Land Management - Science topic

Land managers are challenged with balancing multiple concurrent priorities, including adaptation to the changing climate, reducing or removing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, conserving biodiversity habitat and improving enterprise profit. As such, the demand for innovations that will enhance productivity, profitability and biodiversity while reduc...

zone, which faces increasing environmental challenges due to extensive human activities and climate change. The research employs remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS), land use and land cover (LU/ LC) change detection, watershed analysis, and fieldwork to assess both regional paleo-drainage systems and local basins. The findings...

Social survey research is often used to achieve an improved understanding of land and natural resource management. The question for many land agencies and organisations working to support farmers and other rural landholders is how to gain this information in a scientifically rigorous and cost-effective way. This paper summarises findings from a pur...

Testing the performance of soil erosion models against observational data is a critical step in any model application. This is particularly important when models aid land-management decisions, e.g. planning and implementing soil conservation practices in agricultural landscapes. However, observational erosion data are uncertain and typically restri...

Drained peatlands under intensive agricultural land use are hotspots of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While management intensity and soil water status have been identified as major controlling factors, only few studies focussed on temporal dynamics and the contribution of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and methane (CH 4) to full annual GHG balances, mainl...

Soil erosion is one of the principal drivers of land degradation, with numerous onsite effects on soil availability and quality, and off-site impacts in freshwater environments. The environmental, economic and political impacts of land degradation motivate a comprehensive scientific understanding of the physical processes controlling soil detachmen...

Wildfires are a worldwide phenomenon with many environmental, social, and economic implications, which are expected to escalate as a consequence of climate change and land abandonment, management, and planning, further promoting land degradation and decreasing ecosystem services supply. The current situation demands from the scientific community th...

Indonesia established the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG, now BRGM) in 2016 to address land and forest fire issues through measures to develop and strengthen the implementation of policies to restore some part of the 24 million hectares of the country's damaged peatlands. BRGM was presented as a response to the transboundary haze issue and was ap...

Understanding the distribution of pesticides in the floral landscape is critical for land managers and regulators, particularly since identifying where exposure occurs is critical to pesticide mitigation. In this study, we developed a bee-plant network for a commercial sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) system and the surrounding unmanaged floral habit...

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a critical parameter influencing climate dynamics, ecosystem health, and urban planning, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions like Oyo State, Nigeria. The increasing urbanization has led to concerns about rising temperatures and altered land cover patterns, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of LST's...

Environmental management, particularly in ecologically vulnerable areas sensitive to climate change, such as Northern China, depends crucially on understanding the mechanisms governing changes in vegetation greening. However, the extent of climate change and human activity’s impact on vegetation change remains unclear, hindering effective managemen...

Peak flow characteristics, including magnitude, duration, frequency, time to peak, and timing shift, undergo significant changes following wildfire disturbances. This study synthesizes findings from a diverse range of recent research, encompassing varied physiographic, climatic, and wildfire conditions, as well as applied methodologies to quantify...

Increasing weather variability and climate change are contributing to land and natural/env'tal resource degradation by exposing soils to extreme conditions and straining the capacity of existing land management practices to maintain resource quality. Integrated concepts for managing natural resources in a sustainable and environmentally sound manne...

Plain Language Summary Some soils store carbon not just from plants but also from the rocks beneath them. This rock‐derived carbon, called petrogenic organic carbon (OCpetro), comes from certain types of bedrock (e.g., shale). Most current models of soil carbon focus only on plant‐derived carbon, ignoring the role of OCpetro. This oversight could m...

Urbanization and industrialization have led to widespread soil heavy metals contamination, posing significant risks to ecosystems and human health. Conventional methods for mapping heavy metal distribution, which rely on soil sampling followed by chemical analysis, are costly and time-consuming. This study proposes a novel approach for estimating s...

Soil quality plays a crucial role in agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability, and land management. This study assesses the physico-chemical properties of soil samples collected from Manpur, Chandrapur, and Pachira in the Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh. Various soil parameters, including texture, bulk density, porosity, water-hold...

Length polymorphism analysis of six microsatellite loci for 540 Clouded Apollo butterflies from Italy and Switzerland revealed a clear separation between sister species Parnassius mnemosyne and P. turatii and provided updated limits for their respective ranges. Correspondence analysis and Structure clustering of a subset of 140 individuals from the...

