this study was performed with objective land cover change prediction (forest, agriculture, residential and orchard) using logistic regression and markov chain in the gis environment in east of mazandaran province. land cover change detected using satellite imageries belonging to the years 1987 and 2001. transition potential modeling was conducted using a logistic regression. seven variables (de...

Understanding and monitoring ecological impacts of the expanding agricultural industry in Belize is an important step in conservation action. To compare possible alterations in herpetofaunal communities due to these anthropogenic changes, trapping arrays were set in a manicured orchard, a reclaimed orchard and a lowland broadleaf forest in Stann Creek district at Toucan Ridge Ecology and Educat...

Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot threatened by habitat loss, which is detrimental to the future survival of forest-dwelling herpetofauna. For conservation purposes, it is essential to determine how species respond to different types of anthropogenic habitat alteration. We conducted standardized field surveys (a variation of visual encounter survey) to assess species richness, abundance and ...

The effects of land management including sugarcane, horticultural crops (citrus, avocado and banana), forestry (gum, wattle and pine), kikuyu pasture, native forest and native grassland on the size and composition of the earthworm community on sugarcane estates in northern KwaZulu-Natal was investigated. Earthworm numbers followed the order: burnt sugarcane < trashed sugarcane = grassveld = gum...

Remotely sensed images including LANDSAT, SPOT, NAIP orthoimagery, and LiDAR and relevant processing tools can be used to predict plant stomatal conductance (gs), leaf area index (LAI), and canopy temperature, vegetation density, albedo, and soil moisture using vegetation indices like normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) or soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) developed with near infr...

In recent years, both airborne and terrestrial laser scanning developed to a standard technique for acquiring information on terrestrial landscapes. Here forest inventory and orchard management is considered. Inventory and parameterization of individual trees in orchards and forests are of large interest in nowadays society because of the potential of economical maximization of orchard producti...

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) is an important conifer in much of the southeastern United States. However, the species and its associated ecosystems are in decline, and recent evidence about hybridization with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) raises concerns that the species may be at risk of further losses due to introgression. Although shortleaf pine is not widely planted for timber prod...

Nascent U.S. carbon markets reward farmers for reforesting agricultural land, with consequent ecological co-benefits. We use a dynamic optimization model to determine the likelihood of an orchard farmer in northern California converting to forest under 90 plausible future scenarios. We find reforestation to be a highly unlikely outcome, occurring only 18.5% of the time under the most favorable ...

An intensive investigation was conducted to study the distribution of trace metals in surface soils of Hong Kong and to assess the soil environmental quality. From results of cluster analysis, and comparisons among soil types and areas, it is clearly shown that increases in trace metal concentrations in the soils were generally extensive and obvious in urban and orchard soils, less so in vegeta...

To prevent environmental degradation, China’s central government launched the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. Since its beginning, the effects and influences of the GGP have been hotly debated among domestic and international scholars and policymakers. This paper is taking the County of Yanchuan in the Loess Plateau as a case study, examines the spatio-temporal patterns of cropland con...