This dissertation investigates selected empirical and theoretical aspects of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) in exurban areas. Two challenges – observation and monitoring of LUCC, and spatially explicit modeling, are addressed using three main approaches – measuring, reviewing and agent-based modeling (ABM). All of these approaches focus on LUCC at the individual household level, investigating how micro-scale elements interact to influence macro-scale functional patterns—bottom-up analysis. First, the temporal change of the quantity and pattern of land-cover types within exurban residential parcels in three townships in the southeastern Michigan is examined using landscape metrics and local indicators of spatial association at the parcel and parcel-neighborhood level respectively. The results demonstrate that the number and area of exurban residential parcels increased steadily from 1960 to 2000, and different land-cover types have distinctive temporal changes over time. The results also indicate that there is a convergence process at the neighborhood level through which the quantity and pattern of land cover in parcels conform with the neighborhood appearance. Second, 51 urban residential choice models based on ABM are reviewed. The results divide these models into three categories (i.e. models based on classical theories, models focusing on different stages of urbanization process; and integrated ABM and microsimulation models). This review also compares the differences among these models in their representations of three essential features brought by the technique of ABM: agent heterogeneity, the land market and output measurement. Challenges in incorporating these features, such as the trade-off between the simplicity and abstraction of model and the complexity of urban residential system, interactions of multiple features and demands for data at individual level, are also discussed. Third, the effects of agent heterogeneity on spatial and socioeconomic outcomes under different levels of land-market representations are explored through three experiments using a stylized agent-based land-market model. The results reveal that budget heterogeneity has prominent effects on socioeconomic outcomes, while preference heterogeneity is highly pertinent to spatial outcomes. The relationship between agent heterogeneity and macro-measures becomes more complex as more land-market mechanisms are represented. The results also imply that land-market representation (e.g., competitive bidding) is indispensable to reproduce the results of classical urban land market models (e.g., monocentric city model) in a spatial ABM when agents are heterogeneous.

Detecting the changes of land use and land cover of the earth’s surface is extremely important to achieve continual and precise information about study area for any kinds of planning of the development. Geographic information system and remote sensing technologies have shown their great capabilities to solve the study issues like land use and land cover changes. The aim of this thesis is to produce maps of land use and land cover of Shijiazhuang on year 1993, 2000 and 2009 to monitor the possible changes that may occur particularly in agricultural land and urban or built-up land, and detect the process of urbanization in this city. Three multi-temporal satellite image data, Thematic Mapper image data from year 1993, Enhanced Thematic Mapper image data from 2000 and China Brazil Earth Resource Satellite image data from 2009 were used in this thesis. In this study, supervised classification was the major classification approach to provide classified maps, and five land use and land cover categories were identified and mapped. Post-classification approach was used to improve the qualities of the classified map. The noises in the classified maps will be removed after post-classification process. Normalized difference vegetation index was used to detect the changes of vegetated land and non-vegetated land. Change detection function in Erdas Imagine was used to detect the urban growth and the intensity of changes surrounding the urban areas. Cellular automata Markov was used to simulate the trends of land use and cover change during the period of 1993 to 2000 and 2000 to 2009, and a future land use map was simulated based on the land use maps of year 2000 and 2009. From this performance, the cross-tabulation matrices between different periods were produced to analyze the trends of land use and cover changes, and these statistic data directly expressed the change of land use and land cover. The results show that the agricultural land and urban or built-up land were changed a lot, approximately half of agricultural land was converted into urban or built-up land. This indicates that the loss of agricultural land is associated with the growth of urban or built-up land. Thus, the urbanization took place in Shijiazhuang, and the results of this urban expansion lead to the loss of agricultural land and environmental problems. During the process of detecting the land use and cover change, obtaining of high-precision classified maps was the main problem.

Increased land use intensity has adversely affected aquatic ecosystems within Canada. Activities that occur over the landscape are individually minor but collectively significant when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, and are defined as cumulative effects. Existing approaches to cumulative effects assessment for river systems within Canada are ineffective. This thesis aims to improve the practice of cumulative effects assessment by evaluating current methodology for linking landscape change and river response over a large spatiotemporal scale. As part of this goal, I offer a framework for better incorporating science into current practices for cumulative effects assessment. The framework addresses the challenges involved in cumulative effects assessment, such as defining appropriate spatial and temporal scale, complex ecological and hydrologic pathways, predictive analysis, and monitoring. I then test the framework over a large spatiotemporal scale using a case study of the lower reaches of the Athabasca River Basin, Alberta. Three objectives are addressed: 1) changes in land use and land cover in the lower ARB for several census dates (1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001) between 1976 (historic) and 2006 (current day) are identified; 2) linkages between landscape change and river water quality and quantity response are evaluated; and 3) results of the different methods used to link landscape stressors with stream responses are compared. Results show that the landscape has changed dramatically between 1976 and 2006, documented by increases in forest harvesting, oil sands developments, and agricultural intensity. Secondly, results suggest that linear regression tests combined with regression trees are useful for capturing the strongest associations between landscape stressors and river response variables. For instance, water abstraction and agricultural activities have a significant impact on solute concentrations. This suggests that water abstraction and agriculture are important indicators to consider when conducting a watershed cumulative effect assessment on a similar spatiotemporal scale. The thesis has strong implications for the need for improved water quality and quantity monitoring of Canada‟s rivers. The research provides a means of identifying appropriate tools for improved watershed cumulative effects assessment for scientists and land managers involved in the environmental impact assessment process and protection of Canada‟s watersheds.

