[Objective] The aim was to reveal changes of soil organic matter fraction and their corresponding carbon management indexes as affected by different land use types.[Method]Soil organic carbon,active soil organic carbo...[Objective] The aim was to reveal changes of soil organic matter fraction and their corresponding carbon management indexes as affected by different land use types.[Method]Soil organic carbon,active soil organic carbon and soil carbon management index(CMI)of different land use types in Guilin Maocun karst area were studied.Sampling with field investigation and laboratory testing was carried out.Heavy potassium chromate method was adopted to determine soil organic matter.333 mmol/L KMnO4 oxidation method was used to determine active organic carbon.[Result]With active soil organic matter increasing,the differences of CMI between different land use types were bigger.The CMI value of different land uses was shrubforest paddy fielddry farmland.The statistical analysis showed that labile organic matter was related with major soil properties at a significant level.[Conclusion]Labile organic matter could be used to reveal the influence of different land use types on soil organic matter and carbon management index in karst area.展开更多
Based on analyzing the remote sensing images of Wuhan City in 1998,2002 and 2008,information about the land use changes along rail traffic routes before and after the construction of these routes are extracted,and 9 l...Based on analyzing the remote sensing images of Wuhan City in 1998,2002 and 2008,information about the land use changes along rail traffic routes before and after the construction of these routes are extracted,and 9 landscape indexes are applied to quantitatively study the change trend of its land use pattern.The results show that the construction of rail traffic routes has brought enormous changes to the land use pattern along the routes,say,built-up area has become the dominant type which has been rapidly concentrating into patches;the amounts of small patches,such as grass land,have gradually declined and shown an imbalanced distribution.展开更多
Knowledge about crop growth processes in relation to N limitation is necessary to optimize N management in farming system. Plant-based diagnostic method, for instance nitrogen nutrition index (NNI) were used to dete...Knowledge about crop growth processes in relation to N limitation is necessary to optimize N management in farming system. Plant-based diagnostic method, for instance nitrogen nutrition index (NNI) were used to determine the crop nitrogen status. This study determines the relationship of NNI with agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (AEN), tuber yield, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and leaf parameters including leaf area index (LAI), areal leaf N content (NJ and leaf N concentration (N0. Potatoes were grown in field at three N levels: no N (N 1), 150 kg N ha^-1 (N2), 300 kg N ha^-1 (N3). N deficiency was quantified by NNI and RUE was generally calculated by estimating of the light absorbance on leaf area. NNI was used to evaluate the N effect on tuber yield, RUE, LAI, NAL, and NL. The results showed that NNI was negatively correlated with AEN, N deficiencies (NNI〈 1) which occurred for N 1 and N2 significantly reduced LAI, NL and tuber yield; whereas the N deficiencies had a relative small effect on NAL and RUE. To remove any effect other than N on these parameters, the actual ratio to maximum values were calculated for each developmental linear relationships were obtained between NNI and tuber RUE to NNI. stage of potatoes. When the NNI ranged from 0.4 to 1, positive yield, LAI, NL, while a nonlinear regression fitted the response of展开更多
The establishment of evaluation index system is the key to the evaluation of intensive land use.On the basis of expounding connotation,characteristics and the principle of establishing evaluation index system,and as f...The establishment of evaluation index system is the key to the evaluation of intensive land use.On the basis of expounding connotation,characteristics and the principle of establishing evaluation index system,and as for the problems existing in Evaluation Regulation(Trial)of Intensive Land Use in Development Area,regarding the evaluation index system of intensive land use in the development area,in the light of the connotation of intensive land use in development area,coupled with the practical situation of the land use in China's development area,after referring to the research achievements of domestic and abroad scholars,some suggestions are put forward in order to improve and perfect the evaluation index system of intensive land us in development area.展开更多
Soil erosion and land use type have long been viewed as being particularly important drivers of soil degradation.The objectives of this study,therefore,were to select a new soil quality index(SQI)which varies signific...Soil erosion and land use type have long been viewed as being particularly important drivers of soil degradation.The objectives of this study,therefore,were to select a new soil quality index(SQI)which varies significantly with land use/soil erosion,and to evaluate the new SQI using expert opinion.In total,18 soil physical,chemical,and biochemical properties(indicators)were measured on 56 soil samples collected from four land use/soil erosion categories(rangeland/surface erosion,rangeland/subsurface erosion,cultivated land/surface erosion and dry-farming land/surface erosion).Principal component and classification analysis(PCCA)identified five PCs that explained 77.7%of the variation in soil properties with the biochemical PC varying significantly with land use/soil erosion.General discriminant analysis(GDA)selected urease and clay as the most sensitive properties distinguishing the land use/soil erosion categories.The GDA canonical scores for the new SQI were significantly correlated with expert opinion soil surface summed scores(for soil movement,surface litter,pedestalling,rills and flow pattern)derived using the U.S.Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management(BLM)method.A forward stepwise general regression model revealed that the new SQI values were explained by soil movement,surface litter,and the summed values of the soil surface factors.Overall,this study confirmed that soil quality in the study area in Iran is controlled by land use and corresponding soil erosion.展开更多
The application of satellite radiance assimilation can improve the simulation of precipitation by numerical weather prediction models. However, substantial quantities of satellite data, especially those derived from l...The application of satellite radiance assimilation can improve the simulation of precipitation by numerical weather prediction models. However, substantial quantities of satellite data, especially those derived from low-level(surface-sensitive)channels, are rejected for use because of the difficulty in realistically modeling land surface emissivity and energy budgets.Here, we used an improved land use and leaf area index(LAI) dataset in the WRF-3 DVAR assimilation system to explore the benefit of using improved quality of land surface information to improve rainfall simulation for the Shule River Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau as a case study. The results for July 2013 show that, for low-level channels(e.g., channel 3),the underestimation of brightness temperature in the original simulation was largely removed by more realistic land surface information. In addition, more satellite data could be utilized in the assimilation because the realistic land use and LAI data allowed more satellite radiance data to pass the deviation test and get used by the assimilation, which resulted in improved initial driving fields and better simulation in terms of temperature, relative humidity, vertical convection, and cumulative precipitation.展开更多
