Remote Sensing of Land Surface Phenology

Land surface phenology (LSP) uses remote sensing to monitor seasonal dynamics in vegetated land surfaces and retrieve phenological metrics (transition dates, rate of change, annual integrals, etc.). LSP has developed rapidly in the last few decades. Both regional and global LSP products have been routinely generated and play prominent roles in modeling crop yield, ecological surveillance, identifying invasive species, modeling the terrestrial biosphere, and assessing impacts on urban and natural ecosystems. Recent advances in field and spaceborne sensor technologies, as well as data fusion techniques, have enabled novel LSP retrieval algorithms that refine retrievals at even higher spatiotemporal resolutions, providing new insights into ecosystem dynamics. Meanwhile, rigorous assessment of the uncertainties in LSP retrievals is ongoing, and efforts to reduce these uncertainties represent an active research area. Open source software and hardware are in development, and have greatly facilitated the use of LSP metrics by scientists outside the remote sensing community. This reprint covers the latest developments in sensor technologies, LSP retrieval algorithms and validation strategies, and the use of LSP products in a variety of fields. It aims to summarize the ongoing diverse LSP developments and boost discussions on future research prospects

The Impact of Ecological Construction Programs on Grassland Conservation in Inner Mongolia, China

A series of Ecological Construction Programs have been initiated to protect the condition of grasslands in China during recent decades. However, grassland degradation is still severe, and conditions have not been restored as intended. This paper aims to empirically examine the effectiveness of these programs for protecting the grassland condition in the extensive pastoral areas of China. We focus on one major program that has been implemented widely on the grasslands, the Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC). The normalized difference vegetation index, measured with remote sensing technology, is used to quantify the grassland condition between 2001 and 2014. With data from 54 counties in the pastoral areas of Inner Mongolia, we estimate the impact of SISGC on the grassland condition. A fixed effects model is employed to control for livestock production, climate, time trends, and time-invariant heterogeneity between counties. The model results provide quantitative evidence that the condition of the grasslands has improved significantly because of SISGC; but that the effectiveness of SISGC was offset to some extent by other socio-economic and climate factors, such as increased producer prices and high temperature. This may explain why the actual grassland degradation has not been prevented as effectively as was expected. In addition, the impact of SISGC was stronger in counties with worse initial grassland condition. Furthermore, the effects of producer prices and climate changes were also more pronounced in these counties

ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 Calibration, Validation, Science and Applications

Twelve edited original papers on the latest and state-of-art results of topics ranging from calibration, validation, and science to a wide range of applications using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2. We hope you will find them useful for your future research

Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation

This Special Issue (SI) on “Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation” comprises 17 original research papers with a focus on land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid areas (i.e., desertification) in addition to temperate rangelands, grasslands, woodlands and the humid tropics. The studies cover different spatial, spectral and temporal scales and employ a wealth of different optical and radar sensors. Some studies incorporate time-series analysis techniques that assess the general trend of vegetation or the timing and duration of the reduction in biological productivity caused by land degradation. As anticipated from the latest trend in Earth Observation (EO) literature, some studies utilize the cloud-computing infrastructure of Google Earth Engine to cope with the unprecedented volume of data involved in current methodological approaches. This SI clearly demonstrates the ever-increasing relevance of EO technologies when it comes to assessing and monitoring land degradation. With the recently published IPCC Reports informing us of the severe impacts and risks to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide, the EO scientific community has a clear obligation to increase its efforts to address any remaining gaps—some of which have been identified in this SI—and produce highly accurate and relevant land-degradation assessment and monitoring tools

Ecosystem Service and Land-Use Changes in Asia

This book highlights the role of research in Ecosystem Services and Land Use Changes in Asia. The contributions include case studies that explore the impacts of direct and indirect drivers affecting provision of ecosystem services in Asian countries, including China, India, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Findings from these empirical studies contribute to developing sustainability in Asia at both local and regional scales

Sustainable Use of Soils and Water: The Role of Environmental Land Use Conflicts

This book on the sustainable use of soils and water addressed a variety of issues related to the utopian desire for environmental sustainability and the deviations from this scene observed in the real world. Competing interests for land are frequently a factor in land degradation, especially where the adopted land uses do not conform with the land capability (the natural use of soil). The concerns of researchers about these matters are presented in the articles comprising this Special Issue book. Various approaches were used to assess the (im)balance between economic profit and environmental conservation in various regions, in addition to potential routes to bring landscapes back to a sustainable status being disclosed

