Implications of land use change on the national terrestrial carbon budget of Georgia

Background  

Globally, the loss of forests now contributes almost 20% of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. There is an immediate need to reduce the current rates of forest loss, and the associated release of carbon dioxide, but for many areas of the world these rates are largely unknown. The Soviet Union contained a substantial part of the world's forests and the fate of those forests and their effect on carbon dynamics remain unknown for many areas of the former Eastern Bloc. For Georgia, the political and economic transitions following independence in 1991 have been dramatic. In this paper we quantify rates of land use changes and their effect on the terrestrial carbon budget for Georgia. A carbon book-keeping model traces changes in carbon stocks using historical and current rates of land use change. Landsat satellite images acquired circa 1990 and 2000 were analyzed to detect changes in forest cover since 1990.     

The effects of land cover change on carbon stock dynamics in a dry Afromontane forest in northern Ethiopia

Background

Forests play an important role in mitigating global climate change by capturing and sequestering atmospheric carbon. Quantitative estimation of the temporal and spatial pattern of carbon storage in forest ecosystems is critical for formulating forest management policies to combat climate change. This study explored the effects of land cover change on carbon stock dynamics in the Wujig Mahgo Waren forest, a dry Afromontane forest that covers an area of 17,000 ha in northern Ethiopia.

Results

The total carbon stocks of the Wujig Mahgo Waren forest ecosystems estimated using a multi-disciplinary approach that combined remote sensing with a ground survey were 1951, 1999, and 1955 GgC in 1985, 2000 and 2016 years respectively. The mean carbon stocks in the dense forests, open forests, grasslands, cultivated lands and bare lands were estimated at 181.78?±?27.06, 104.83?±?12.35, 108.77?±?6.77, 76.54?±?7.84 and 83.11?±?8.53 MgC ha^?1 respectively. The aboveground vegetation parameters (tree density, DBH and height) explain 59% of the variance in soil organic carbon.

Conclusions

The obtained estimates of mean carbon stocks in ecosystems representing the major land cover types are of importance in the development of forest management plan aimed at enhancing mitigation potential of dry Afromontane forests in northern Ethiopia.

     

Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

Background

Unmanaged or old-growth forests are of paramount importance for carbon sequestration and thus for the mitigation of climate change among further implications, e.g. biodiversity aspects. Still, the importance of those forests for climate change mitigation compared to managed forests is under controversial debate. We evaluate the adequacy of referring to CO₂ flux measurements alone and include external impacts on growth (nitrogen immissions, increasing temperatures, CO₂ enrichment, changed precipitation patterns) for an evaluation of central European forests in this context.

Results

We deduce that the use of CO₂ flux measurements alone does not allow conclusions on a superiority of unmanaged to managed forests for mitigation goals. This is based on the critical consideration of uncertainties and the application of system boundaries. Furthermore, the consideration of wood products for material and energetic substitution obviously overrules the mitigation potential of unmanaged forests. Moreover, impacts of nitrogen immissions, CO₂ enrichment of the atmosphere, increasing temperatures and changed precipitation patterns obviously lead to a meaningful increase in growth, even in forests of higher age.

Conclusions

An impact of unmanaged forests on climate change mitigation cannot be valued by CO₂ flux measurements alone. Further research is needed on cause and effect relationships between management practices and carbon stocks in different compartments of forest ecosystems in order to account for human-induced changes. Unexpected growth rates in old-growth forests ?C managed or not ?C can obviously be related to external impacts and additionally to management impacts. This should lead to the reconsideration of forest management strategies.     

煤炭开采对泥河小流域土地利用及景观格局的影响

以淮南煤矿区泥河小流域1987、1994、2000、2006、2009、2013、2017年7期多源遥感影像为数据源,结合纹理和光谱特征,利用支持向量机（SVM）对遥感影像进行分类,在此基础上分析了煤炭开采对泥河小流域近30年土地利用和景观格局变化的影响。结果表明：煤炭开采影响下流域的土地利用变化最显著的特征是耕地和建设用地的相互转变及耕地向塌陷水体的转变,30年间塌陷水体和建设用地分别增加了2 281.05、14 741.73 hm²,耕地减少了15 044.67 hm²。采煤驱动下,流域景观格局变化特征体现在以2006年为转折点,前期呈现破碎化、不规则化、异质化和低连通性变化的特征,之后呈现连续化、规则化、均衡化及高连通性变化的特征。建设用地、耕地和塌陷水体经历了不断破碎化到景观逐渐完善的过程;耕地、建设用地和自然水体斑块形状较为复杂;耕地优势性逐渐减弱,最大斑块指数由79.706 0降为38.745 5,塌陷水体和建设用地的优势性增强。     