Condition assessment is one of the most significant techniques of the equipment’s health management.Also,in PHM methodology cycle,which is a developed form of CBM,condition assessment is the most important step of th...Condition assessment is one of the most significant techniques of the equipment’s health management.Also,in PHM methodology cycle,which is a developed form of CBM,condition assessment is the most important step of this cycle.In this paper,the remaining useful life of the equipment is calculated using the combination of sensor information,determination of degradation state and forecasting the proposed health index.The combination of sensor information has been carried out using a new approach to determining the probabilities in the Dempster-Shafer combination rules and fuzzy c-means clustering method.Using the simulation and forecasting of extracted vibration-based health index by autoregressive Markov regime switching(ARMRS)method,final health state is determined and the remaining useful life(RUL)is estimated.In order to evaluate the model,sensor data provided by FEMTO-ST Institute have been used.展开更多
Riparian land use/land cover(LULC)plays a crucial role in maintaining riverine water quality by altering the transport of pollutants and nutrients.Nevertheless,establishing a direct relationship between water quality ...Riparian land use/land cover(LULC)plays a crucial role in maintaining riverine water quality by altering the transport of pollutants and nutrients.Nevertheless,establishing a direct relationship between water quality and LULC is challenging due to the multi-indicator nature of both factors.Water quality encompasses a multitude of physical,chemical,and biological parameters,while LULC represents a diverse array of land use types.Riparian habitat quality(RHQ)serves as an indicator of LULC.Yet,it remains to be seen whether RHQ can act as a proxy of LULC for assessing the impact of LULC on riverine water quality.This study examines the interplay between RHQ,LULC and water quality,and develops a comprehensive indicator to predict water quality.We measured several water quality parameters,including pH(potential of hydrogen),TN(total nitrogen),TP(total phosphorus),T_(water)(water temperature),DO(dissolved oxygen),and EC(electrical conductivity)of the Yue and Jinshui Rivers draining to the Han River during 2016,2017 and 2018.The water quality index(WQI)was further calculated.RHQ is assessed by the InVEST(Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs)model.Our study found noticeable seasonal differences in water quality,with a higher WQI observed in the dry season.The RHQ was strongly correlated with LULC compositions.RHQ positively correlated with WQI,and DO concentration and vegetation land were negatively correlated with T_(water),TN,TP,EC,cropland,and construction land.These correlations were stronger in the rainy season.Human-dominated land,such as construction land and cropland,significantly contributed to water quality degradation,whereas vegetation promoted water quality.Regression models showed that the RHQ explained variations in WQI better than LULC types.Our study concludes that RHQ is a new and comprehensive indicator for predicting the dynamics of riverine water quality.展开更多
The abandonment of date palm grove of the former Al-Ahsa Oasis in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia has resulted in the conversion of delicate agricultural area into urban area.The current state of the oasis is influ...The abandonment of date palm grove of the former Al-Ahsa Oasis in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia has resulted in the conversion of delicate agricultural area into urban area.The current state of the oasis is influenced by both expansion and degradation factors.Therefore,it is important to study the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover for the sustainable management of oasis resources.This study used Landsat satellite images in 1987,2002,and 2021 to monitor the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,applied multi-temporal Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)data spanning from 1987 to 2021 to assess environmental and spatiotemporal variations that have occurred in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,and investigated the factors influencing these variation.This study reveals that there is a significant improvement in the ecological environment of the oasis during 1987–2021,with increase of NDVI values being higher than 0.10.In 2021,the highest NDVI value is generally above 0.70,while the lowest value remains largely unchanged.However,there is a remarkable increase in NDVI values between 0.20 and 0.30.The area of low NDVI values(0.00–0.20)has remained almost stable,but the region with high NDVI values(above 0.70)expands during 1987–2021.Furthermore,this study finds that in 1987–2002,the increase of vegetation cover is most notable in the northern region of the study area,whereas from 2002 to 2021,the increase of vegetation cover is mainly concentrated in the northern and southern regions of the study area.From 1987 to 2021,NDVI values exhibit the most pronounced variation,with a significant increase in the“green”zone(characterized by NDVI values exceeding 0.40),indicating a substantial enhancement in the ecological environment of the oasis.The NDVI classification is validated through 50 ground validation points in the study area,demonstrating a mean accuracy of 92.00%in the detection of vegetation cover.In general,both the user’s and producer’s accuracies of NDVI classification are extremely high in 1987,2002,and 2021.Finally,this study suggests that environmental authorities should strengthen their overall forestry project arrangements to combat sand encroachment and enhance the ecological environment of the Al-Ahsa Oasis.展开更多
This study aimed to provide theoretical basis for an optimized land use of Xigu District in Lanzhou City,Gansu Province.With the support of GIS platform,structural characteristics of 11 land use types in Xigu District...This study aimed to provide theoretical basis for an optimized land use of Xigu District in Lanzhou City,Gansu Province.With the support of GIS platform,structural characteristics of 11 land use types in Xigu District were analyzed by utilizing fragmentation degree,shape index,fractal dimension,diversity and such landscape pattern indices.展开更多
Based on the theory of information entropy, time series and spatial variation of land use changes of Bijie City in 2009-2013 were analyzed from different dimensions such as land use degree and land use diversity. The ...Based on the theory of information entropy, time series and spatial variation of land use changes of Bijie City in 2009-2013 were analyzed from different dimensions such as land use degree and land use diversity. The result showed that in 2009-2013, the forest vegetation was well protected, and the construction land was under reasonable expansion under the influence of economic development, the land use degree of which developed gradually to width and depth, and the trend of information entropy showed a graduate increase, indicating that land use scale became more reasonable and the area of different land type became more balanced in Bijie in the period. The study results showed that land resources in Bijie City were used rationally under the strategy from central government local government,and Bijie was in the benign development of economic development—resource distribution—scale change. Moreover, Bijie chould further improve land use pattern such as redevelop stock construction land, optimize the industrial land use pattern and mountain agricultural land development in the future.展开更多
According to the natural ecology and socio-economic conditions in Henan Province, a land use regionalization index system with 6 factors and 24 factor layers was constructed by combining with the characteristics of la...According to the natural ecology and socio-economic conditions in Henan Province, a land use regionalization index system with 6 factors and 24 factor layers was constructed by combining with the characteristics of land use in Henan Province. Expert scoring method was used to determine the weights of the indicators. Based on the similarities and differences of these factors in the index system at county (city, district) levels, hierarchical clustering method was used to make the quantitative analysis to the land use regionalization in Henan Province. And constrastive analysis and qualitative analysis were made to the regionalization scheme by combining with the acutal conditions in the counties (cities, districts), and finally, Henan Province was classified into 6 regions.展开更多