On November 24, 2023, the Siekopai indigenous population residing in the Ecuadorian Amazon won a claim for the titling of their lands to their Nation. Ecuador recognized indigenous land ownership within a protected area for the first time in history. This decision also acknowledges the value of land management by the indigenous population, who, thr...

Ecosystem services (ES) are nature's positive contributions to people, and recognizing them aids in landscape planning and management, highlighting the importance of preserving ecosystems. Understanding the relationship between ES and climate change is crucial for effective land management, making scenario simulation a valuable method for analyzing...

Climate warming can trigger abrupt vegetation shifts, potentially altering soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and reshaping ecosystem feedbacks to the global climate. However, due to the challenge of capturing slow SOC processes across diverse biomes, the underlying mechanisms remain less explored. Elevational gradients in mountains provide natural...

The study was conducted in the year 2023–24 for a duration of one year at Nandini Limestone Mines, District- Durg, Chhattisgarh, India with the objective to gather information about the floral diversity and to enable the presence or likely presence of components of flora before planning, conservation management, and development decisions for the sp...

Land managers are challenged with the need to balance priorities in production, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement, biodiversity and social license to operate. Here, we develop a transdisciplinary approach for prioritising land use, illustrated by co-designing pathways for transitioning farming systems to net-zero emissions. We show that few interventi...

Invasive species have become a major threat to ecosystems across the globe, causing significant ecological and economic damage. To anticipate how communities may respond to future invasions, it is crucial to refine how invader impacts are evaluated, especially in historically uninvaded and highly variable systems such as arid lands. While invader a...

Species distributions are a product of both current spatial configuration of habitats and legacies of historical land use. Here we explore current and historical drivers of species distributions, considering combined effects of spatial spillovers and temporal legacies, both within and between habitat types. We fit Bayesian hierarchical occupancy mo...

Soil microbial communities drive global biogeochemical cycles and alter crop yields through nitrogen fixation. As agents of genetic mobility, mortality, and nutrient release, viruses have been shown to influence microbial community structure and activity in numerous marine and aquatic systems. However, their impacts on terrestrial ecosystems are le...

Despite the ecological and socioeconomic importance of agro-pastoral ecotones, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) and their driving mechanisms are not comprehensively understood. In this study, a systematic framework for LULC assessment covering comprehensive timeframes was constructed for the Tabu watershed. Results demonstrated that a new...

Background An on-vineyard approach was used to investigate the effects of biodynamic (BD) preparations on microbial functional diversity and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in four vineyards on different bedrocks under organic management. Methods Soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), multi-substrate-induced r...

This study addresses the implementation of Presidential Decree No. PF-5199 (October 7, 2017) of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which focuses on protecting farmers' rights and optimizing agricultural land use. The research examines strategies to enhance land use efficiency in rural settlements across three districts of Karakalpakstan (Tortkol, Ellikkal...

Ecosystem degradation, along with high population expansion, has had a substantial influence on community livelihoods, resulting in global ecosystem restoration projects. Using a feedback framework for strategic adaptive management, a research was done to analyze the impact of ecosystem restoration of Gishwati-Mukura National Park on community live...

This study investigates soil erosion and land degradation in the mountainous regions of the Parkent district in Uzbekistan using Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The research aims to analyze the extent and severity of soil degradation while examining related factors such as vegetation loss and changes in land use patterns. Advanced...

Agroforestry is a land use system where perennial tree species are strategically utilized in the same land management unit as animals, crops, or both, either in a temporal or spatial arrangement. Adopting various agroforestry system approaches is essential to maintaining the livelihood of farmers with limited resources, especially in rainfed areas....

Identifying and assessing erosion-prone areas in Iran's watersheds are crucial due to the annual loss of thousands of tons of fertile soil. This comparative study examined the qualitative Fargas and Institute for the Conservation of the Nature (ICONA) models against the quantitative Erosion Potential Method (EPM) model for assessing soil erosion ri...

As evidence of pollinator declines mounts, effective conservation strategies are urgently needed. Current methods focus on planting flowers and frequently overlook nesting habitats, especially for ground nesting bees, which comprise most species. Despite their prevalence, ground-nesting bee habitats remain poorly understood. The lack of evidence-ba...

