Resources

Since the onset of satellites, particularly Landsat in 1972, the ability to map vegetative cover type and changes in its aerial extent has led to a fundamentally new way of understanding the Earth and rates of change to its surface. This Elements of Change report explores the technical aspects of remote sensing and analysis of data along with a variety of ground truthing techniques. Furthermore, it uncovers the types of change in vegetative cover brought about by human activity. This report provides case studies from several continents and presents related issues such as the edge effect as a disturbance factor beyond the actual cover change area which is particularly evident in cover change in the Amazon.

It long has been recognized that habitat destruction and land use change due to human activity pose a serious threat to biodiversity. But what other threats are there and at what scale do they operate? This Elements of Change report explores the scale, mechanisms, as well as the ecological and economic impacts of biological invasion resulting from intentional and unintentional distribution of species accelerated by human activity. Control mechanisms and the consequences of inaction are discussed.