Habitat specialists living in metapopulations are sensitive to habitat fragmentation. In most studies, the effects of fragmentation on such species are analyzed based on Euclidean inter-patch distances. This approach, however, ignores the role of the landscape matrix. Recently, therefore, functional distances that account for the composition of the landscape surrounding the habitat patches have been used more frequently as indicators for patch occupancy.

This work evaluates the changes of nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃-N), ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄-N), total phosphorus (P) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations in stream waters as related to the land use/land cover (LULC) alterations within eight small (5–39� km²) tile-drained catchments in the southern part of The Czech Republic in the period 1993–2010, when massive grassing of arable land took place. The robust tools of seasonal Mann–Kendall trend test and LOcally WEighted Scatterplot Smoothing methods were employed to reveal trends of the monitored parameters with adjustment to hydrology.

We explore and compare quantities and patterns of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in protected forest and neighboring land around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (a mountain protected area in Southwestern Uganda). We assessed paired sites of natural forest and major land uses (potato, tea and grazing lands) converted between 1973 and 2010. These pairings were replicated at three altitudinal zones. Plots (20m by 50m) were demarcated within each site. Five composite soil and core samples were obtained from 0 to 15cm (top-soil) and 15–30cm (sub-soil) at each plot.

China has a long history of deforestation and environmental degradation. Because China is also lacking biological reserves, off-reserve conservation is a major contributor to its conservation efforts. Off-reserve conservation in China is primarily being achieved within afforestation and low-intensity agriculture. We compare ant diversity of three habitats: Natural Forest, Disturbed Forest and Plantation, to assess the conservation potential of these multiple land uses.

Agricultural land suitability evaluation for crop production is a process that requires specialized geo-environmental information and the expertise of a computer scientist to analyze and interpret the information. This paper presents ALSE, an intelligent system for assessing land suitability for different types of crops in tropical and subtropical regions (e.g. mango, banana, papaya, citrus, and guava) based on geo-environmental factors that automates the process of evaluation and illustrates the results on an attribute table.

PURPOSE: Soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is an important soil physical property. Single- and multi-fractal models are increasingly used to characterize soil properties and may provide additional information. The Yellow River Delta is one of the best representative examples of river ecosystem wetlands in the world. In this area, different land resource development patterns strongly influence soil structure and fertility.

Mono-cropping is the most common farming practice followed in the North Eastern Hilly Region (NEHR) of India and farmers leave the land fallow after harvesting the main crop. The identification of suitable sequential crops is essential to increase the cropping intensity, land-use efficiency and overall productivity of the land. Therefore, a study was carried out during 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 on maize (rainy season) followed by table pea, mustard, French bean and groundnut (post rainy season). Sequence crops were imposed with paddy straw mulch at 5.0 t ha⁻¹ and without mulch.

The Yangtze River is the China’s longest river and the third-longest river in the world. The river’s source region in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is especially sensitive to global environmental change because of its high elevation and cold environment. Under the influence of global warming, aeolian desertified land has expanded rapidly in this area. To assess the trends in aeolian desertification from 1975 to 2005, remote-sensing and GIS technology were used to monitor the extent of aeolian desertification in 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2005.

A multivariate clustering approach combined with geomatics was applied to delineate and define homogeneous zones (terroir units) within the premium Denomination of Guaranteed Origin Colline Teramane winegrowing area, in the Teramo Province, Italy. A geographical information system (GIS) architecture was set up to incorporate the main factors affecting the geographical differentiation of land capability. Vine-related environmental indices and parameters were interpolated and incorporated in the GIS.

This article presents a raster-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tool called CN-Idris that outputs runoff estimates from land use/land cover and hydrologic soil group maps based on the Natural Resources Conservation Service Curve Number method. The tool enables the user to select among three antecedent moisture conditions and two values of the initial abstraction (Iₐ) parameter, and it has the option to include spatial variation in rainfall input.

The structure and function of network is a central issue in landscape ecology. Road networks with hierarchical structure are crucial for understanding landscape dynamics. In this study, we compared the distribution of national road, provincial road, county road and rural road in the Three Parallel Rivers Region (TPRR) in Yunnan Province of China, and estimated the effect of roads (and other factors) on the spatial patterns of land use and land cover with logistic regression.

Li, Y., Han, J., Wang, S., Brandle, J., Lian, J., Luo, Y. and Zhang, F. 2014. Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage under different land uses in the Naiman Banner, a semiarid degraded region of northern China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 94: 9–20. Accurate investigation of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) storage at a regional level is important for detecting changes in the C and N sequestration and emission potentials induced by land-use and cover type changes.