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Landscape Dynamics, Disturbance, and Succession
Published in Yeqiao Wang, Landscape and Land Capacity, 2020
Natural disturbances include extreme weather, landslides, wildfires, insects, and diseases, which are forces that may cause abrupt changes in natural landscapes. They can change the path of landscape succession in many ways. For example, fire disturbance is an integral part of many forest ecosystems. In boreal forests (e.g., larch, spruce, fir forests), high-intensity crown fire can kill most of the trees where they occur and reset the successional stage to that of a newly regenerating forest.[11] In central hardwood forests (e.g., oak-pine forests), low-intensity ground fires can reduce understory density, increase herbaceous species diversity beneath a mature forest overstory, kill pathogens, and ultimately maintain a healthy condition for forest to grow and regenerate.[12] Many studies report that natural disturbances are crucial in maintaining landscape heterogeneity, which in turn determines biodiversity.
Why Does Prometheus Suffer?
Published in Jean Russ, Sustainability and Design Ethics, 2018
The environment, or our current valuation of it, can be described in broad economic terms as capital and resources. If capital is wealth that we might invest to generate more wealth, then nature provides capital in the form of stocks of materials and services that can be used to generate wealth or from which we might draw utility. If managed sustainably, the supply of wood from forests, or fish from the sea, can provide a stream of products indefinitely. The forest also contributes oxygen to the atmosphere, pumps water into the air, and provides other important environmental “services.” Likewise, a functioning wetland provides a range of services, from water treatment to flood buffering. Healthy natural landscapes invite economic activity in terms of tourism and outdoor recreation in addition to the array of natural services they provide. Like economic wealth, the idea is to use the natural capital to generate greater wealth but never to spend the capital itself.
Water Scarcity and Sustainable Urban Green Landscape
Published in Saeid Eslamian, Faezeh Eslamian, Handbook of Drought and Water Scarcity, 2017
Soleyman Dayani, Mohammad R. Sabzalian, Mahdi Hadipour, Saeid Eslamian
The term landscape refers to any visible natural or human-made features of an area of land. The Earth’s geography exhibits a vast range of natural landscapes, including mountains, deserts, the icy polar regions, islands and coastal landscapes, dense forests, tundra, lakes, wetlands, and agricultural lands scattered throughout different climatic regions. Human society’s rapid development has led to unprecedented changes to the planet’s face. Urbanization is a consequence of the human lifestyle shift toward modernity and inevitably occurs in the context of the planet’s natural landscapes. Urban lands are expected to triple by 2030, which will result in about 1.4% of land cover being occupied by urban areas [206]. Urban development introduces major problems for nature and humans. That is, the balance of various natural phenomena is disturbed and consequently humans are forced to undertake huge amounts of time and investments to hopelessly compensate for it.
Enhancing flood risk assessment through integration of ensemble learning approaches and physical-based hydrological modeling
Published in Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 2023
Mohamed Saber, Tayeb Boulmaiz, Mawloud Guermoui, Karim I. Abdrabo, Sameh A. Kantoush, Tetsuya Sumi, Hamouda Boutaghane, Tomoharu Hori, Doan Van Binh, Binh Quang Nguyen, Thao T. P. Bui, Ngoc Duong Vo, Emad Habib, Emad Mabrouk
Identifying flood governing parameters for flooding susceptibility mapping is critical and influences model accuracy (Kia et al. 2012). Runoff in a drainage system is influenced by the watershed features, terrain, catchment area, land use types, and land cover during floods (Hölting and Coldewey 2019). Generally, there are no uniform and standard selection criteria for FSM controlling factors. The selection of flood-controlling parameters depends on various factors such as the area’s location, topography, hydrology, and human activities. Here are some common parameters used for flood control, along with the justification behind their selection (Rahman, Chen, Elbeltagi, et al. 2021; Rahman, Chen, Islam, et al. 2021b): (1) Watershed characteristics: such as its size, shape, and slope, can affect the amount and speed of water runoff, which can, in turn, affect flood risk. (2) River channel characteristics: such as shape, width, depth, and roughness of a river channel can all affect how water flows through it. (3) Topography data: such as elevation maps and terrain models, can help identify areas more prone to flooding. (4) Land use and land cover: Human activities such as urbanization, deforestation, and agriculture can alter the natural landscape and affect flood risk. For example, urbanization can increase the number of impervious surfaces, leading to more runoff and higher flood risk. Land use and land cover analysis can help identify areas where land use changes can be made to reduce flood risk.
Cover systems and landforms for rehabilitation of mine waste storage facilities: Practical insights
Published in CIM Journal, 2021
The incorporation of natural slope features into the design of a MWSF final landform not only improves aesthetics but emulates slopes that are in equilibrium with local conditions of rainfall, soil type, and vegetation cover (Ayres et al., 2006). Including aesthetics as a design consideration raises some concerns including the subjective nature of both aesthetics and natural appearance, potential effects on geotechnical stability, and implementation costs (McKenna et al., 2011). The relatively small increase in costs for engineering and construction for creating a more natural-looking landform are typically offset by the benefits of public relations value, decreased maintenance costs, and improved long-term stability (Schor & Gray, 1995). The natural landscape typically has considerable topographic and ecological diversity; mimicking this diversity in a rehabilitated landscape provides a wider range of habitats for wildlife and promotes resiliency to disturbance by natural forces such as fire, drought, and flooding. Last, while benches and contour banks might serve to reduce erosion of long, steeper slopes in the short term (e.g., during operations), they can lead to severe gullying of rehabilitated slopes over the long term (Hancock, Loch & Willgoose, 2003).