Analyzing the effects of scale and land use pattern metrics on land use database generalization indices

The generalization index system is one of the critical issues for computer-aided land use database generalization. This paper studies the scale and land use pattern effects on land use database generalization indices and estimates the thresholds of these indices based on a typical land use database sample. The index system of land use database generalization is discussed and constructed from macro and micro perspectives. Six land use pattern metrics, namely, land use diversity index, land use dominance index, land use homogeneity index, land use fragmentation index, the index of land use type dominance, and the index of land use type fragmentation, are designed to characterize land use patterns and are introduced into the analysis of land use pattern effect on land use database indices. The analysis framework of the scale and land use pattern effects on the land use database indices are proposed by employing statistical techniques. Based on the land use database samples at multiple spatial scales collected in various land use regions across China, the study generates rules for both scale and land use pattern effects on the indices, including map area proportion of land use types, total map load, parcel map load, and minimum parcel area. The thresholds of these indices in land use database generalization are produced at the scales of 1:50,000, 1:100,000, 1:250,000, and 1:500,000. An experimental generalization at county level demonstrates how to determine the generalization index values considering scale and land use pattern, and how to evaluate the generalization results using our macro indices.     

省市县一体化农村土地承包管理系统构建研究

针对农村土地承包经营权确权登记成果海量数据需要实现信息化、动态化、网络化管理的需要,为满足省市县农经业务的互联互通,文中研究基于政务云平台的农村土地承包管理信息系统的实现。基于矢量栅格一体化切片的农经权地图服务框架,实现省市县地块与权属成果的集成展现、快速检索;采用多种地图渲染方式,实现多样化的地类显示,提供多入口多渠道的"以人查地,以地查人"的查询方式实现调查成果的综合展示;基于政务云业务权限控制策略,建立省、市、县三级农经权业务监管体系。系统通过在浙江省12个试点县市的试运行,能满足集成展现地块及业务成果、快速检索农经权属信息、高效办理日常业务的需求,实现省、市、县成果管理及业务办理的互联互通,为农经权业务管理提供高效支撑平台。     

Influences of forest roads and their edge effects on the spatial pattern of burn severity

Previous research has shown that forest roads are an important feature in many landscapes and have significant effects on wildfire ignition and cessation. However, forest road effects on burn severity have not been studied at the landscape level. Therefore, the overarching goal of our study is to identify the influences of road edge effects on the spatial patterns of burn severity. We analyzed six fires within the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest on the eastern slope of the Cascades mountain range of central Washington.We generated two categories for assessing road variables: (1) Primary Road Effect Zone (area within 150 m of the nearest road) and (2) Secondary Road Effect Zone (area from 150 m to 300 m to the nearest road). A regular sampling grid including one out of every 9 cells was created for each fire.These grids were intersected with burn severity data in the form of the Relative Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR), road distance category, stream distance, elevation, slope, terrain shape index, heat load index, canopy cover, and fuel type. We fit spatial regression models with RdNBR as the dependent variable.We found that high burn severity is less likely to occur in the Primary Road Effect Zone for most fires, although one fire exhibited the opposite relationship. Forest road edge effects were hypothesized to be an important determinant of burn severity because fragmentation created by roads alters the roadside fuel profile and environment and because road corridors create barriers to fire spread. Recognizing roadside effects on burn severity patterns highlights the need for further study of the range of effects that roads have on fuels and the fire environment and the potential for incorporating road effects into landscape-level assessments of fire risk.     

HJ-1B热红外辐射定标对地表温度反演的影响

辐射定标是地表温度反演的关键环节。在实际应用中,定标参数的选取直接影响辐射定标结果。由于卫星在轨定标系统的灵敏度会随时间发生改变,这使得实际的辐射定标存在不确定性。本文基于单波段热红外辐射传输方程给出了辐射定标影响地表温度反演的敏感性分析模型,并重点对HJ-1B热红外波段的辐射定标问题及其对地表温度反演的影响进行讨论和分析。敏感性分析模型显示,在一般的情形下,辐射定标偏差与地表温度反演误差的比值在数值上约为1∶11,即0.1个单位(W·m–2·sr–1·μm–1)的辐射定标偏差可能引起1.1 K左右的温度反演误差。由于对HJ-1B热红外波段定标参数的更新存在滞后,即使仅考虑相邻年份间的定标偏差,相应的地表温度平均绝对误差也在1.0—2.0 K左右。在更严重的情形下,因辐射定标偏差引起的地表温度误差甚至高达5.0 K以上。同时,分析结果也表明对HJ-1B的存档影像,无论使用其头文件中的定标参数还是当年公布的定标参数,定标后辐射亮度值的偏差均存在一定的不稳定性。针对当前在HJ-1B定标参数更新方面的不足,本文假定传感器辐射性能变化是匀速稳定的,相应地提出了线性内插修正法和线性外推法两个定标参数估计/修正方案。通过线性内插的方法进行辐射定标修正后,在一定程度上减小了误差的不稳定性,与MODIS B31波段的亮温相比,偏差在1.0 K以内(约为0.5 K)。当定标参数尚未公布时,由线性外推法修正后的辐射定标结果所得亮温的偏差约为1.0 K。与在大亚湾核电站附近海域进行的一次卫星同步观测(2011年12月18日)相比,经两个方案修正后的海表温度偏差分别约为0.2 K和0.7 K。案例分析的结果表明,在现阶段,线性内插修正法和线性外推法是简单有效的,可供用户在实际应用中参考和使用。     