Saline-alkaline and alkaline land is an important potential cultivated land resource in the world. With the destruction of the ecological environment, the cultivated land area is less and less. As a potential soil conditioner, wood vinegar can adjust soil pH, increase root activity, and promote seed germination and root growth, showing its potentia...

Worldwide, parasitic mistletoe species have become successful inhabitants of urban forests, despite novel host trees and communities of potential avian dispersers compared to natural habitats. Though land managers often remove mistletoe because of its impact on urban trees, these hemiparasites may nonetheless provide important food resources and st...

Accurate mapping of ditches is essential for effective hydrological modeling and land management. Traditional methods, such as manual digitization or threshold-based extraction, utilize LiDAR-derived digital terrain model (DTM) data but are labor-intensive and impractical to apply for large-scale applications. Deep learning offers a promising alter...

Restoration through exclosure is an effective approach in the rehabilitation of degraded land and improves the resilience of ecosystems. Thus, the study aimed to analyze the effects of ages of exclosure on soil properties, evaluate associations between soil variables, and estimate the soil carbon and nitrogen storages in the North-eastern highlands...

Body size determines mobility and fitness across taxa in various ways. Yet, drivers of body size in higher trophic invertebrates, especially parasitoids, including intra‐ and interspecific variations, are poorly understood due to complex interactions between parasitoid behaviour, the environment and their hosts. We measured the body size of 393 ind...

Sustainable land management involves adopting land-use systems that, through appropriate management practices, enable land users to maximize economic and social benefits while maintaining and enhancing the ecological functions of land resources. Assessments of land degradation severity indicate the need for improved natural resource use through sus...

This research conducts a comprehensive spatial assessment of the soil degradation status in the Bontoharu District, Selayar Islands Regency, to facilitate evidence-based sustainable land management strategies. By employing an integrated methodological framework that combines GIS-based spatial analysis, field surveys, and laboratory testing, the stu...

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have experienced rapid coastal development over the past decades, significantly impacting their marine ecosystems. This study aimed to study the land use and land cover change for coastal vegetation in GCC countries from 2000 to 2023 using remote sensing and machine learning techniques, and to identify t...

Highland bamboo (Oldeania alpina) plays a vital role in supporting local livelihoods, fostering biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management. Despite these benefits, its significant potential for carbon sequestration remains underutilized within Ethiopia’s climate mitigation strategies. In this study, we developed site-specific allomet...

This study investigates the interplay of climatic drivers and human activities on vegetation dynamics in the ecologically sensitive Western Himalayas, encompassing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Using 24 years (2000–2023) of NDVI data from Landsat imagery, advanced techniques, such as the Hurst ex...

The abandonment of agricultural land is now considered one of the primary land use changes driven by complex interactions between social, economic, and environmental factors. To understand and manage this process, a holistic approach that integrates multidimensional methodologies and interactions is essential. This study examines the key driving fa...

The balance between the production and ecological supply–demand of cultivated land is crucial for regional food and ecological security. However, most studies focus on either the production or ecological aspect, neglecting the trade-offs/synergies of multifunctional cultivated land supply–demand. This study utilized the Pearl River Delta (PRD) mega...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key indicator of soil health, fertility, and carbon sequestration, making it essential for sustainable land management and climate change mitigation. However, large-scale SOC monitoring remains challenging due to spatial variability, temporal dynamics, and multiple influencing factors. We present WALGREEN, a platform...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming agriculture by introducing innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. The integration of AI-powered technologies, including machine learning, computer vision, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), has revolutionized traditional farming practices. AI enables pr...

Soil quality assessment is crucial for sustainable land management. Given the high cost and time required to measure all soil quality indicators, minimum data set (MDS) selection offers an efficient approach for accurate evaluation. This study identifies an optimal MDS and examines its spatial distribution in the Mashhad Plain. A total of 180 soil...

The environment is being affected by the great development of human activities, which is why, in recent years, the need to protect the environment has increased, through the carrying out of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Within this assessment, environmental geology constitutes an instrument for territorial and urban planning based on...

Traditional land use is a method of land use that has been carried out for generations by the community. Land management activities carried out from generation to generation, with the same pattern from year to year, such as land use which is often called Tebas Bakar and Mamar. Both land uses with different management methods can indicate changes in...