Based on remote sensing and GIS techniques, land use maps in 2000, 2005 and 2010 in China′s coastal zone were produced, and structural raster data of land use were further generated to calculate land use intensity co...Based on remote sensing and GIS techniques, land use maps in 2000, 2005 and 2010 in China′s coastal zone were produced, and structural raster data of land use were further generated to calculate land use intensity comprehensive index(LUICI) for analyzing land use spatial-temporal characteristics at 1 km scale. Results show that: 1) from the perspective of spatial patterns of landforms at a macro scale, there is a significant difference in land use intensity between the north and the south of China′s coastal zone. Hotspots of changes mainly concentrated in metropolitan areas, estuaries and coastal wetlands; 2) elevation is an important factor that controlling land use spatial patterns at local scale. Land use intensity is much higher within areas below the elevation of 400 m and it decreased significantly as the elevation increasing; 3) there is a significant land-ocean gradient for land use intensity, which is low in island and near-shore areas, but high in the regions that 4–30 km far away the coastline because of much intensive human activities; however, in recent decades land use intensity had been promoted significantly in low near-shore area due to extensive sea reclamations; 4) significant differences of land use intensity were also found among provincial administrative units. A rising trend of land use intensity was found in provincial-level administrative units from 2000 to 2010. To sum up, elevation, land-ocean gradient, socio-economic status and policy are all influencing factors to the spatial patterns and temporal variations of land use intensity in China′s coastal zone.展开更多
Based on digital land use data from 1995 to 2000 and road data, the land use and landscape changes of Golmud, Qumaleb and Zhidoi are studied on a macro-scale. Land use and landscape changes in highway buffer zones and...Based on digital land use data from 1995 to 2000 and road data, the land use and landscape changes of Golmud, Qumaleb and Zhidoi are studied on a macro-scale. Land use and landscape changes in highway buffer zones and city expansion are special subjects. A new formula is used to define the exact degree of dynamic land use. To adequately define land use and landscape pattern changes, the buffer zones, illustrating the changes at different distances from the road, are recognized with ArcGIS 8.1 software. Prominent changes took place in land use and landscape patterns from 1995 to 2000, and the area of built-up land increased by 323.8%. The comprehensive degree of dynamic land use is 2.25, and the degree of dynamic land use of built-up land is the highest, followed by cultivated land. Woodland has the lowest value. The used degree index of land resources declined by 38.8 from 1995 to 2000. Landscape changed dramatically which influenced ecological processes immensely. Different from the corridor effect of other traffic routes, the corridor effect of this section of road is not obvious and its “point” radiation effect can be easily seen. The expanding range of Golmud City is confined to a 3 km buffer, while for Wudaoliang, it is 1 km. No land use change happened in the Nanshankou buffer.展开更多
The surface wind speed(SWS)is affected by both large-scale circulation and land use and cover change(LUCC).In China,most studies have considered the effect of large-scale circulation rather than LUCC on SWS.In this st...The surface wind speed(SWS)is affected by both large-scale circulation and land use and cover change(LUCC).In China,most studies have considered the effect of large-scale circulation rather than LUCC on SWS.In this study,we evaluated the effects of LUCC on the SWS decrease during 1979-2015 over China using the observation minus reanalysis(OMR)method.There were two key findings:(1)Observed wind speed declined significantly at a rate of 0.0112 m/(s·a),whereas ERA-Interim,which can only capture the inter-annual variation of observed data,indicated a gentle downward trend.The effects of LUCC on SWS were distinct and caused a decrease of 0.0124 m/(s·a)in SWS;(2)Due to variations in the characteristics of land use types across different regions,the influence of LUCC on SWS also varied.The observed wind speed showed a rapid decline over cultivated land in Northwest China,as well as a decrease in China’s northeastern and eastern plain regions due to the urbanization.However,in the Tibetan Plateau,the impact of LUCC on wind speed was only slight and can thus be ignored.展开更多
New indica and japonica hybrid rice cultivars,such as the Yongyou series,provide farmers with very high yield potential.However,information on their canopy light capture and solar radiation use efficiency in the late ...New indica and japonica hybrid rice cultivars,such as the Yongyou series,provide farmers with very high yield potential.However,information on their canopy light capture and solar radiation use efficiency in the late season is limited.Field experiments were performed to compare the radiation-use parameters of four rice types:indica rice(IR),inbred japonica rice(IJR),hybrid japonica rice(HJR),and hybrid indica/japonica rice(HIJR),from 2016 to 2018 during the late season in Hangzhou,China.The grain yield,aboveground biomass,intercepted solar radiation(SI),and radiation-use efficiency(RUE)of the HIJR were on average respectively 13.4%–53.4%,14.3%–30.6%,7.6%–21.4%,and 8.2%–14.9%higher than those of the HJR,IJR,and IR.The leaf area index(LAI)of the HIJR was 18.2%–57.0%greater than that of the IJR and HJR at four growth stages,resulting in respectively 17.8%–38.5%and 10.7%–42.8%greater canopy light interception rates(LIR)and amount of intercepted solar radiation during the vegetative stage.The prolonged grain-filling stage also led to respectively 33.9%–52.6%and 30.5%–51.4%increases in amounts of incident and intercepted radiation for the HIJR relative to the IR during grain filling.These results indicate that the SI superiority of the HIJR was caused by canopy closure as rapid as that of the IR during the vegetative stage(greater LAI and canopy LIR during the growing season)and a grain-filling stage as long as that of the HJR.For grain-filling stage,differences in leaf Pn between HIJR,IR,and IJR were not significant,suggesting that the greater RUE of the HIJR(12.7%–52.8%higher)than that of the other rice types resulted from improved canopy architecture after flowering(FL).Principal components analysis(PCA)revealed that the superiority of the HIJR in terms of solar radiation use resulted from the greater canopy light capture capability of IR and the prolonged growth period(especially during grain filling)of japonica rice in the late growing season.展开更多
The ecological quality of inland areas is an important aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(UN SDGs).The ecological environment of Northwest China is vulnerable to changes in climate and land use...The ecological quality of inland areas is an important aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(UN SDGs).The ecological environment of Northwest China is vulnerable to changes in climate and land use/land cover,and the changes in ecological quality in this arid region over the last two decades are not well understood.This makes it more difficult to advance the UN SDGs and develop appropriate measures at the regional level.In this study,we used the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)products to generate remote sensing ecological index(RSEI)on the Google Earth Engine(GEE)platform to examine the relationship between ecological quality and environment in Xinjiang during the last two decades(from 2000 to 2020).We analyzed a 21-year time series of the trends and spatial characteristics of ecological quality.We further assessed the importance of different environmental factors affecting ecological quality through the random forest algorithm using data from statistical yearbooks and land use products.Our results show that the RSEI constructed using the GEE platform can accurately reflect the ecological quality information in Xinjiang because the contribution of the first principal component was higher than 90.00%.The ecological quality in Xinjiang has increased significantly over the last two decades,with the northern part of this region having a better ecological quality than the southern part.The areas with slightly improved ecological quality accounted for 31.26%of the total land area of Xinjiang,whereas only 3.55%of the land area was classified as having a slightly worsen(3.16%)or worsen(0.39%)ecological quality.The vast majority of the deterioration in ecological quality mainly occurred in the barren areas Temperature,precipitation,closed shrublands,grasslands and savannas were the top five environmental factors affecting the changes in RSEI.Environmental factors were allocated different weights for different RSEI categories.In general,the recovery of ecological quality in Xinjiang has been controlled by climate and land use/land cover during the last two decades and policy-driven ecological restoration is therefore crucial.Rapid monitoring of inland ecological quality using the GEE platform is projected to aid in the advancement of the comprehensive assessment of the UN SDGs.展开更多
