The processes of landscape change are complex, exhibiting spatial variability as well as linear, cyclical, and reversible characteristics. To better understand the various processes that cause transformation, a data aggregation, validation, and attribution approach was developed and applied to an analysis of the Southeastern Coastal Plains (SECP). The approach integrates information from availa...

This study aims to determine the accuracy level at which different forms of land degradation can be mapped from medium-resolution satellite data, and to assess how accurately degraded land can be detected from multi-temporal satellite images. Land degradation in the form of salinization and waterlogging in Tongyu County, western Jilin Province of Northeast China was mapped from Landsat TM and A...

The world's population is growing and demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel is increasing, placing greater demand on land and its resources for crop production. We review previously published estimates of global scale cropland availability, discuss the underlying assumptions that lead to differences between estimates, and illustrate the consequences of applying different estimates in model-bas...

Large-scale and long-term habitat management plans are needed to maintain the diversity of habitat classes required by wildlife species. Planning efforts would benefit from assessments of potential climate and land-use change effects on habitats. We assessed climate and land-use driven changes in areas of closedand open-canopy forest across the Northeast and Midwest by 2060. Our assessments wer...

In this research project a set of computer vision algorithms for interpretation of the non-urban environment from low altitude aerial images is presented. Considering the size and spread of natural resources in non-urban areas, automating the task of gathering information about various land-covers is of particular importance. The utilization of videos captured by small aerial vehicles has many ...

Human reliance on insect pollination services continues to increase even as pollinator populations exhibit global declines. Increased commodity crop prices and federal subsidies for biofuel crops, such as corn and soybeans, have contributed to rapid land-use change in the US Northern Great Plains (NGP), changes that may jeopardize habitat for honey bees in a part of the country that supports >4...

The savannas of Southern Africa are an important dryland ecosystem as they cover up to 54% of the landscape and support a rich variety of biodiversity. This paper evaluates landscape change in savanna vegetation along Chobe Riverfront within Chobe National Park Botswana, from 1982 to 2011 to understand what change may be occurring in land cover. Classifying land cover in savanna environments is...