Apparent long-term declines of white-winged and surf scoter (<i>Melanitta fusca </i> and <i>M. perspicillata</i>) populations in the northern boreal forest have raised concern for these sea duck species. Reasons for population declines are not well understood but some evidence suggests that factors associated with events on the breeding grounds may be responsible. Breeding ground changes could adversely affect abiotic or biotic characteristics of upland or wetland habitats or key food sources for breeding females or ducklings, which in turn may lower productivity or recruitment. Like most boreal-nesting ducks, virtually nothing is known about wetland habitat preferences of scoters. Determining habitat features that scoters need to breed successfully, and how habitat changes in the boreal forest affect scoters, is an important step in understanding their ecology and developing conservation initiatives. Thus, my overall goal was to look for evidence of habitat selection in scoters at two spatial scales by characterizing biotic and abiotic features of areas used by scoter pairs and broods, and comparing these features with those of areas not used by scoters. Habitat characteristics and scoter use of wetlands in recently burned forest was also contrasted with unburned forest to determine whether habitat change caused by fire could affect patterns of habitat use by scoters.<p> I used remote sensing data as a tool to delineate coarse-scale patterns of habitat use by scoter pairs and broods. Results indicate that although scoters may not settle on wetlands in areas dominated by burned vegetation two years following the fire, three years after the fire I found no difference in scoter pair or brood use between wetlands in burned and unburned upland. I found that surf and white-winged scoter pairs often co-occurred on wetlands. I was unable to find any evidence to support the prediction that scoters prefer wetlands with irregular shorelines that might enhance pair isolation and offer greater protection to ducklings from severe winds and wave action. <p> Based on fine-scale wetland habitat characteristics, scoter pairs and broods used wetlands with more abundant food, a finding that is consistent with many other waterfowl studies. However, unlike some previous waterfowl studies, I did not find a consistent correlation between total phosphorus levels and amphipod abundance or wetland use by scoters. Very high total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios in sampled wetlands lead me to speculate that wetlands in my study area may be phosphorus limited. I did not detect a difference in fine-scale features of wetlands surrounded by burned versus unburned vegetation. This study of scoters in the northern boreal forest was among the first to determine why scoters use specific wetlands or areas and not others.

The Niagara Escarpment is one of Southern Ontario’s most important landscapes. Due to the nature of the landform and its location, the Escarpment is subject to various development pressures including urban expansion, mineral resource extraction, agricultural practices and recreation. In 1985, Canada’s first large scale environmentally based land use plan was put in place to ensure that only development that is compatible with the Escarpment occurred within the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP). The southern extent of the NEP is of particular interest in this study, since a portion of the Plan is located within the rapidly expanding Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The Plan area located in the Regional Municipalities of Hamilton and Halton represent both urban and rural geographical areas respectively, and are both experiencing development pressures and subsequent changes in land cover. Monitoring initiatives on the NEP have been established, but have done little to identify consistent techniques for monitoring land cover on the Niagara Escarpment. Land cover information is an important part of planning and environmental monitoring initiatives. Remote sensing has the potential to provide frequent and accurate land cover information over various spatial scales. The goal of this research was to examine land cover change in the Regional Municipalities of Hamilton and Halton portions of the NEP. This was achieved through the creation of land cover maps for each region using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) remotely sensed data. These maps aided in determining the qualitative and quantitative changes that had occurred in the Plan area over a 20 year time period from 1986 to 2006. Change was also examined based on the NEP’s land use designations, to determine if the Plan policy has been effective in protecting the Escarpment. To obtain land cover maps, five different supervised classification methods were explored: Minimum Distance, Mahalanobis Distance, Maximum Likelihood, Object-oriented and Support Vector Machine. Seven land cover classes were mapped (forest, water, recreation, bare agricultural fields, vegetated agricultural fields, urban and mineral resource extraction areas) at a regional scale. SVM proved most successful at mapping land cover on the Escarpment, providing classification maps with an average accuracy of 86.7%. Land cover change analysis showed promising results with an increase in the forested class and only slight increases to the urban and mineral resource extraction classes. Negatively, there was a decrease in agricultural land overall. An examination of land cover change based on the NEP land use designations showed little change, other than change that is regulated under Plan policies, proving the success of the NEP for protecting vital Escarpment lands insofar as this can be revealed through remote sensing. Land cover should be monitored in the NEP consistently over time to ensure changes in the Plan area are compatible with the Niagara Escarpment. Remote sensing is a tool that can provide this information to the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) in a timely, comprehensive and cost-effective way. The information gained from remotely sensed data can aid in environmental monitoring and policy planning into the future.

