TY - JOUR A1 - Schulz, Jennifer J. A1 - Cayuela, Luis A1 - Rey-Benayas, Jose M. A1 - Schröder-Esselbach, Boris T1 - Factors influencing vegetation cover change in Mediterranean Central Chile (1975-2008) JF - Applied vegetation science : official organ of the International Association for Vegetation Science N2 - Questions: Which are the factors that influence forest and shrubland loss and regeneration and their underlying drivers? Location: Central Chile, a world biodiversity hotspot. Methods: Using land-cover data from the years 1975, 1985, 1999 and 2008, we fitted classification trees and multiple logistic regression models to account for the relationship between different trajectories of vegetation change and a range of biophysical and socio-economic factors. Results: The variables that most consistently showed significant effects on vegetation change across all time-intervals were slope and distance to primary roads. We found that forest and shrubland loss on one side and regeneration on the other often displayed opposite patterns in relation to the different explanatory variables. Deforestation was positively related to distance to primary roads and to distance within forest edges and was favoured by a low insolation and a low slope. In turn, forest regeneration was negatively related to the distance to primary roads and positively to the distance to the nearest forest patch, insolation and slope. Shrubland loss was positively influenced by slope and distance to cities and primary roads and negatively influenced by distance to rivers. Conversely, shrubland regeneration was negatively related to slope, distance to cities and distance to primary roads and positively related to distance from existing forest patches and distance to rivers. Conclusions: This article reveals how biophysical and socioeconomic factors influence vegetation cover change and the underlying social, political and economical drivers. This assessment provides a basis for management decisions, considering the crucial role of perennial vegetation cover for sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. KW - Deforestation KW - Driving forces KW - Forest regeneration KW - Land-cover change KW - Shrubland regeneration Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-109X.2011.01135.x SN - 1402-2001 VL - 14 IS - 4 SP - 571 EP - 582 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Raphael A1 - Neill, Christopher A1 - Krusche, Alex V. A1 - Elsenbeer, Helmut T1 - Soil hydraulic response to land-use change associated with the recent soybean expansion at the Amazon agricultural frontier JF - Agriculture, ecosystems & environment : an international journal for scientific research on the relationship of agriculture and food production to the biosphere N2 - Clearing for large-scale soy production and the displacement of cattle-breeding by soybeans are major features of land-use change in the lowland Amazon that can alter hydrologic properties of soils and the runoff generation over large areas. We measured infiltrability and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) under natural forest, pasture, and soybeans on Oxisols in a region of rapid soybean expansion in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The forest-pasture conversion reduced infiltrability from 1258 to 100 mm/h and Ksat at all depths. The pasture-soy conversion increased infiltrability from 100 to 469 mm/h (attributed to shallow disking), did not affect Ksat at 12.5 cm, but decreased Ksat at 30 cm from 122 to 80 mm/h, suggesting that soybean cultivation enhances subsoil compaction. Permeability decreased markedly with depth under forest, did not change under pasture, and averaged out at one fourth the forest value under soybeans with a similar pattern of anisotropy. Comparisons of permeability with rainfall intensities indicated that land-use change did not alter the predominantly vertical water movement within the soil. We conclude that this landscape is well buffered against land-use changes regarding near-surface hydrology, even though short-lived ponding and perched water tables may occur locally during high-intensity rainfall on pastures and under soybeans. KW - Land-cover change KW - Tropical forest KW - Pasture KW - Infiltrability KW - Saturated hydraulic conductivity KW - Ksat KW - Hydrological flowpaths Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.08.016 SN - 0167-8809 VL - 144 IS - 1 SP - 281 EP - 289 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -