This study investigates land cover change and land ownership turnover in an area that is both the agricultural frontier and a priority conservation zone, the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SLNP), Petén, Guatemala. The goal is to understand how the agricultural frontier changes over time with regard to population, household characteristics, and land use. This study analyzes panel-data consis...

Over 4,000 plant species parasitize other plants to obtain water and nutrients. A few of these species have become weedy posing a tremendous threat to agriculture. The most damaging to annual crops are the root parasitic weeds, particularly broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.) and witchweeds (Striga spp.), which are extended over large agricultural areas in Europe, Africa and Asia. A pro...

Global food demand is increasing rapidly, as are the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion. Here, we project global demand for crop production in 2050 and evaluate the environmental impacts of alternative ways that this demand might be met. We find that per capita demand for crops, when measured as caloric or protein content of all crops combined, has been a similarly increasing funct...

Since its isolation in 1966 in Kenya, rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) has been reported throughout Africa resulting in one of the economically most important tropical plant emerging diseases. A thorough understanding of RYMV evolution and dispersal is critical to manage viral spread in tropical areas that heavily rely on agriculture for subsistence. Phylogenetic analyses have suggested a relati...

A vegetation cover increase has been identified at global scales using satellite images and vegetation indices. This fact is usually explained by global climatic change processes such as CO(2) and temperature increases. Nevertheless, although these causes can be important, the role of socioeconomic transformations must be considered in some places, since in several areas of Northern Hemisphere ...

Finding an optimal balance between livestock production and grazing impact on animal diversity is important for the development of sustainable grazing systems. This paper tests the hypothesis that extensification of grazing management enhances animal diversity. Similar treatments were applied over a period of three years to sites in the UK, France, Germany and Italy. There were three treatments...

This paper aims to determine the landscape development trends of Central Lika and analyze their interrelation with observed demographic inter-census changes. For this purpose, Landsat multispectral images census data Croatian Bureau Statistics were used for both years, appropriate methods analysis selected. In satellite images, an approach was that involves use sets are related spring autumn. U...

Agroforests are of well-known importance for biodiversity conservation, especially in the tropics, because they structurally stable and may resemble natural forests. Previous studies have characterized jointly taxonomic, functional phylogenetic diversity these agro-ecosystems to comprehensively examine mechanisms by which agriculture impacts on biodiversity. However, this approach has been bare...