerial photographs from 1994, 2005, and 2010, we find that the area of afforested greenbelt was generally related to past land use/cover decisions.

Within the framework of IWRM, a major concern in the humid tropics is the effects of ‘global warming' on the storm rainfall-runoff hydrology of both forests and converted forest lands. Further how such effects need to be incorporated within adaptive, forest-water-land management. But since the mid- 20th century, dramatic changes in land- use (LU) and land cover (LC) have also occurred which have led to rapid rates of deforestation and an expansion of land--forest degradation.

This study aims to evaluate different methods of integrating optical and multipolarized radar data for land use and land cover (LULC) mapping in an agricultural frontier region in the Central Brazilian Amazon, which requires continuous monitoring due to the increasing human intervention. The evaluation is performed using different sets of fused and combined data.

The Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early results from ecological studies within LBA emphasize the variability within the vast Amazon region and the profound effects that land-use and land-cover changes are having on that landscape.

Functional indicators are being increasingly used to assess waterway health but their responses to pressure in non-wadeable rivers have not been widely documented or applied in modern survey designs that provide unbiased estimates of extent. This study tests the response of river metabolism and loss in cotton strip tensile strength across a land use pressure gradient in non-wadeable rivers of northern New Zealand, and reports extent estimates for river metabolism and decomposition rates.

We used boosted regression trees (BRT) to model stream biological condition as measured by benthic macroinvertebrate taxonomic completeness, the ratio of observed to expected (O/E) taxa. Models were developed with and without exclusion of rare taxa at a site. BRT models are robust, requiring few assumptions compared with traditional modeling techniques such as multiple linear regression.

The economic value of pasture improvement in a farming system in a Mediterranean-type environment is assessed using farm modelling. Bioeconomic modelling combined with sensitivity analysis is used to explore how new annual legume species may impact on farm profit and land use. If introduced on all suitable soils the new pastures lead to a 26% increase in farm profit with an additional 12% of farm area being switched into pasture to support more livestock. However, stocking rates decline slightly, the enterprise mix becomes less diversified and several rotational changes are required.