Knowra Land change science Land change science Land change science studies how and why people alter land use and land cover, how those changes unfold, and what consequences they produce for societies and ecosystems.
Land-use change : A change in how people manage or use land, such as converting forest to cropland. The human decisions and activities at the center of many land-change processes.
Land cover : The physical and biological material covering Earth's surface, including vegetation, water, and built structures. Land-cover maps provide a basic description of the surface being monitored.
Deforestation : The removal or loss of forest cover, often through conversion to agriculture or other land uses. It is a major, closely monitored form of land-cover and land-use change.
Land-use change and climate change : The relationship between changing land uses and shifts in Earth's climate. Conversion alters greenhouse-gas emissions, carbon storage, and surface energy exchanges.
Land-cover classification : The assignment of mapped land areas to defined cover categories using observations and classification rules. Different classification schemes can produce incompatible estimates of change.
Land-cover change : A change in the physical material or vegetation covering Earth's surface. Satellite observations often detect this measurable surface outcome of land change.
Land use : The purposes and activities for which people manage or occupy land. Land-use categories capture human functions that surface cover alone cannot reveal.
Urbanization : The growth of urban populations and the expansion or intensification of urban settlements. Urban expansion transforms land cover and competes with nearby agricultural and natural lands.
Carbon cycle : The movement of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, organisms, soils, and rocks. Land conversion changes how much carbon ecosystems store or release.
Land-change attribution : The process of identifying and assessing the causes of observed land transformation. Multiple interacting drivers make causal claims harder than detecting change.
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