A common approach to the conservation of farmland biodiversity and the promotion of multifunctional landscapes, particularly in landscapes containing only small remnants of non-crop habitats, has been to maintain landscape heterogeneity and reduce land-use intensity. In contrast, it has recently been shown that devoting specific areas of non-crop habitats to conservation, segregated from high-y...

Land use planning often is implemented to control development on forests and farmland, but its impact on land use remains untested. Previous studies evaluating such programs have relied on anecdotal evidence rather than on data describing actual land use change. A model of land use is specified as a function of socioeconomic factors, land rent, and landowners’ characteristics, to examine how we...

Soil salinity negatively impacts the productivity and profitability of western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) farmland. Many factors, including drought, climate change, reduced water allocations, and land-use changes could worsen salinity conditions there, and in other agricultural lands in the state. Mapping soil salinity at regional and state levels is essential for identifying drivers and trends ...

BACKGROUND All organisms may be affected by humans' increasing impact on Earth, but there are many potential drivers of population trends and the relative importance of each remains largely unknown. The causes of spatial patterns in population trends and their relationship with animal responses to human proximity are even less known. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING We investigated the relations...

Species' traits have been used both to explain and, increasingly, to predict species' vulnerability. Trait-based comparative analyses allow mechanisms causing vulnerability to be inferred and, ideally, conservation effort to be focused efficiently and effectively. However, empirical evidence of the predictive ability of trait-based approaches is largely wanting. I tested the predictive power of...

The ecosystem service concept is becoming more and more acknowledged in science and decision-making. Taking an economic valuation approach, we quantified the economic value change of ecosystem services for different land use types in the middle basin of Heihe River, Northwest China. Eight ecosystem services indicators were selected: raw materials production, crop production, gas regulation, hyd...

The socio-economic trends and history of Central Mississippi reveal a major rural influence based upon a dependence on agricultural activities as part of the economic engine driving the state's economy. Yet, in the last several years, the amount of agricultural land in the counties continues to decline. Similar changes in other variables associated with agricultural land use and the continuity ...