Deforestation rates in primary humid tropical forests of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have declined significantly since the early 2000s. Brazil's national forest monitoring system provides extensive information for the BLA but lacks independent validation and systematic coverage outside of primary forests. We use a sample-based approach to consistently quantify 2000-2013 tree cover loss in ...

An ex situ germplasm collection of the endangered Cycas micronesica was established in a transition zone between biodiverse native forest and mature stands of the invasive species Leucaena leucocephala. Soil chemical properties were determined for the 2 tree cover types to inform management decisions. Total carbon, total nitrogen, calcium, and net ammonification were greater in native forest co...

Advances in animal tracking technologies have reduced but not eliminated positional error. While aware of such inherent error, scientists often proceed with analyses that assume exact locations. The results of such analyses then represent one realization in a distribution of possible outcomes. Evaluating results within the context of that distribution can strengthen or weaken our confidence in ...

Understanding the development of landscape patterns over broad spatial and temporal scales is a major contribution to ecological sciences and is a critical area of research for forested land management. Boreal forests represent an excellent case study for such research because these forests have undergone significant changes over recent decades. We analyzed the temporal trends of four widely-us...

2 Acknowledgments 3 Table of contents 4 Chapter 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Thesis objectives, motivations and innovation 7 1.2 Materials and methods 15 1.2.1 The Sierra Nevada, U.S.A (study site 1) 16 1.2.2 The Alps, Bozen, Italy (study site 2) 16 1.2.3 Gola Rainforest National Park, Sierra Leone (study site 3) 17 1.3 Thesis outline 18 1.4 References 19 Chapter 2 – Remote sensing of forested landscap...

different ecologic factors influence on forming, development and sustaining of the plant communities, among which physiographic variables are the most important ones. the aim of this study was to identify forest types and effect of physiographical factors such as sea level height, slope and aspect of the site on quantitative characteristics of forest types in 2nd district of vaz forest with are...

Long-range regional projections of the changes in forest type areas are important in public and private forest resources planning. The combination of natural forces and human activities, which are shaped by socioeconomic forces such as population and income trends, has led to striking changes in forest cover types for the three major types of private owners. A model for the U.S. Southeast is pr...

large scale land use/cover changes and habitat fragmentation is a major factor in the distribution and functioning of ecosystems. for analysis the relationship between land use changes and their impacts on biodiversity, land cover and land use information is needed at different scales. the main goal of this study was to quantify the land use/ cover changes in arasbaran biosphere reserve, northw...