The purpose of this research was to determine whether indirect land use occurs and if so to what extent. Indirect land use is a change from non-cropland to cropland (e.g. deforestation) that may occur in response to increasing scarcity of cropland. As farmers worldwide respond to higher crop…
The economic and land use consequences of US biofuel programs and their contributions to GHG emissions have been the focal point of many debates and research studies in recent years. However, most of these studies focused on the land use emissions due to the first generation of biofuels such as…
The increased frequency and severity of large wildfires in the western United States is an important ecological and management issue with direct relevance to amphibian conservation. Although the knowledge of fire effects on amphibians in the region is still limited relative to most other…
Market-based strategies are promoted as neoliberal governance solutions to environmental problems, from local to global scales. Tradable mitigation schemes are proliferating. These include species banking, which enables payments for the purchase of species credits awarded to conserved areas to…
Effective management of small expanding populations is aided by the availability of reliable estimates of distribution, as well as by demographic characteristics such as population density, genetic diversity and sex ratio. The range of the black bear Ursus americanus in the southeastern United…
Bioenergy is a renewable form of potential alternative to traditional fossil fuels that has come to the forefront as a result of recent concerns over high price of fuels, national security, and climate change. Nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners form the dominant forest ownership…
A novel approach to image radiometric normalization for change detection is presented. The approach referred to as stratified relative radiometric normalization (SRRN) uses a time-series of imagery to stratify the landscape for localized radiometric normalization. The goal is to improve the…
This research examined the spatial and temporal patterns of error in time-series classified maps as a first step to creating a model to propagate error in post-classification change analysis. Two Landsat images were acquired for Pittsfield Township, MI, USA, classified, and overlaid to produce a…
Reference data and accuracy assessments via error matrices build the foundation for measuring success of classifications. An error matrix is often based on the traditional holdout method that utilizes only one training/test dataset. If the training/test dataset does not fully represent the…
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…
Competition for land between agriculture and urban uses is a global problem. Until recently, planners and policy makers have relied on regulatory ‘command and control’ planning approaches; however, there is growing interest in the use of market-based instruments to address natural resource…
Long-term records from USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges (EF&Rs) are exceptionally valuable scientific resources and common ground for research in natural resource management. Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Southern Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, is…