Revisiting the forest transition theory with historical records and geospatial data: A case study from Mississippi (USA)

Yeo, In‐Young; Huang, Chengquan

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.09.017

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Later, the use of remote-sensing data resulted in much more consistent estimations and allowed for a differentiation between forest types and biomes (Redo et al 2012). Still, authors stressed that using forest area alone had severe limitations in diagnosing meaningful changes in forest and territorial sustainability (Bae et al 2012, Yeo andHuang 2013). The issue at stake is not only whether forest area is recovering spontaneously or through tree plantation, nor the type and quality of the recovering forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean

Otero¹,

Marull²,

Aragay³

et al. 2015

E&S

103

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ABSTRACT. The effects of land abandonment on biodiversity have received considerable attention by scholars, but results are far from conclusive. Different cultural traditions of scientists seem to underlie the contrasting ways in which land abandonment is understood. Although the forest transition (FT) framework considers land abandonment as an opportunity for biodiversity conservation, European landscape ecologists characterize it as a threat. We use insights from both traditions to analyze the effects of land abandonment on landscape and biodiversity in a mountain area of metropolitan Barcelona. We do so through an in-depth historical case study covering a period of 160 years. A set of landscape metrics was applied to land-cover maps derived from cadastral cartography to characterize the landscape ecological changes brought about by land abandonment. Cadastral data on land uses were used to understand how landscape ecological changes could be explained by changing socioeconomic activities. Information on past landmanagement practices from semistructured interviews was used to shed light on how peasants shaped the capacity of landscape to host biodiversity. Our results point to a remarkable landscape deterioration along with the disappearance of the peasant land-use mosaics and the ensuing forest expansion. By using insights from landscape ecology in a historically informed manner, we (1) question the alleged relationship between land abandonment and ecosystem recovery; (2) show that the assumed restorative character of the FT is based on the underestimation of the ecological importance of nonforest habitats; and (3) point at a remarkable trade-off between FT and biodiversity in the Mediterranean. Finally, the case study also serves to illustrate some of the strengths and challenges of using historical approaches to land abandonment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean

Otero¹,

Marull²,

Aragay³

et al. 2015

E&S

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Subsequently, due to the scarcity of timber products, these areas will be forced to invest in forestry. Therefore, land abandonment and investments in forestry products would result in forest transitions [23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landsat-Based Land Use Change Assessment in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Forest Transition and Sugarcane Expansion

2018

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In this study, we examine the hypothesis of a forest transition in an area of early expansion of the agricultural frontier over the Brazilian Atlantic Forest in the south-central part of the State of São Paulo. Large scale land use/cover changes were assessed by integrating Landsat imagery, census data, and landscape metrics. Two Landsat multi-temporal datasets were assembled for two consecutive periods-1995-2006 and 2006-2013-to assess changes in forest cover according to four classes: (i) transition from non-forest cover to planted forest (NF-PF); (ii) transition from non-forest to secondary (successional) forest (NF-SF); (iii) conservation of planted forest (PF) and (iv) conservation of forest remnants (REM). Data from the two most recent, 1995/96 and 2006 agricultural censuses were analyzed to single out major changes in agricultural production. The total area of forest cover, including primary, secondary, and planted forest, increased 30% from 1995 to 2013, whereas forest planted in non-forest areas (NF-PF) and conservation of planted forest (PF) accounted for 14.1% and 19.6%, respectively, of the total forest area by 2013. Such results showed a relatively important forest transition that would be explained mostly by forest plantations though. Analysis of the landscape metrics indicated an increase in connectivity among forest fragments during the period of study, and revealed that nearly half of the forest fragments were located within 50 m from riverbeds, possibly suggesting some level of compliance with environmental laws. Census data showed an increase in both the area and productivity of sugarcane plantations, while pasture and citrus area decreased by a relatively important level, suggesting that sugarcane production has expanded at the expense of these land uses. Both satellite and census data helped to delineate the establishment of two major production systems, the first one dominated by sugarcane plantations approximately located in the NE part of the study area, and a second one concentrating most of the forest plantations in the SW portion of the study area, where most of the forest transition could be observed.

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“…From the perspective of pattern analysis, forest transition (Bae et al, 2012;Grainger, 1995;Mather et al, 1999;Mather and Needle 1998;Meyfroidt and Lambin, 2009;Rudel et al, 2005;Yeo and Huang, 2013) and rural housing land transition (Long et al, 2007) have been discussed world widely. All of these studies confirmed that land use pattern transition could be regulated by land use policies, which are determined by perceptions of land function (Zube, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does cultivated land function transition occur in China?

Song

Yuan

et al. 2015

J. Geogr. Sci.

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Abstract:Land function change has been the focus of scientific research and policy making worldwide. Agricultural development and land use demand at present in China shared common characteristics with the countries such as Japan, South Korea, USA, and European developed countries, which have undergone cultivated land function transition. Whether cultivated land function transition occurred is of significance for land change science and cultivated land protection in China. However, there has been no explicit methodology for cultivated land function change research. This paper firstly presents a methodology by integrating policy development analysis based on the normative connotation of cultivated land function or termed cultivated land function demand and quantitative assessment based on the positive connotation of cultivated land function or termed cultivated land function supply. Then, cultivated land function transition is diagnosed by analyzing cultivated land function change in 1949-2012. Results show that cultivated land function transition overall occurred in 2006. Specifically, the normative cultivated land function or cultivated land function demand fragmented into seven types in 1985 and upgraded in 2004. Total value of the positive cultivated land function or cultivated land function supply turned to rise with an increase from 2.40 to 2.45 as the coefficients of variability (CV) of the value of the seven functions decreased from 2.94 to 2.29 in 2006-2012. The two-year gap between these two aspects of transition mainly resulted from the time lag effects of policy implementation. In the process of the transition, co-ordination and malposition of supply and demand of cultivated land function coexisted with supply lag and function morphology distortion. Considering the transition experiences in the developed countries mentioned above, suggestions on multifunctional cultivated land management are proposed. Moreover, route of land use transition research is discussed.

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Revisiting the forest transition theory with historical records and geospatial data: A case study from Mississippi (USA)

Cited by 29 publications

References 32 publications

Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean

Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean

Landsat-Based Land Use Change Assessment in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Forest Transition and Sugarcane Expansion

Does cultivated land function transition occur in China?

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