This research examined the spatiotemporal patterns of land-use/cover and the dynamics of ecological capacity in response to land-use/cover change in Wuhan city, central China. The data were derived from five years' remote-sensed images, that is, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. This paper used an integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS techniques, ecological capacity and the bilateral dy...

Land use change may influence many natural phenomena and ecological processes, including runoff, soil erosion, sedimentation and soil conditions. Decreasing of forest area in the North of Iran is one of the critical problems in recent years. The aims of this study are to detect land use changes between 1967 to 2002 using satellite images of Land Sat 7 ETM+ (2002), aerial photos and digital topo...

Maize and wheat are main field crops on arable lands in Croatia. According to the data of the State Bureau for Statistics (Statistical Yearbook 2011) in the five-year period (2006-2010) mean used agricultural land in the category arable land and gardens in Croatia was 867123 ha. Mean harvested areas of maize (298412 ha) and wheat (176794 ha) occupied 55% of used arable land of the country. Majo...

Land carrying capacity (LCC) explains whether the local land resources are effectively used to support economic activities and/or human population. LCC can be evaluated commonly with two approaches, namely ecological footprint analysis (EFA) and the index system method (ISM). EFA is helpful to investigate the effects of different land categories whereas ISM can be used to evaluate the contribut...

We organized a crowdsourcing experiment in the form of a snapshot sampling campaign to assess the spatial distribution of nitrogen solutes, namely, nitrate, ammonium and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), in German surface waters. In particular, we investigated (i) whether crowdsourcing is a reasonable sampling method in hydrology and (ii) what the effects of population density, soil humus conte...

Conversion of arable land into semi-natural grassland or heath land is a common practice for restoring and conserving plant diversity. However, little is known about the effectiveness of land conversion for restoring and conserving taxonomic and functional diversity in the soil. We studied soil nematode community development in a chronosequence of abandoned fields and related this to plant comm...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) contents are controlled partly by plant inputs that can be manipulated in agricultural systems. Although SOC and N pools occur mainly in the topsoil (upper 0.30 m), there are often substantial pools in the subsoil that are commonly assumed to be stable. We tested the hypothesis that contrasting long-term management systems change the dynamics of SOC an...

This study examines the determinants of farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and their payment levels for ecological compensation of the Poyang Lake Wetland in China. We developed a farmer household survey and gathered 292 effective responses. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and Heckman’s two-step model were employed for the empirical study. Results show that 46.58% of farmers are willing to...

One of the objectives of agricultural development in Botswana is the increase of agricultural productivity in both arable and livestock production in order to increase farm incomes and thus help to make agriculture a sustainable activity. This paper looks at the challenges that Botswana faces in meeting this objective while minimizing any land degradation that may accompany the process of incre...

Planning and construction are well-known practical topics; however, eco-city developments and their sustainable effects on the city are less known. Xi’an is a typical city that has a target to become an eco-city. This city is selected in this case study with the aims of (1) framing eco-practices to enhance the understanding of an eco-city development and (2) evaluating the effect of eco-practic...