Through the matching relationship between land use types and carbon emission items, this paper estimated carbon emissions of different land use types in Nanjing City, China and analyzed the influencing factors of carb...Through the matching relationship between land use types and carbon emission items, this paper estimated carbon emissions of different land use types in Nanjing City, China and analyzed the influencing factors of carbon emissions by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index(LMDI) model. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) Total anthropogenic carbon emission of Nanjing increased from 1.22928 ×10^7 t in 2000 to 3.06939 × 10^7 t in 2009, in which the carbon emission of Inhabitation, mining & manufacturing land accounted for 93% of the total. 2) The average land use carbon emission intensity of Nanjing in 2009 was 46.63 t/ha, in which carbon emission intensity of Inhabitation, mining & manufacturing land was the highest(200.52 t/ha), which was much higher than that of other land use types. 3) The average carbon source intensity in Nanjing was 16 times of the average carbon sink intensity(2.83 t/ha) in 2009, indicating that Nanjing was confronted with serious carbon deficit and huge carbon cycle pressure. 4) Land use area per unit GDP was an inhibitory factor for the increase of carbon emissions, while the other factors were all contributing factors. 5) Carbon emission effect evaluation should be introduced into land use activities to formulate low-carbon land use strategies in regional development.展开更多
Sustainable use of natural resources is different from sustainable development. As the most important natural resource, sustainable use of land resource is the essential guarantee of sustainable development. The natur...Sustainable use of natural resources is different from sustainable development. As the most important natural resource, sustainable use of land resource is the essential guarantee of sustainable development. The nature of sustainable use of land resource is to retain the quantity and productivity of land resource from generation to generation.The evaluation of sustainable use of land resource is an important method to ensure land use to get onto the sustainable track. Furthermore, building index system is the key of the evaluation. In view of tendency of the evaluation indexes chosen so widely, the evaluation indexes should include only three kinds in the researches on the evaluation of sustainable use of land resource. The first is the stock and structure index of land resource, viz. Areas quantity structure of land resources. In China, it is especially paid attention to the per person index of land quantity and rate between cultivated land and farmland. The second is the productive index of land, which includes the productivity, potentiality, stability and renewal situation of land. The third is the sustained index of land environment. On the evaluation research of area level, we should lay particular emphasis on statistic indexes. With a case of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, the evaluation index system of sustainable land use in county area has been built in this thesis. Using the weighted average method to calculate the means of sustainable land use in each county, according to the land using situation, all counties in the autonomous region have been divided into three types. (1) Sustainable Pattern contains 18 counties, which have higher land resource productivity, stronger sustained abilities of land environment .The economic benefits of land using in these counties are obviously higher. These counties have gotten highly intensive farming, and they are all in the good circumstance. (2) Basically Sustained Pattern contains 48 counties, which productivity of land resource is of middle level. In part of counties and cities, the stock of land resource inclines to lower level, but their land using potentialities are still greater. Through changing land using pattern, these counties can rapidly enter in a good circumstance. (3) Critically Sustained Pattern contains 14 counties, which are mostly in the karst mountain areas. They have less stock of land resource, lower productivity and more extensive cultivation. The productivity of land renewing has been hindered, so it urgently need to be renovated. At last, the writers have explored the basic ways of sustainable use of land resource in Guangxi, China — (1) Retain the stock of land resource and strictly manage farmland uses. (2) Strengthen the value accounting of land resource, and control the farmland occupation of non agricultural construction. (3) Depend on technology advanced, optimize the land using structure, and promote the productive level. (4) Carry out land management all round, and improve the ecological environment of land resource. (5) Enhance evaluation researche and land monitoring, and promote the sustainable utilization level of land resource.展开更多
Land use is shaped by the interactions between nature and society, and these interactions can inhibit environmental sustainability and deplete the natural capital that provides the ecosystem services upon which humans...Land use is shaped by the interactions between nature and society, and these interactions can inhibit environmental sustainability and deplete the natural capital that provides the ecosystem services upon which humans depend. Urbanity Index and Landscape Vulnerability Indicator have been proposed to improve the impact interpretability of land use changes on sub-basin sustainability for local scenarios of biodiversity conservation. A time series of LandSat 5 Thematic Mapper remote sensing data from São Carlos municipality, Southeastern Brazil, for the years 1989, 2004 and 2014 revealed that land use changes in the sub-basins do not take place in a progressive and gradual way. Over the 25-year period, the main trends showed the loss and increase of forest cover so that it has remained quantitatively similar over time due to reduced agricultural land use. The aggregation of both indicators enabled the identification of greater naturalness and lower vulnerability, as well as lower naturalness and higher vulnerability under local sub-basin conditions, pointing the need for different strategies for sub-basin biodiversity conservation and sustainability. These preliminary scenarios provide a way to communicate problems of environmental sustainability at different landscape scales to the scientific community as well as to planners, policy makers and the broader public.展开更多
基金Supported by the Work Project of China Geological Survey(1212010911062)Open Foundation of Karst Dynamics Laboratory(kdl2008-10)+1 种基金Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Innovation Project(0842008)National Natural Science Foundation(40872213)~~
文摘[Objective] The aim was to reveal changes of soil organic matter fraction and their corresponding carbon management indexes as affected by different land use types.[Method]Soil organic carbon,active soil organic carbon and soil carbon management index(CMI)of different land use types in Guilin Maocun karst area were studied.Sampling with field investigation and laboratory testing was carried out.Heavy potassium chromate method was adopted to determine soil organic matter.333 mmol/L KMnO4 oxidation method was used to determine active organic carbon.[Result]With active soil organic matter increasing,the differences of CMI between different land use types were bigger.The CMI value of different land uses was shrubforest paddy fielddry farmland.The statistical analysis showed that labile organic matter was related with major soil properties at a significant level.[Conclusion]Labile organic matter could be used to reveal the influence of different land use types on soil organic matter and carbon management index in karst area.