Accurate and reliable land cover data are essential for environmental monitoring, climate research, and sustainable land management. However, the proliferation of multi-source global land cover datasets with long time series poses challenges for selecting the best products for specific applications. Existing assessments often lack systematic compar...

This study assesses heavy metal (HM) contamination in soils of an urban industrial zone using statistical and spatial analysis methods. Concentrations of 12 key HMs, including Zn, Pb, Cu, and Ni, were measured using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), with values exceeding background levels several times in certain areas. Pollution indices such as the Pollut...

Detection of spatial areas where biodiversity is at risk is of paramount importance for the conservation and monitoring of ecosystems. Large terrestrial mammalian herbivores are keystone species as their activity not only has deep effects on soils, plants, and animals, but also shapes landscapes, as large herbivores act as allogenic ecosystem engin...

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different crop cultivation practices on soil chemical properties and microbial communities in the Mu Us Desert, with the goal of optimizing land management and promoting ecological restoration. A one-way randomized block design was used to establish experimental plots for a cereal (Setaria italica, SI), a...

Grasslands, which account for over 40 % of the Earth's terrestrial area, play a vital role in mitigating global change and biodiversity loss. These ecosystems serve as critical carbon sinks, regulating the global carbon cycle and supporting diverse flora and fauna. However, their ability to sustain these functions is threatened by land use change a...

Promoting the intensive utilization of arable land is a critical strategy for addressing the scarcity problem of arable land resources and thus ensuring food security. However, public emergencies pose significant challenges to the intensive utilization of arable land. Based on the pressure-state response (PSR) model and taking Sichuan Province, kno...

In the aftermath of the vote to leave the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK) Government set out to develop domestic policies to replace the EUs Common Agricultural Policy. After Brexit, England was the first country to develop a new policy framework revolving around a series of environmental land management schemes that arguably reward po...

In the semiarid areas of Ghana, the interactive effects of various environmental drivers, their relative importance, and their direct and indirect effects on plant species composition and diversity are still poorly understood, hence affecting effective ecosystem management. Using a combined gradient approach, the study investigated the predictors o...

The concept of elevated Global Temperature influences the environment and induces a major impact on Climate Change. This research explores the interactions between environmental parameters and Land Surface Temperature fluctuations in Thanjavur District, Tamilnadu, India during the peak vegetative phases of the Kuruvai and Samba Seasons with three-y...

Soil organic carbon density (SOCD) is crucial for assessing soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, but its estimation remains challenging when bulk density (BD) data are unavailable. Traditional methods for substituting missing BD data, including using the mean, median, and pedotransfer functions (PTFs), introduce varying degrees of uncertainty in SOCD...

The purpose of this study was to determine how the practice of profit-sharing cooperation between cultivators and rice field owners is in accordance with the concept of the mukhabarah agreement in Talang Jarang Village, North Bengkulu Regency. This study used a qualitative method. The informants in this study were 15 people, using primary data and...

Cropland suitability calculations quantify natural suitability according to abiotic conditions, thus making them crucial for sustainable land management. However, since ground-truth yield data are extremely scarce, there is a need to improve knowledge on the optimal proxy metric from satellite imagery, which represents cropland suitability and enab...

Integration of natural and cultural resource management is urgently needed to combat the effects of climate change. Scientists must contend with how human-induced climate change and rapid population expansion are fundamentally reworking densely inhabited coastal zones. We propose that a merger of archaeology, environmental science, and land managem...

This study addresses the challenge of quantifying spatially differential vertical surface deformation (SDVSD). Traditional approaches using persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) data often focus on bulk vertical surface deformation (VSD) but overlook directional variability and struggle with irregularly distributed persistent scatterer (PS) poi...

Climate change is expected to significantly affect agricultural production in East Africa (EA). In this study, we synthesized the DSSAT-CERES-Maize model calibrated and evaluated experiments to analyze the sensitivity of climatic variables on maize yield in the region. We used calibrated cultivar coefficients of locally adopted varieties in twelve...

Insects display species-specific ecological features that have evolved in response to their diverse habitats and roles, fulfilling ecosystem functions at various levels based on mobility, foraging, and habitat requirements. During two consecutive years (2021–2022), the distribution of syrphids and true bugs was recorded in alpine organic grasslands...

