Article
Environmental Sciences
Oscar V. Bautista-Cespedes, Louise Willemen, Augusto Castro-Nunez, Thomas A. Groen
Summary: The Amazon rainforest in Colombia covers 40% of the territory and has been shaped by internal war. Conflict variables show positive relationships with deforestation but are not among the main variables explaining it.
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Alvaro Egana, Felipe Navarro, Mohammad Maleki, Francisca Grandon, Francisco Carter, Fabian Soto
Summary: This framework introduces a method for building ensemble spatial interpolation functions by combining weak interpolation functions to produce robust ones. Experiments demonstrate its promising ability to handle large datasets and deal with uncertainty quantifications.
NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ehsan Ali, Muhammad Farooq Azhar, Edris Alam, Zainab Rehman, Sami Ullah, Aqeel Ahmad, Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam, Wajid Zaman, Muhammad Javed, Praveen Mittal
Summary: Deforestation is a major factor in climate change in developing countries, with Pakistan being one of the most affected countries. This study in the Chilas region investigated the current state of deforestation, its causes, and predicted the main drivers using a regression model. The results identified unsustainable fuel wood and timber extraction, urban expansion and rural habitation, and uncontrolled livestock grazing as the primary drivers. To tackle deforestation, the government needs to provide alternative energy sources and economic opportunities to reduce reliance on forests.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Lei Xu, Tong-hua Zhao, Xing Xing, Guo-qing Xu, Biao Xu, Ji-qiu Zhao
Summary: Based on field investigations from 2018 to 2020, this study combines inverse logistic model with classical logistic model to describe the seasonal population changes of soybean aphids. The population fluctuation is divided into increasing and decreasing phases based on inflection points of the models, showing distinct seasonal trends in each year. Furthermore, multifactor logistic models are established to predict the abundance of soybean aphids based on relevant meteorological data. These successful approaches provide a theoretical framework for practical IPM strategies.
JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE AGRICULTURE
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Yuanmeng Li, Yohei Yamaguchi, Jacopo Torriti, Yoshiyuki Shimoda
Summary: This study aims to develop a modeling method that can effectively reproduce spatial variation in occupant behaviors (OBs) using American time use data. The results show that spatial variations exist in OBs and differ by time of day and activities. Two spatial variation representations were generated using the ordinary kriging and spatial autoregressive methods. Three spatial logistic regression models that consider spatial variations were developed and evaluated, showing smaller errors and higher interoccupant diversity than conventional models at the state level.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Moses Kazungu, Ruben Ferrer Velasco, Eliza Zhunusova, Melvin Lippe, Gillian Kabwe, Davison J. Gumbo, Sven Guenter
Summary: Analysis of household factors in Zambia's Miombo areas shows that deforestation patterns vary along the forest transition gradient. Early-to-mid-transition areas exhibit decreased deforestation further from settlements, while this trend is reversed in regions with advanced forest transition. Socio-demographic attributes, land and non-land-based attributes, and location factors differently affect deforestation across provinces.
ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Rachel Ferraz de Camargo, Tiago Rodrigues Tavares, Nicolas Gustavo da Cruz da Silva, Eduardo de Almeida, Hudson Wallace Pereira de Carvalho
Summary: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance of an energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) sensor for classifying soybean based on protein content. It was found that sulfur signals and other XRF spectral features can be used as proxies to infer soybean protein content. A logistic regression model was developed based on XRF spectra and protein contents, achieving global accuracies of 0.83 (training set) and 0.81 (test set). These results indicate that XRF spectral features can be applied for screening protein content in soybean.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wanchao Bian, Hao Hou, Jiang Chen, Bin Zhou, Jianhong Xia, Shanjuan Xie, Ting Liu
Summary: This study developed an exposure-sensitivity-adaptability vulnerability assessment framework to analyze the risk of foodborne disease outbreaks in different climatic and socioeconomic environments in Zhejiang Province, China. The results showed that temperature, precipitation, road density, construction area proportions, and GDP were positively correlated with foodborne diseases. The strength and significance of these relationships varied locally, and the risk of foodborne diseases caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus was higher in urban areas than rural areas. Distance from the coastline was negatively correlated with predicted regional risks.
