Classifying multi-temporal image data to produce thematic maps and quantify land cover changes is one of the most common applications of remote sensing. Mapping land cover changes at the regional level is essential for a wide range of applications including land use planning, decision making, land cover database generation, and as a source of information for sustainable management of natural resources.

AIM: New conservation approaches that account for broad‐scale ecological processes must underpin decisions about conservation planning in the world's remaining wilderness areas. Our goal is to make the relevant tools and methods that have been developed by conservation scientists accessible to conservation practitioners working towards wilderness preservation. LOCATION: Wilderness areas, in particular the North American boreal region.

Liu, X., Burras, C. L., Kravchenko, Y. S., Duran, A., Huffman, T., Morras, H., Studdert, G., Zhang, X., Cruse, R. M. and Yuan, X. 2012. Overview of Mollisols in the world: Distribution, land use and management. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 383–402. Mollisols – a.k.a., Black Soils or Prairie Soils – make up about 916 million ha, which is 7% of the world's ice-free land surface. Their distribution strongly correlates with native prairie ecosystems, but is not limited to them. They are most prevalent in the mid-latitudes of North America, Eurasia, and South America.

In this study, Land Capability Classification (LCC) and Suitability Classification for Irrigated Agriculture (SCIC) were conducted for Aksu-Mand�rlar Research and Application Area (Antalya) that belong to Akdeniz University.

Bu �al��mada, Akdeniz �niversitesi Aksu-Mand�rlar Ara�t�rma ve Uygulama Arazilerinin ideal kullan�mlar�n�n sa�lanmas� i�in Arazi Yetenek S�n�flamas� (AYS) ile Sulu Tar�ma Uygunluk S�n�flamas� (STUS) yap�lm��t�r.

Urban sprawl and a policy of converting farmland to woodland and grassland in the fragile ecological environments of the Loess Plateau of China can cause complex land use changes that significantly affect ecosystem services and functions. This study investigated changes in ecosystem services in response to land use changes caused primarily by human activities in Taiyuan City, the capital of Shanxi Province. Our aim was to provide guidance for sustainable urban development in fragile ecological environments undergoing rapid urbanization.

Dramatic land use change is expected to take place in China in the coming decades, which will exert great impact on the vegetation biomass. The paper assesses how land use change will influence the size and spatial distribution of the vegetation biomass in China. A spatially explicit land use change model, Dyna-CLUE, is employed together with a biomass density approach to account for the effects of forest age on biomass change. Two scenarios have been developed.

1. The progression of approaches in systematic conservation planning from representation to representation and persistence has greatly enhanced its potential applicability to freshwaters. However, conceptual frameworks that consolidate principles for incorporating persistence into freshwater conservation planning are still lacking. 2.

Land use activities change the natural functions of a watershed impacting the flow of water and water quality, and impair aquatic ecosystems. Optimal allocation of land use depends on attributes related to terrestrial and aquatic environments. A dynamic model that links land use, overland flow, suspended sediment, and an aquatic species is used to evaluate alternate land use policies. The dwarf wedge mussel that is classified as endangered in the region is used as an indicator species of aquatic health in a watershed in Massachusetts.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is often the cumulative result of individual farmer's decisions. To understand and simulate LUCC as the result of local decisions, multi-agent systems models (MAS) have become a popular technique. However, the definition of agents is not often based on real data, ignoring the inherent diversity of farmers and farm characteristics in rural landscapes. The aim of this paper is to describe an empirical method that defines an agent typology and allocates agents into the different agent types for an entire region.

Assessment of sand encroachment in Kuwait using Geographical Information System (GIS) technology has been formulated as a Multi-Criteria Decision Making problem. The Delphi method and Analytical Hierarchy Process were adopted as evaluating techniques, in which experts' judgments were analyzed for objectively estimating and weighting control factors. Seven triggering factors, depicted in the form of maps, were identified and ordered according to their priority.

The increase of coastal problems as a result of rapid developments and changes brought new planning and management needs into the agenda. The Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) concept developed under the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) includes solutions towards the sustainable use of coastal areas in the Mediterranean Region. Antalya is the province of Turkey with the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. Side- Manavgat coasts of the province are privileged areas with their natural beaches, sand dune forests, rivers and natural and historical relic sites.