Very high resolution Earth Observation features for testing the direct and indirect effects of landscape structure on local habitat quality

Modelling the empirical relationships between habitat quality and species distribution patterns is the first step to understanding human impacts on biodiversity. It is important to build on this understanding to develop a broader conceptual appreciation of the influence of surrounding landscape structure on local habitat quality, across multiple spatial scales. Traditional models which report that ‘habitat amount’ in the landscape is sufficient to explain patterns of biodiversity, irrespective of habitat configuration or spatial variation in habitat quality at edges, implicitly treat each unit of habitat as interchangeable and ignore the high degree of interdependence between spatial components of land-use change. Here, we test the contrasting hypothesis, that local habitat units are not interchangeable in their habitat attributes, but are instead dependent on variation in surrounding habitat structure at both patch- and landscape levels. As the statistical approaches needed to implement such hierarchical causal models are observation-intensive, we utilise very high resolution (VHR) Earth Observation (EO) images to rapidly generate fine-grained measures of habitat patch internal heterogeneities over large spatial extents. We use linear mixed-effects models to test whether these remotely-sensed proxies for habitat quality were influenced by surrounding patch or landscape structure. The results demonstrate the significant influence of surrounding patch and landscape context on local habitat quality. They further indicate that such an influence can be direct, when a landscape variable alone influences the habitat structure variable, and/or indirect when the landscape and patch attributes have a conjoined effect on the response variable. We conclude that a substantial degree of interaction among spatial configuration effects is likely to be the norm in determining the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation, thus corroborating the notion of the spatial context dependence of habitat quality.     

Modelling the impacts of civil war on land use and land cover change within Kono District,Sierra Leone: a socio-geospatial approach

Capturing the scope and trajectory of changes in land use and land cover (LULC) is critical to urban and regional planning, natural resource sustainability and the overall information needs of policy makers. Studies on LULC change are generally conducted within peaceful environments and seldom incorporate areas that are politically volatile. Consequently, the role of civil conflict on LULC change remains elusive. Using a dense time stack of Landsat Thematic Mapper images and a hybrid classification approach, this study analysed LULC changes in Kono District between 1986–1991, 1991–2002 and 2002–2007 with the overarching goal of elucidating deviations from typical changes in LULC caused by Sierra Leone's civil war (1991–2002). Informed by social survey and secondary data, this study engaged the drivers that facilitated LULC changes during war and non-war periods in a series of spatial regression models in exploring the interface between civil conflict and LULC change.     

Modeling the spread of spatio-temporal phenomena through the incorporation of ANFIS and genetically controlled cellular automata: a case study on forest fire

Abstract

Virtual representation and simulation of spatio-temporal phenomena is a promising goal for the production of an advanced digital earth. Spread modeling, which is one of the most helpful analyses in the geographic information system (GIS), plays a prominent role in meeting this objective. This study proposes a new model that considers both aspects of static and dynamic behaviors of spreadable spatio-temporal in cellular automata (CA) modeling. Therefore, artificial intelligence tools such as adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic algorithm (GA) were used in accordance with the objectives of knowledge discovery and optimization. Significant conditions in updating states are considered so traditional CA transition rules can be accompanied with the impact of fuzzy discovered knowledge and the solution of spread optimization. We focused on the estimation of forest fire growth as an important case study for decision makers. A two-dimensional cellular representation of the combustion of heterogeneous fuel types and density on non-flat terrain were successfully linked with dynamic wind and slope impact. The validation of the simulation on experimental data indicated a relatively realistic head-fire shape. Further investigations showed that the results obtained using the dynamic controlling with GA in the absence of static modeling with ANFIS were unacceptable.