文摘Based on analyzing the remote sensing images of Wuhan City in 1998,2002 and 2008,information about the land use changes along rail traffic routes before and after the construction of these routes are extracted,and 9 landscape indexes are applied to quantitatively study the change trend of its land use pattern.The results show that the construction of rail traffic routes has brought enormous changes to the land use pattern along the routes,say,built-up area has become the dominant type which has been rapidly concentrating into patches;the amounts of small patches,such as grass land,have gradually declined and shown an imbalanced distribution.
基金supported by the National Key Technology R&D Program (2011BAD12B03)
文摘Knowledge about crop growth processes in relation to N limitation is necessary to optimize N management in farming system. Plant-based diagnostic method, for instance nitrogen nutrition index (NNI) were used to determine the crop nitrogen status. This study determines the relationship of NNI with agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (AEN), tuber yield, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and leaf parameters including leaf area index (LAI), areal leaf N content (NJ and leaf N concentration (N0. Potatoes were grown in field at three N levels: no N (N 1), 150 kg N ha^-1 (N2), 300 kg N ha^-1 (N3). N deficiency was quantified by NNI and RUE was generally calculated by estimating of the light absorbance on leaf area. NNI was used to evaluate the N effect on tuber yield, RUE, LAI, NAL, and NL. The results showed that NNI was negatively correlated with AEN, N deficiencies (NNI〈 1) which occurred for N 1 and N2 significantly reduced LAI, NL and tuber yield; whereas the N deficiencies had a relative small effect on NAL and RUE. To remove any effect other than N on these parameters, the actual ratio to maximum values were calculated for each developmental linear relationships were obtained between NNI and tuber RUE to NNI. stage of potatoes. When the NNI ranged from 0.4 to 1, positive yield, LAI, NL, while a nonlinear regression fitted the response of
文摘The establishment of evaluation index system is the key to the evaluation of intensive land use.On the basis of expounding connotation,characteristics and the principle of establishing evaluation index system,and as for the problems existing in Evaluation Regulation(Trial)of Intensive Land Use in Development Area,regarding the evaluation index system of intensive land use in the development area,in the light of the connotation of intensive land use in development area,coupled with the practical situation of the land use in China's development area,after referring to the research achievements of domestic and abroad scholars,some suggestions are put forward in order to improve and perfect the evaluation index system of intensive land us in development area.
基金funded by a grant from the research council of Shahid Beheshti University,Tehran,Iran(Grant No.600.4452)supported by strategic funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council(BBSRC grant BBS/E/C/000I0330Soil to Nutrition)
文摘Soil erosion and land use type have long been viewed as being particularly important drivers of soil degradation.The objectives of this study,therefore,were to select a new soil quality index(SQI)which varies significantly with land use/soil erosion,and to evaluate the new SQI using expert opinion.In total,18 soil physical,chemical,and biochemical properties(indicators)were measured on 56 soil samples collected from four land use/soil erosion categories(rangeland/surface erosion,rangeland/subsurface erosion,cultivated land/surface erosion and dry-farming land/surface erosion).Principal component and classification analysis(PCCA)identified five PCs that explained 77.7%of the variation in soil properties with the biochemical PC varying significantly with land use/soil erosion.General discriminant analysis(GDA)selected urease and clay as the most sensitive properties distinguishing the land use/soil erosion categories.The GDA canonical scores for the new SQI were significantly correlated with expert opinion soil surface summed scores(for soil movement,surface litter,pedestalling,rills and flow pattern)derived using the U.S.Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management(BLM)method.A forward stepwise general regression model revealed that the new SQI values were explained by soil movement,surface litter,and the summed values of the soil surface factors.Overall,this study confirmed that soil quality in the study area in Iran is controlled by land use and corresponding soil erosion.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2016YFA0602701)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41721091,41630754,91644225)the Open Program(Grant No.SKLCS-OP-2017-02)from the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science,Northwest Institute of EcoEnvironment and Resources,Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘The application of satellite radiance assimilation can improve the simulation of precipitation by numerical weather prediction models. However, substantial quantities of satellite data, especially those derived from low-level(surface-sensitive)channels, are rejected for use because of the difficulty in realistically modeling land surface emissivity and energy budgets.Here, we used an improved land use and leaf area index(LAI) dataset in the WRF-3 DVAR assimilation system to explore the benefit of using improved quality of land surface information to improve rainfall simulation for the Shule River Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau as a case study. The results for July 2013 show that, for low-level channels(e.g., channel 3),the underestimation of brightness temperature in the original simulation was largely removed by more realistic land surface information. In addition, more satellite data could be utilized in the assimilation because the realistic land use and LAI data allowed more satellite radiance data to pass the deviation test and get used by the assimilation, which resulted in improved initial driving fields and better simulation in terms of temperature, relative humidity, vertical convection, and cumulative precipitation.
