Land use and land cover (LULC) is a core integrative topic in environmental and geographic research that distinguishes between the biophysical state of the Earth’s surface (land cover) and the human purposes or activities applied to that surface (land use). Scientifically, LULC analysis relies heavily on remote sensing, GIS, and classification schemes (e.g., distinguishing forest, cropland, urban, wetlands) to quantify spatial patterns and temporal dynamics. It is central to studying ecosystem processes, carbon and water cycles, biodiversity, and anthropogenic impacts, and underpins models of climate change, land degradation, habitat fragmentation, and sustainable spatial planning.
A team of scientists led by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), and Leipzig University has developed a new method to track Earth's greenness—a ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 23, 2026
0
583
Forest loss does more than reduce tree cover. A new global study involving UBC Okanagan researchers shows it can fundamentally change how watersheds hold and release water. The research, published in the Proceedings of the ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 19, 2026
0
67
Researchers from the University of British Columbia argue that a widely used method to understand and predict flood risk has led scientists to miscalculate how forests can prevent major flooding. The paper, published in Ambio, ...
Environment
Feb 19, 2026
0
56
La Trobe University researchers have developed a new way to measure and report the environmental performance of farms in a move that could pave the way for future "sustainability ratings" on consumer food and fiber products. ...
Ecology
Feb 18, 2026
0
17
A global study has revealed the conditions under which non-native plants thrive in the world's many dryland regions and the factors that limit their spread. Using data from 98 study sites across 25 countries on six continents, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2026
0
47
A new national monitoring program provides, for the first time, area-representative knowledge of semi-natural grasslands in Norway. The results show that this habitat covers a larger area than previously mapped, but that ...
Ecology
Feb 16, 2026
0
15
To lower agricultural emissions, policymakers and communities first need to pinpoint the sources—not just by country but crop by crop, field by field. In a study published in Nature Climate Change, researchers have synthesized ...
Environment
Feb 13, 2026
1
379
Deep soils found in forests may be less effective at storing carbon in the long term than previously assumed, potentially reducing the net climate benefits of tree planting, a University of Stirling professor has warned. ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
0
85
They're all around us: sensors and satellites, radars and drones. These tools form vast remote sensing networks that collect data on the climate, the ground, the air, and the water. This information is immensely useful for ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 10, 2026
0
16
A research team has conducted a study to examine how shelterbelts influence bird species diversity and composition in an agricultural wetland landscape on the western coast of central Japan. They determined that shelterbelts, ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
0
1173
