Synthesis in land change science: methodological patterns, challenges, and guidelines

Magliocca, Nicholas R.; Rudel, Thomas K.; Verburg, Peter H.; McConnell, William J.; Mertz, Ole; Gerstner, Katharina; Heinimann, Andreas; Ellis, Erle C.

doi:10.1007/s10113-014-0626-8

Cited by 123 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…By designing the study for comparison from the beginning, we wanted to fill the gap between the single case studies and the meta-analyses, and address some of the challenges of syntheses in land change science, as described by Magliocca et al (2015). Moreover, we feel that combining information on LULC changes as shown in maps and remote sensing data and landscape changes as perceived by the local population to be a mixed-method approach which deserves further application in that it considers and takes advantage of the complementarity and the specific strength and limitations of the various source types (e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…constellations of prerequisites which, if combined with a specific set of potential driving forces, result in a somewhat predictable change. Meta-analyses are limited by the diversity of approaches applied and the case studies included (Magliocca et al 2015). In addition, the distribution of the case-studies found in meta-analyses hardly reflects the diversity of the system under study in a meaningful way, as they were not planned and conducted with the aim of representing a larger area but with specific aims and objectives regarding a particular location or landscape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the distribution of the case-studies found in meta-analyses hardly reflects the diversity of the system under study in a meaningful way, as they were not planned and conducted with the aim of representing a larger area but with specific aims and objectives regarding a particular location or landscape. Any type of synthesis requires standardization and harmonization, and is further impeded by the diversity of disciplines contributing to land change science (Magliocca et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Processes and driving forces in changing cultural landscapes across Europe

et al. 2017

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Context Cultural landscapes evolve over time. However, the rate and direction of change might not be in line with societal needs and more information on the forces driving these changes are therefore needed. Objectives Filling the gap between single case studies and meta-analyses, we present a comparative study of landscape changes and their driving forces based in six regions across Europe conducted using a consistent method. Methods A LULC analysis based on historical and contemporary maps from the nineteenth and twentieth century was combined with oral history interviews to learn more about perceived landscape changes, and remembered driving forces. Land cover and landscape changes were analysed regarding change, conversions and processes. For all case study areas, narratives on mapped land cover change, perceived landscape changes and driving forces were compiled. Results Despite a very high diversity in extent, direction and rates of change, a few dominant processes and widespread factors driving the changes could be identified in the six case study areas, i.e. access and infrastructure, political shifts, labor market, 123Landscape Ecol (2017) 32:2097-2112 DOI 10.1007 technological innovations, and for the more recent period climate change. Conclusions Grasping peoples' perception supplements the analyses of mapped land use and land cover changes and allows to address perceived landscape changes. The list of driving forces determined to be most relevant shows clear limits in predictability: Whereas changes triggered by infrastructural developments might be comparatively easy to model, political developments cannot be foreseen but might, nevertheless, leave major marks in the landscape.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Processes and driving forces in changing cultural landscapes across Europe

et al. 2017

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“…This paper's methodological goal is to examine the case study-based documentation of the linkages of agrobiodiversity and related resource use to global change consisting of livelihood diversification (Section 3) and ecological systems with an emphasis on soil-plant interactions and biodiversity (Section 4). We employ the methodology of meta-analysis to research these linkages [74][75][76]. First, we conduct an analysis of the interactions of recent livelihood diversification with agrobiodiversity use and the related management of soils, water, and uncultivated biodiversity (Section 3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, we conduct an analysis of the interactions of recent livelihood diversification with agrobiodiversity use and the related management of soils, water, and uncultivated biodiversity (Section 3). We place emphasis on migration and on-farm cash cropping as two common forms of Meta-analysis has become significant in research on global change and social-ecological systems in order to synthesize expanded fields of study as well as to advance new understandings and hypotheses [74][75][76]. Design of this study's meta-analyses draws also on our extensive personal experience in field-based research on the linkages of biodiversity and soil and water management to livelihoods and livelihood changes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Toward the Integrated Framework Analysis of Linkages among Agrobiodiversity, Livelihood Diversification, Ecological Systems, and Sustainability amid Global Change