The Niagara Escarpment is one of Southern Ontario’s most important landscapes. Due to the nature of the landform and its location, the Escarpment is subject to various development pressures including urban expansion, mineral resource extraction, agricultural practices and recreation. In 1985, Canada’s first large scale environmentally based land use plan was put in place to ensure that only development that is compatible with the Escarpment occurred within the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP). The southern extent of the NEP is of particular interest in this study, since a portion of the Plan is located within the rapidly expanding Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The Plan area located in the Regional Municipalities of Hamilton and Halton represent both urban and rural geographical areas respectively, and are both experiencing development pressures and subsequent changes in land cover. Monitoring initiatives on the NEP have been established, but have done little to identify consistent techniques for monitoring land cover on the Niagara Escarpment. Land cover information is an important part of planning and environmental monitoring initiatives. Remote sensing has the potential to provide frequent and accurate land cover information over various spatial scales. The goal of this research was to examine land cover change in the Regional Municipalities of Hamilton and Halton portions of the NEP. This was achieved through the creation of land cover maps for each region using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) remotely sensed data. These maps aided in determining the qualitative and quantitative changes that had occurred in the Plan area over a 20 year time period from 1986 to 2006. Change was also examined based on the NEP’s land use designations, to determine if the Plan policy has been effective in protecting the Escarpment. To obtain land cover maps, five different supervised classification methods were explored: Minimum Distance, Mahalanobis Distance, Maximum Likelihood, Object-oriented and Support Vector Machine. Seven land cover classes were mapped (forest, water, recreation, bare agricultural fields, vegetated agricultural fields, urban and mineral resource extraction areas) at a regional scale. SVM proved most successful at mapping land cover on the Escarpment, providing classification maps with an average accuracy of 86.7%. Land cover change analysis showed promising results with an increase in the forested class and only slight increases to the urban and mineral resource extraction classes. Negatively, there was a decrease in agricultural land overall. An examination of land cover change based on the NEP land use designations showed little change, other than change that is regulated under Plan policies, proving the success of the NEP for protecting vital Escarpment lands insofar as this can be revealed through remote sensing. Land cover should be monitored in the NEP consistently over time to ensure changes in the Plan area are compatible with the Niagara Escarpment. Remote sensing is a tool that can provide this information to the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) in a timely, comprehensive and cost-effective way. The information gained from remotely sensed data can aid in environmental monitoring and policy planning into the future.

Apparent long-term declines of white-winged and surf scoter (<i>Melanitta fusca </i> and <i>M. perspicillata</i>) populations in the northern boreal forest have raised concern for these sea duck species. Reasons for population declines are not well understood but some evidence suggests that factors associated with events on the breeding grounds may be responsible. Breeding ground changes could adversely affect abiotic or biotic characteristics of upland or wetland habitats or key food sources for breeding females or ducklings, which in turn may lower productivity or recruitment. Like most boreal-nesting ducks, virtually nothing is known about wetland habitat preferences of scoters. Determining habitat features that scoters need to breed successfully, and how habitat changes in the boreal forest affect scoters, is an important step in understanding their ecology and developing conservation initiatives. Thus, my overall goal was to look for evidence of habitat selection in scoters at two spatial scales by characterizing biotic and abiotic features of areas used by scoter pairs and broods, and comparing these features with those of areas not used by scoters. Habitat characteristics and scoter use of wetlands in recently burned forest was also contrasted with unburned forest to determine whether habitat change caused by fire could affect patterns of habitat use by scoters.<p> I used remote sensing data as a tool to delineate coarse-scale patterns of habitat use by scoter pairs and broods. Results indicate that although scoters may not settle on wetlands in areas dominated by burned vegetation two years following the fire, three years after the fire I found no difference in scoter pair or brood use between wetlands in burned and unburned upland. I found that surf and white-winged scoter pairs often co-occurred on wetlands. I was unable to find any evidence to support the prediction that scoters prefer wetlands with irregular shorelines that might enhance pair isolation and offer greater protection to ducklings from severe winds and wave action. <p> Based on fine-scale wetland habitat characteristics, scoter pairs and broods used wetlands with more abundant food, a finding that is consistent with many other waterfowl studies. However, unlike some previous waterfowl studies, I did not find a consistent correlation between total phosphorus levels and amphipod abundance or wetland use by scoters. Very high total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios in sampled wetlands lead me to speculate that wetlands in my study area may be phosphorus limited. I did not detect a difference in fine-scale features of wetlands surrounded by burned versus unburned vegetation. This study of scoters in the northern boreal forest was among the first to determine why scoters use specific wetlands or areas and not others.