New Advances and Contributions to Forestry Research

New Advances and Contributions to Forestry Research consists of 14 chapters divided into three sections and is authored by 48 researchers from 16 countries and all five continents. Section Whither the Use of Forest Resources, authored by 16 researchers, describes negative and positive practices in forestry. Forest is a complex habitat for man, animals, insects and micro-organisms and their activities may impact positively or negatively on the forest. This complex relationship is explained in the section Forest and Organisms Interactions, consisting of contributions made by six researchers. Development of tree plantations has been man’s response to forest degradation and deforestation caused by human, animals and natural disasters. Plantations of beech, spruce, Eucalyptus and other species are described in the last section, Amelioration of Dwindling Forest Resources Through Plantation Development, a section consisting of five papers authored by 20 researchers. New Advances and Contributions to Forestry Research will appeal to forest scientists, researchers and allied professionals. It will be of interest to those who care about forest and who subscribe to the adage that the last tree dies with the last man on our planet. I recommend it to you; enjoy reading it, save the forest and save life

Does Vegetation Mediate The Effects Of Climatic Change On Lake Catchment Dynamics at Lake Mugecuo, Southwest China?

Lake sediment archives are widely used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions on the basis that lake ecosystems are sensitive to environmental changes and they integrate changes in the surrounding landscape and atmosphere (Birks & Birks 2006; Carpenter et al., 2007; Pham et al., 2008; Williamson et al., 2008).The primary aim of this research is to investigate the links between long-term changes in climate and changes in plant community dynamics, and the potential impacts of these interactions on catchment palaeo-erosion rates during the Holocene in a high relief lake catchment. There is a distinct lack of palaeo-record coverage for the Hengduan Mountains and surrounding areas including the south eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (Zhang & Mischke, 2009). The Lake Mugecuo MG1 record analysed here is one of the few high resolution Holocene palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological records available for Southwestern China and one of the first for this part of the Hengduan Mountains in Sichuan Province, extending back to ~12.6 kcal.yr BP. The long-term relationship between major climatic change, vegetation change, and denudation events is complex and poorly understood (Willis et al., 1997). A PFT (plant functional type) approach was adopted to provide a method of classifying pollen taxa into plant communities in order to determine whether plant functional diversity mediates the effects of climate on lake catchment dynamics (including long-term erosion rates) at Lake Mugecuo. 10Be concentrations in bedrock and fluvial sediment samples were used as an independent proxy to estimate surface erosion rates, along with lacustrine deposits of quartz from two shallow water cores (MG3 & MG4) which are used to estimate palaeo-erosion rates for the Lake Mugecuo catchment. A published speleothem record (Wang et al., 2005; Dykoski et al., 2005) from Dongge cave (25°17′N, 108°5′E; 680 m), is used as an indicator of the general pattern of effective moisture change in this region during the Holocene in order to determine if there is a direct link between climate change and the lake deposition record and whether factoring in vegetation improves our understanding of the link between climate change and the lake deposition archive. The MG1 record provides a unique insight into the environmental and vegetation changes that took place during the Late-Glacial/Early Holocene transition. Statistical analysis of the data reveals that plant functional diversity and lake catchment dynamics (using particle-size analysis as an insight into catchment stability) respond to long-term changes (>2,800yr) in climate on in the Lake Mugecuo catchment whilst interactions between plant functional diversity and lake catchment dynamics are found to vary on shorter timescales (<2,800yr). It is argued here that apparent environmental shifts captured in the Lake Mugecuo record are primarily driven/mediated by changes in plant functional diversity and that an array of different types of species and/or functional groups play an important role in modulating and landscape evolution across millennial timescales (approximately 1,000-3,000 years). Vegetation is found to have a filtering effect on the signals of the proxies that are traditionally used as indicators for changes in erosion and deposition in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions (e.g. particle size). 10Be cosmogenic measurements provided supplementary data on past changes in landscape dynamics in the Mugecuo catchment which the conventional proxies used in palaeoenvironmental studies were unable to achieve.British Geological Surve