This paper examines environmental disturbances related to energy development in the Orenburg region through a two-pronged approach. First, it ranks environmental performance per 25 administrative districts based on multidimensional clustering of 10 diagnostic indicators. Second, it examines land-use and land-cover (LULC) patterns in nine western administrative districts by classifying Landsat imagery and quantifying surface disturbance for the year 2001. Spatial analysis and descriptive statistics help identify the most disturbed administrative units.

We estimate a system of equation model to understand the factors that influence the loss of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses in the Southeast United States. This is done by analyzing the complex relationship between population, employment, and agricultural land density for the 1990–-2000 period. From the results, it can be noted that growth in employment over time and the expansion of residential housing have to be compromised with the agricultural sector on the use and allocation of land.
Revised version of paper added to AgEcon Search 10/06/05.

Consistent, repeatable and broadly applicable land use, land cover data is needed across the Lake Superior basin to facilitate ecosystem condition assessment and trend analysis. Such a data set collected regularly through time could inform and focus field monitoring efforts, and help prioritize restoration and mitigation efforts. Unfortunately, few data sets exist that are bi-nationally consistent in time, classification method, or resolution.

Coastal wetlands are important contributors to large-lake productivity and biodiversity and mediators of lake—watershed interactions. This study explores whether the size of the watershed in which coastal wetlands are embedded (a measure of strength of connection to the terrestrial landscape) influences their background condition and response to anthropogenic landuse.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the land use, vegetation structure, and diversity in the Barnowpara Sanctuary, Raipur district, Chhattisgarh, India through the use of satellite remote sensing and GIS. Land cover and vegetation were spatially analyzed by digitally classifying IRS 1D LISS III satellite data using a maximum likelihood algorithm. Later, the variations in structure and diversity in different forest types and classes were quantified by adopting quadratic sampling procedures.

The NitroEurope project aims to improve understanding of the nitrogen (N) cycle at the continental scale and quantify the major fluxes of reactive N by a combination of reactive N measurements and modelling activities. As part of the overall measurement strategy, a network of 13 flux 'super sites' (Level-3) has been established, covering European forest, arable, grassland and wetland sites, with the objective of quantifying the N budget at a high spatial resolution and temporal frequency for 4.5 years, and to estimate greenhouse gas budgets (N₂O, CH₄ and CO₂).

Impact assessment of watershed development activity assumes greater importance in present day agriculture. Considering the ability of remote sensing technology in watershed monitoring and impact assessment, a study was carried out to investigate the Impact Assessment of Karnataka Watershed Development Project (DANIDA) in Koralahallihalla Sub watershed in Sindagi taluk of Bijapur district in Northern Karnataka using satellite data of two periods i.e., IRS 1 C, LISS-III data of 30 December, 1997 (pre-treatment) and IRS P6, LISS-III data of 17 December, 2004 (post-treatment).

In the last decades, due to climate changes, soil deterioration and land use/land cover (LULC) changes, land degradation (LD) has become one of the most important issues at the global, regional and local scale. In concrete terms, LD determines a reduction in the productivity of a territory and in its capacity of providing ecosystem goods and services. “Syndromes” of LD can be assessed in the past, and scenarios, conversely, can be developed for the future, as information baselines for sustainable land management strategies and interventions.

Observational evidence of the impacts of land use/land cover change (LULCC) on changes in surface solar radiation (SSR) in eastern China (EC) during 1979–2008 are identified by using diurnal temperature range as a proxy of SSR and by using observation minus reanalysis approach to disentangle these effects. For the period 1979–2008, the impact of LULCC is shown as a reduction in SSR in most stations in EC, whereas SSR in the reanalysis data has increased at nearly every location.