Increased land use intensity has adversely affected aquatic ecosystems within Canada. Activities that occur over the landscape are individually minor but collectively significant when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, and are defined as cumulative effects. Existing approaches to cumulative effects assessment for river systems within Canada are ineffective. This thesis aims to improve the practice of cumulative effects assessment by evaluating current methodology for linking landscape change and river response over a large spatiotemporal scale. As part of this goal, I offer a framework for better incorporating science into current practices for cumulative effects assessment. The framework addresses the challenges involved in cumulative effects assessment, such as defining appropriate spatial and temporal scale, complex ecological and hydrologic pathways, predictive analysis, and monitoring. I then test the framework over a large spatiotemporal scale using a case study of the lower reaches of the Athabasca River Basin, Alberta. Three objectives are addressed: 1) changes in land use and land cover in the lower ARB for several census dates (1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001) between 1976 (historic) and 2006 (current day) are identified; 2) linkages between landscape change and river water quality and quantity response are evaluated; and 3) results of the different methods used to link landscape stressors with stream responses are compared. Results show that the landscape has changed dramatically between 1976 and 2006, documented by increases in forest harvesting, oil sands developments, and agricultural intensity. Secondly, results suggest that linear regression tests combined with regression trees are useful for capturing the strongest associations between landscape stressors and river response variables. For instance, water abstraction and agricultural activities have a significant impact on solute concentrations. This suggests that water abstraction and agriculture are important indicators to consider when conducting a watershed cumulative effect assessment on a similar spatiotemporal scale. The thesis has strong implications for the need for improved water quality and quantity monitoring of Canada‟s rivers. The research provides a means of identifying appropriate tools for improved watershed cumulative effects assessment for scientists and land managers involved in the environmental impact assessment process and protection of Canada‟s watersheds.

<p>An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting with its environment, and landscapes are spatially interactive ecosystems. Earth's burgeoning human population demands ever more from finite ecosystems; but if managed well, landscapes can sustain their provision of resources and services and adapt to fulfill the changing human appetite. Management relies on sound information, and managing landscape change requires reliable spatio-temporal databases of ecologically relevant information. Remote sensing technologies fill this niche, providing increasingly large and diverse datasets, but the algorithms to extract information from the data must be developed. I developed and compared three remotely sensed measurements of forest canopy height to one another and to in situ field measurements. Both the precision and the accuracy (as well as the cost) of the measurements sorted along an axis of spatial scale, with Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) measurements proving most reliable at fine scales but prohibitively expensive over large areas and various radar technologies more appropriate for larger areas, especially when calibrated to the more accurate and precise lidar measurements. I also adapted traditional, single-time landcover classification algorithms to extract dense time series of categorical landcover maps from archival multi-spectral satellite images. These measurements greatly expand the potential spatio-temporal scope of landscape ecology and management, facilitating a shift away from data-imposed reliance on "space-for-time substitution" and loosely connected case studies toward robust, statistical analysis based on consistent information.</p> / Dissertation

¡@¡@The isolation, separation, and self-contained characteristics of island environ-ments form the unique systems of ecology, culture, and landscape. Simultaneously, characteristics such as a lack of available area, high population density, and depend-ence on imports cause high vulnerability and low resilience in these isolated islands. There are 11 islands around Taiwan. Penghu is one of the islands in this area with the highest density. Under the impact of climate change, the vulnerability and the adapta-tion of the island¡¦s city may be affected. Therefore, Makung City served as a base for this study, which uses field observations and the collection of relevant literature, fol-lowed by spatial analysis methods and vulnerability assessment model analysis to de-termine the vulnerability of Magong City. The study¡¦s results and recommendations could provide a basis for policy on the island with respect to spatial planning and management. ¡@¡@To determine the sources of vulnerability on the island, vulnerability indicators can distinguish between the environment and society. However, up to now, we have not considered the difference between the islands near Taiwan. Therefore, the gov-ernment could not provide basic data to assess vulnerability. However, according to the limiting data of the vulnerability assessment results, the neighborhoods near the Makung port are in a high vulnerability area. If climate change continues with a sea level rise and storm surges, it may impact buildings near the coastal area of Makung City. In this study, the weight of vulnerability indicators was built by equal concep-tion to analyze the island¡¦s vulnerability wholly. Therefore, vulnerability research could try to build weight of island vulnerability in the future.