文摘Condition assessment is one of the most significant techniques of the equipment’s health management.Also,in PHM methodology cycle,which is a developed form of CBM,condition assessment is the most important step of this cycle.In this paper,the remaining useful life of the equipment is calculated using the combination of sensor information,determination of degradation state and forecasting the proposed health index.The combination of sensor information has been carried out using a new approach to determining the probabilities in the Dempster-Shafer combination rules and fuzzy c-means clustering method.Using the simulation and forecasting of extracted vibration-based health index by autoregressive Markov regime switching(ARMRS)method,final health state is determined and the remaining useful life(RUL)is estimated.In order to evaluate the model,sensor data provided by FEMTO-ST Institute have been used.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.31670473)the Wuhan Institute of Technology funding to Dr.Siyue Li(Grant No.21QD02).
文摘Riparian land use/land cover(LULC)plays a crucial role in maintaining riverine water quality by altering the transport of pollutants and nutrients.Nevertheless,establishing a direct relationship between water quality and LULC is challenging due to the multi-indicator nature of both factors.Water quality encompasses a multitude of physical,chemical,and biological parameters,while LULC represents a diverse array of land use types.Riparian habitat quality(RHQ)serves as an indicator of LULC.Yet,it remains to be seen whether RHQ can act as a proxy of LULC for assessing the impact of LULC on riverine water quality.This study examines the interplay between RHQ,LULC and water quality,and develops a comprehensive indicator to predict water quality.We measured several water quality parameters,including pH(potential of hydrogen),TN(total nitrogen),TP(total phosphorus),T_(water)(water temperature),DO(dissolved oxygen),and EC(electrical conductivity)of the Yue and Jinshui Rivers draining to the Han River during 2016,2017 and 2018.The water quality index(WQI)was further calculated.RHQ is assessed by the InVEST(Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs)model.Our study found noticeable seasonal differences in water quality,with a higher WQI observed in the dry season.The RHQ was strongly correlated with LULC compositions.RHQ positively correlated with WQI,and DO concentration and vegetation land were negatively correlated with T_(water),TN,TP,EC,cropland,and construction land.These correlations were stronger in the rainy season.Human-dominated land,such as construction land and cropland,significantly contributed to water quality degradation,whereas vegetation promoted water quality.Regression models showed that the RHQ explained variations in WQI better than LULC types.Our study concludes that RHQ is a new and comprehensive indicator for predicting the dynamics of riverine water quality.
文摘The abandonment of date palm grove of the former Al-Ahsa Oasis in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia has resulted in the conversion of delicate agricultural area into urban area.The current state of the oasis is influenced by both expansion and degradation factors.Therefore,it is important to study the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover for the sustainable management of oasis resources.This study used Landsat satellite images in 1987,2002,and 2021 to monitor the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,applied multi-temporal Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)data spanning from 1987 to 2021 to assess environmental and spatiotemporal variations that have occurred in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,and investigated the factors influencing these variation.This study reveals that there is a significant improvement in the ecological environment of the oasis during 1987–2021,with increase of NDVI values being higher than 0.10.In 2021,the highest NDVI value is generally above 0.70,while the lowest value remains largely unchanged.However,there is a remarkable increase in NDVI values between 0.20 and 0.30.The area of low NDVI values(0.00–0.20)has remained almost stable,but the region with high NDVI values(above 0.70)expands during 1987–2021.Furthermore,this study finds that in 1987–2002,the increase of vegetation cover is most notable in the northern region of the study area,whereas from 2002 to 2021,the increase of vegetation cover is mainly concentrated in the northern and southern regions of the study area.From 1987 to 2021,NDVI values exhibit the most pronounced variation,with a significant increase in the“green”zone(characterized by NDVI values exceeding 0.40),indicating a substantial enhancement in the ecological environment of the oasis.The NDVI classification is validated through 50 ground validation points in the study area,demonstrating a mean accuracy of 92.00%in the detection of vegetation cover.In general,both the user’s and producer’s accuracies of NDVI classification are extremely high in 1987,2002,and 2021.Finally,this study suggests that environmental authorities should strengthen their overall forestry project arrangements to combat sand encroachment and enhance the ecological environment of the Al-Ahsa Oasis.
文摘This study aimed to provide theoretical basis for an optimized land use of Xigu District in Lanzhou City,Gansu Province.With the support of GIS platform,structural characteristics of 11 land use types in Xigu District were analyzed by utilizing fragmentation degree,shape index,fractal dimension,diversity and such landscape pattern indices.
基金Supported by the Mutual Fund Project for Soft Science Research of Guizhou Science and Technology Department and Guizhou University of Finance and Economics(Qiankehe LH[2013]7249)~~
文摘Based on the theory of information entropy, time series and spatial variation of land use changes of Bijie City in 2009-2013 were analyzed from different dimensions such as land use degree and land use diversity. The result showed that in 2009-2013, the forest vegetation was well protected, and the construction land was under reasonable expansion under the influence of economic development, the land use degree of which developed gradually to width and depth, and the trend of information entropy showed a graduate increase, indicating that land use scale became more reasonable and the area of different land type became more balanced in Bijie in the period. The study results showed that land resources in Bijie City were used rationally under the strategy from central government local government,and Bijie was in the benign development of economic development—resource distribution—scale change. Moreover, Bijie chould further improve land use pattern such as redevelop stock construction land, optimize the industrial land use pattern and mountain agricultural land development in the future.
基金Supported by the Study on the Farmland Quality Evolution and Protection Mechanism based on Rapid Urbanization~~
文摘According to the natural ecology and socio-economic conditions in Henan Province, a land use regionalization index system with 6 factors and 24 factor layers was constructed by combining with the characteristics of land use in Henan Province. Expert scoring method was used to determine the weights of the indicators. Based on the similarities and differences of these factors in the index system at county (city, district) levels, hierarchical clustering method was used to make the quantitative analysis to the land use regionalization in Henan Province. And constrastive analysis and qualitative analysis were made to the regionalization scheme by combining with the acutal conditions in the counties (cities, districts), and finally, Henan Province was classified into 6 regions.