Urban growth monitoring and assessment are crucial for sustainable long-term planning and the efficient utilization of natural resources. Unplanned urbanisation poses risks such as pollution and environmental disruption, emphasizing the need for proactive management. Changes in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) with time indicate ongoing urbanisation...

Desertification sensitivity in semi-arid urbanizing regions remains a critical challenge for sustainable land management. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal dynamics (2018–2022) of desertification sensitivity in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei core region using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), soil texture, the Digital Elevation Mod...

Abstract: The research paper titled "World Models for Climate Resilience: Integrating Soil, Weather, and Land Use Data to Predict Ecological Collapse" delves into the critical intersection of environmental factors to anticipate and mitigate ecological crises. By amalgamating data on soil health, weather patterns, and land use, this study aims to de...

Mixed farming systems are a sustainable closed-loop model for crop–livestock systems, focusing on structure, practices, logic, social, cultural, economic, climatic, and institutional capital interactions. However, literature on crop–livestock–soil–water interactions is scarce, with few separating crop and livestock water productivity in mixed syste...

Soil degradation in Mediterranean vineyards, decreasing from intensive land management, poses challenges as erosion, compaction, and biodiversity loss. Advanced technologies fulfill a pivotal role in precise and sustainable soil management, proving in the preservation of soil quality and reducing negative impacts on biodiversity and the environment...

Assessing the ecosystem service value (ESV) of grasslands is crucial for sustainable resource management and environmental conservation. This study evaluates the spatiotemporal changes in grassland ecosystem services in the Bosten Lake Basin using long-term land use data (2000–2022). Employing the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model,...

The soil samples were collected from various land use systems in Hassan District, Karnataka, India to investigate the influence of these systems on the physical, chemical properties and major nutrient status of soils. Six land use systems were considered: forest land, coffee land, fallow land, ginger land, potato land and maize land. Soil samples w...

Peatlands in Indonesia play a crucial role in global carbon storage and agricultural productivity. However, their use for agriculture has raised environmental concerns, particularly regarding land degradation, carbon emissions, and fire risks. This study employs a bibliometric approach using Publish or Perish (PoP) and VOSviewer to analyze res...

The sediments remaining after copper flotation (here referred to as to flotation tailings) are generally characterized by nutrient deficiency and heavy metal enrichment, presenting significant obstacles to vegetation establishment and the development of sustainable ecosystems. This research aimed to evaluate the germination and growth performance o...

The adoption of land management technology (LMT) is crucial for minimizing soil erosion and increasing agricultural productivity, both of which are essential components of sustainable development. Therefore, different LMTs have been adopted in the Goyrie Watershed of southern Ethiopia. However, the technical designs of the adopted technologies have...

The biodiversity and ecosystem services from the mountains contribute to half of the global population for their well-being. Evidence shows that the Himalayan ecosystems play an important role in climate regulation, carbon storage, and the maintenance of aesthetic, cultural, and spiritual values. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) r...

The Caatinga, unique in northeastern Brazil, has species adapted to the semi-arid climate. Recurrent fires put its biodiversity at risk, highlighting the need for urgent measures to protect this fragile ecosystem. This study analyzed four decades of fire behavior in the Caatinga biome (1985-2023) using data from the MapBiomas Fire project and spati...

Alley cropping, an agroforestry system that integrates trees and arable crops, holds the potential to improve both crop yields and soil health. It has been found to be effective for upland crops in many countries of the world. However, the utilization of alley cropping to improve soil health in the terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh is poorly understo...

Human-caused habitat conversion, degradation, and climate change threaten global biodiversity, particularly in tropical forests where vascular epiphytes—non-parasitic plants growing on other plants—may be especially vulnerable. Epiphytes play vital ecological roles, in nutrient cycling and by providing habitat, but are disproportionately affected b...

Controlling alien invasive tree species in natural and protected areas is a challenge for stakeholders since most invasive trees cannot be treated mechanically as they resprout vigorously. Large quantities of herbicides cannot be sprayed because of the risks of non-target impacts on local species. Similarly, control steps inducing local disturbance...

Land cover changes (LCC) affect ecosystem service values (ESVs) in a river basin, influencing human well-being. An adequate understanding of the dynamic relationship between LCC and ESVs is essential for ensuring ecosystem sustainability. This study aims to develop a framework investigating the impact of LCC on ESVs under different scenarios, which...