Zimmerer

Vanek

2016

Land

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Scientific and policy interest in the biological diversity of agriculture (agrobiodiversity) is expanding amid global socioeconomic and environmental changes and sustainability interests. The majority of global agrobiodiversity is produced in smallholder food-growing. We use meta-analyses in an integrated framework to examine the interactions of smallholder agrobiodiversity with: (1) livelihood processes, especially migration, including impacts on agrobiodiversity as well as the interconnected resource systems of soil, water, and uncultivated habitats; and (2) plant-soil ecological systems. We hypothesize these interactions depend on: (1) scope of livelihood diversification and type resource system; and (2) plant residues and above-/belowground component ecological specificity. Findings show: (1) livelihood diversification is linked to varied environmental factors that range from rampant degradation to enhancing sustainability; and (2) significant ecological coupling of aboveground and soil agrobiodiversity (AGSOBIO assemblages). The environmental impacts of livelihood interactions correspond to variation of diversification (migration, on-farm diversification) and resource system (i.e., agrobiodiversity per se, soil, water). Our findings also reveal mutually dependent interactions of aboveground and soil agrobiodiversity. Results identify livelihood diversification-induced reduction of environmental resource quality with lagged agrobiodiversity declines as a potentially major avenue of global change. Our contribution re-frames livelihood interactions to include both agrobiodiversity and ecological systems. We discuss this integrated social-environmental re-framing through the proposed spatial geographic schema of regional agri-food spaces with distinctive matrices of livelihood strategies and relations to biodiversity and resources. This re-framing can be used to integrate livelihood, agrobiodiversity, and ecological analysis and to guide policy and scientific approaches for sustainability in agriculture and food-growing.

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Guiding phosphorus stewardship for multiple ecosystem services

MacDonald

Jarvie

Withers

et al. 2016

Ecosyst Health Sustain

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The essential role of phosphorus (P) for agriculture and its impact on water quality has received decades of research attention. However, the benefits of sustainable P use and management for society due to its downstream impacts on multiple ecosystem services are rarely acknowledged. We propose a conceptual framework—the “phosphorus‐ecosystem services cascade” (PESC)—to integrate the key ecosystem processes and functions that moderate the relationship between P released to the environment from human actions and ecosystem services at distinct spatial and temporal scales. Indirect pathways in the cascade via soil and aquatic processes link anthropogenic P to biodiversity and multiple services, including recreation, drinking water provision, and fisheries. As anthropogenic P cascades through catchments, it often shifts from a subsidy to a stressor of ecosystem services. Phosphorus stewardship can have emergent ecosystem service co‐benefits due to synergies with other societal or management goals (e.g., recycling of livestock manures and organic wastes could impact soil carbon storage). Applying the PESC framework, we identify key research priorities to align P stewardship with the management of multiple ecosystem services, such as incorporating additional services into agri‐environmental P indices, assessing how widespread recycling of organic P sources could differentially impact agricultural yields and water quality, and accounting for shifting baselines in P stewardship due to climate change. Ultimately, P impacts depend on site‐specific agricultural and biogeophysical contexts, so greater precision in targeting stewardship strategies to specific locations would help to optimize for ecosystem services and to more effectively internalize the downstream costs of farm nutrient management.

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Synthesis in land change science: methodological patterns, challenges, and guidelines

Cited by 123 publications

References 59 publications

Processes and driving forces in changing cultural landscapes across Europe

Processes and driving forces in changing cultural landscapes across Europe

Toward the Integrated Framework Analysis of Linkages among Agrobiodiversity, Livelihood Diversification, Ecological Systems, and Sustainability amid Global Change

Guiding phosphorus stewardship for multiple ecosystem services

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