基金Under the auspices of Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDA05130703)Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.KZCX2-YW-224)2020-Planning Project of Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.Y254021031-6)
文摘Based on remote sensing and GIS techniques, land use maps in 2000, 2005 and 2010 in China′s coastal zone were produced, and structural raster data of land use were further generated to calculate land use intensity comprehensive index(LUICI) for analyzing land use spatial-temporal characteristics at 1 km scale. Results show that: 1) from the perspective of spatial patterns of landforms at a macro scale, there is a significant difference in land use intensity between the north and the south of China′s coastal zone. Hotspots of changes mainly concentrated in metropolitan areas, estuaries and coastal wetlands; 2) elevation is an important factor that controlling land use spatial patterns at local scale. Land use intensity is much higher within areas below the elevation of 400 m and it decreased significantly as the elevation increasing; 3) there is a significant land-ocean gradient for land use intensity, which is low in island and near-shore areas, but high in the regions that 4–30 km far away the coastline because of much intensive human activities; however, in recent decades land use intensity had been promoted significantly in low near-shore area due to extensive sea reclamations; 4) significant differences of land use intensity were also found among provincial administrative units. A rising trend of land use intensity was found in provincial-level administrative units from 2000 to 2010. To sum up, elevation, land-ocean gradient, socio-economic status and policy are all influencing factors to the spatial patterns and temporal variations of land use intensity in China′s coastal zone.
基金The National Key Basic Research Special Fund, No.Gl 998040800 The Core Project of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of CAS for Knowledge Innovation, No. CXIOG-E01-01,No.CXIOG-A00-03-02.
文摘Based on digital land use data from 1995 to 2000 and road data, the land use and landscape changes of Golmud, Qumaleb and Zhidoi are studied on a macro-scale. Land use and landscape changes in highway buffer zones and city expansion are special subjects. A new formula is used to define the exact degree of dynamic land use. To adequately define land use and landscape pattern changes, the buffer zones, illustrating the changes at different distances from the road, are recognized with ArcGIS 8.1 software. Prominent changes took place in land use and landscape patterns from 1995 to 2000, and the area of built-up land increased by 323.8%. The comprehensive degree of dynamic land use is 2.25, and the degree of dynamic land use of built-up land is the highest, followed by cultivated land. Woodland has the lowest value. The used degree index of land resources declined by 38.8 from 1995 to 2000. Landscape changed dramatically which influenced ecological processes immensely. Different from the corridor effect of other traffic routes, the corridor effect of this section of road is not obvious and its “point” radiation effect can be easily seen. The expanding range of Golmud City is confined to a 3 km buffer, while for Wudaoliang, it is 1 km. No land use change happened in the Nanshankou buffer.
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA19030204)the CAS"Light of West China"Program(2015-XBQNB-17)
文摘The surface wind speed(SWS)is affected by both large-scale circulation and land use and cover change(LUCC).In China,most studies have considered the effect of large-scale circulation rather than LUCC on SWS.In this study,we evaluated the effects of LUCC on the SWS decrease during 1979-2015 over China using the observation minus reanalysis(OMR)method.There were two key findings:(1)Observed wind speed declined significantly at a rate of 0.0112 m/(s·a),whereas ERA-Interim,which can only capture the inter-annual variation of observed data,indicated a gentle downward trend.The effects of LUCC on SWS were distinct and caused a decrease of 0.0124 m/(s·a)in SWS;(2)Due to variations in the characteristics of land use types across different regions,the influence of LUCC on SWS also varied.The observed wind speed showed a rapid decline over cultivated land in Northwest China,as well as a decrease in China’s northeastern and eastern plain regions due to the urbanization.However,in the Tibetan Plateau,the impact of LUCC on wind speed was only slight and can thus be ignored.
基金This research was supported in part by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFD0300108,2016YFD0300208-02)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31671638)+1 种基金the China Agriculture Research System(CARS-01-04A)Central Public Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund(2017RG004-1).
文摘New indica and japonica hybrid rice cultivars,such as the Yongyou series,provide farmers with very high yield potential.However,information on their canopy light capture and solar radiation use efficiency in the late season is limited.Field experiments were performed to compare the radiation-use parameters of four rice types:indica rice(IR),inbred japonica rice(IJR),hybrid japonica rice(HJR),and hybrid indica/japonica rice(HIJR),from 2016 to 2018 during the late season in Hangzhou,China.The grain yield,aboveground biomass,intercepted solar radiation(SI),and radiation-use efficiency(RUE)of the HIJR were on average respectively 13.4%–53.4%,14.3%–30.6%,7.6%–21.4%,and 8.2%–14.9%higher than those of the HJR,IJR,and IR.The leaf area index(LAI)of the HIJR was 18.2%–57.0%greater than that of the IJR and HJR at four growth stages,resulting in respectively 17.8%–38.5%and 10.7%–42.8%greater canopy light interception rates(LIR)and amount of intercepted solar radiation during the vegetative stage.The prolonged grain-filling stage also led to respectively 33.9%–52.6%and 30.5%–51.4%increases in amounts of incident and intercepted radiation for the HIJR relative to the IR during grain filling.These results indicate that the SI superiority of the HIJR was caused by canopy closure as rapid as that of the IR during the vegetative stage(greater LAI and canopy LIR during the growing season)and a grain-filling stage as long as that of the HJR.For grain-filling stage,differences in leaf Pn between HIJR,IR,and IJR were not significant,suggesting that the greater RUE of the HIJR(12.7%–52.8%higher)than that of the other rice types resulted from improved canopy architecture after flowering(FL).Principal components analysis(PCA)revealed that the superiority of the HIJR in terms of solar radiation use resulted from the greater canopy light capture capability of IR and the prolonged growth period(especially during grain filling)of japonica rice in the late growing season.
基金the Key Laboratory Open Subjects of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Science and Technology Department(2020D04038)the Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region(2021D01D06)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41961059).
文摘The ecological quality of inland areas is an important aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(UN SDGs).The ecological environment of Northwest China is vulnerable to changes in climate and land use/land cover,and the changes in ecological quality in this arid region over the last two decades are not well understood.This makes it more difficult to advance the UN SDGs and develop appropriate measures at the regional level.In this study,we used the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)products to generate remote sensing ecological index(RSEI)on the Google Earth Engine(GEE)platform to examine the relationship between ecological quality and environment in Xinjiang during the last two decades(from 2000 to 2020).We analyzed a 21-year time series of the trends and spatial characteristics of ecological quality.We further assessed the importance of different environmental factors affecting ecological quality through the random forest algorithm using data from statistical yearbooks and land use products.Our results show that the RSEI constructed using the GEE platform can accurately reflect the ecological quality information in Xinjiang because the contribution of the first principal component was higher than 90.00%.The ecological quality in Xinjiang has increased significantly over the last two decades,with the northern part of this region having a better ecological quality than the southern part.The areas with slightly improved ecological quality accounted for 31.26%of the total land area of Xinjiang,whereas only 3.55%of the land area was classified as having a slightly worsen(3.16%)or worsen(0.39%)ecological quality.The vast majority of the deterioration in ecological quality mainly occurred in the barren areas Temperature,precipitation,closed shrublands,grasslands and savannas were the top five environmental factors affecting the changes in RSEI.Environmental factors were allocated different weights for different RSEI categories.In general,the recovery of ecological quality in Xinjiang has been controlled by climate and land use/land cover during the last two decades and policy-driven ecological restoration is therefore crucial.Rapid monitoring of inland ecological quality using the GEE platform is projected to aid in the advancement of the comprehensive assessment of the UN SDGs.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41301633)National Social Science Foundation of China(No.10ZD&030)+1 种基金Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China(No.2012M511243,2013T60518)Clean Development Mechanism Foundation of China(No.1214073,2012065)
文摘Through the matching relationship between land use types and carbon emission items, this paper estimated carbon emissions of different land use types in Nanjing City, China and analyzed the influencing factors of carbon emissions by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index(LMDI) model. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) Total anthropogenic carbon emission of Nanjing increased from 1.22928 ×10^7 t in 2000 to 3.06939 × 10^7 t in 2009, in which the carbon emission of Inhabitation, mining & manufacturing land accounted for 93% of the total. 2) The average land use carbon emission intensity of Nanjing in 2009 was 46.63 t/ha, in which carbon emission intensity of Inhabitation, mining & manufacturing land was the highest(200.52 t/ha), which was much higher than that of other land use types. 3) The average carbon source intensity in Nanjing was 16 times of the average carbon sink intensity(2.83 t/ha) in 2009, indicating that Nanjing was confronted with serious carbon deficit and huge carbon cycle pressure. 4) Land use area per unit GDP was an inhibitory factor for the increase of carbon emissions, while the other factors were all contributing factors. 5) Carbon emission effect evaluation should be introduced into land use activities to formulate low-carbon land use strategies in regional development.
文摘Sustainable use of natural resources is different from sustainable development. As the most important natural resource, sustainable use of land resource is the essential guarantee of sustainable development. The nature of sustainable use of land resource is to retain the quantity and productivity of land resource from generation to generation.The evaluation of sustainable use of land resource is an important method to ensure land use to get onto the sustainable track. Furthermore, building index system is the key of the evaluation. In view of tendency of the evaluation indexes chosen so widely, the evaluation indexes should include only three kinds in the researches on the evaluation of sustainable use of land resource. The first is the stock and structure index of land resource, viz. Areas quantity structure of land resources. In China, it is especially paid attention to the per person index of land quantity and rate between cultivated land and farmland. The second is the productive index of land, which includes the productivity, potentiality, stability and renewal situation of land. The third is the sustained index of land environment. On the evaluation research of area level, we should lay particular emphasis on statistic indexes. With a case of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, the evaluation index system of sustainable land use in county area has been built in this thesis. Using the weighted average method to calculate the means of sustainable land use in each county, according to the land using situation, all counties in the autonomous region have been divided into three types. (1) Sustainable Pattern contains 18 counties, which have higher land resource productivity, stronger sustained abilities of land environment .The economic benefits of land using in these counties are obviously higher. These counties have gotten highly intensive farming, and they are all in the good circumstance. (2) Basically Sustained Pattern contains 48 counties, which productivity of land resource is of middle level. In part of counties and cities, the stock of land resource inclines to lower level, but their land using potentialities are still greater. Through changing land using pattern, these counties can rapidly enter in a good circumstance. (3) Critically Sustained Pattern contains 14 counties, which are mostly in the karst mountain areas. They have less stock of land resource, lower productivity and more extensive cultivation. The productivity of land renewing has been hindered, so it urgently need to be renovated. At last, the writers have explored the basic ways of sustainable use of land resource in Guangxi, China — (1) Retain the stock of land resource and strictly manage farmland uses. (2) Strengthen the value accounting of land resource, and control the farmland occupation of non agricultural construction. (3) Depend on technology advanced, optimize the land using structure, and promote the productive level. (4) Carry out land management all round, and improve the ecological environment of land resource. (5) Enhance evaluation researche and land monitoring, and promote the sustainable utilization level of land resource.
文摘Land use is shaped by the interactions between nature and society, and these interactions can inhibit environmental sustainability and deplete the natural capital that provides the ecosystem services upon which humans depend. Urbanity Index and Landscape Vulnerability Indicator have been proposed to improve the impact interpretability of land use changes on sub-basin sustainability for local scenarios of biodiversity conservation. A time series of LandSat 5 Thematic Mapper remote sensing data from São Carlos municipality, Southeastern Brazil, for the years 1989, 2004 and 2014 revealed that land use changes in the sub-basins do not take place in a progressive and gradual way. Over the 25-year period, the main trends showed the loss and increase of forest cover so that it has remained quantitatively similar over time due to reduced agricultural land use. The aggregation of both indicators enabled the identification of greater naturalness and lower vulnerability, as well as lower naturalness and higher vulnerability under local sub-basin conditions, pointing the need for different strategies for sub-basin biodiversity conservation and sustainability. These preliminary scenarios provide a way to communicate problems of environmental sustainability at different landscape scales to the scientific community as well as to planners, policy makers and the broader public.