Article
Economics
Daniela Figueroa, J. Mauricio Galeana-Pizana, Juan Manuel Nunez, Carlos Anzaldo Gomez, J. Roberto Hernandez-Castro, Maria del Mar Sanchez-Ramirez, Andrea Garduno
Summary: This study compared two versions of the Index of Economic Pressure for Deforestation in Mexico and found that the modified index was more sensitive to actual deforestation. However, neither of the indices' expected distributions of high and very high risk categories matched with the actual deforestation that occurred.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
El Houssain Bouichou, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Khalil Allali, Abdelghani Bouayad, Aziz Fadlaoui
Summary: The study examines the entrepreneurial intentions of rural youth members in agricultural cooperatives and identifies factors influencing their decision to become entrepreneurs. Socio-demographic variables, individual perceptions, previous experience, and cooperative activities were found to be significant factors in determining the choice between cooperative membership and entrepreneurship.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Molla Abate Ayele, Haile Mekonnen Fenta, Dereje Tesfaye Zike, Lijalem Melie Tesfaw
Summary: This study aimed to determine the factors of anemia levels among pregnant women in different zones in Ethiopia. The results showed a high prevalence of anemia in some regions of Ethiopia, and factors such as wealth index, age group, religion, and number of household members were found to be significant.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Daniel R. Kowal
Summary: Subset selection is a valuable tool for interpretability, scientific discovery, and data compression. We propose a Bayesian approach to address the challenges in classical subset selection, and introduce a strategy that focuses on finding near-optimal subsets rather than a single best subset. We apply Bayesian decision analysis to derive the optimal linear coefficients for any subset of variables, and our approach outperforms competing methods in prediction, interval estimation, and variable selection. By analyzing a large education dataset, we gain unique insights into the factors that predict educational outcomes and identify over 200 distinct subsets of variables that offer near-optimal predictive accuracy.
JOURNAL OF MACHINE LEARNING RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mohsen Abbasi Sekkeravani, Ommolbanin Bazrafshan, Hamid Reza Pourghasemi, Arashk Holisaz
Summary: This study prepared a susceptibility map of land subsidence in the central and eastern plains of Fars province in Iran using statistical and machine learning models, identified the main factors influencing land subsidence, and applied logistic regression, random forest, boosting regression tree, and support vector machine models to draw a land subsidence susceptibility zoning map.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiajia Li, Shiqi Lin, Jilei Wu, Yu Li, Xuejun Shang, Lijun Pei
Summary: The study found an association between maternal exposure to chemical fertilizer and the risk of preterm birth, with villages consuming higher amounts of fertilizer having a higher risk. A clustering effect of high-risk preterm birth regions was identified from the south-central to the southwest, while the northern region showed lower risk.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Economics
Phillip M. Mohebalian, Lucas N. Lopez, Francisco X. Aguilar, Angela Barbara Tischner
Summary: The Parana Atlantic Forest in South America is a highly diverse ecological region that is also highly vulnerable to deforestation. This study assesses the deforestation trends in this region and finds that economic growth and population density are directly associated with deforestation, while protected area designation has a lowering effect on deforestation.
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
(2022)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Darla K. Munroe, Mateus Batistella, Cecilie Friis, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Eric F. Lambin, Jianguo Liu, Patrick Meyfroidt, Emilio Moran, Jonas Ostergaard Nielsen
CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
(2019)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Pedro D. Fernandez, Tobias Kuemmerle, Matthias Baumann, H. Ricardo Grau, Jose A. Nasca, Alejandro Radrizzani, N. Ignacio Gasparri
JOURNAL OF LAND USE SCIENCE
(2020)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Mauricio M. Nunez-Regueiro, Lyn C. Branch, Enrique Derlindati, Ignacio Gasparri, Sofia Marinaro, Sofia Nanni, Cristina Nunez Godoy, Maria Piquer-Rodriguez, Jose R. Soto, Andres Talamo
CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Sofia Marinaro, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Veronica Piriz-Carrillo
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Beatriz Gobbi, Anton Van Rompaey, Dante Loto, Ignacio Gasparri, Veerle Vanacker
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
M. Piquer-Rodriguez, N. I. Gasparri, L. Zarba, E. Araoz, H. R. Grau
Summary: The research explores geographical patterns of human-induced asymmetries in transnational ecoregions of South America using Euclidean distance analyses of five indicators of land systems functioning. The study finds that the most asymmetric transnational ecoregions occur in the tropical rainforest biome, while montane grasslands show comparatively little asymmetries and tropical dry forests have intermediate asymmetry values.
SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christian Levers, Alfredo Romero-Munoz, Matthias Baumann, Teresa De Marzo, Pedro David Fernandez, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Gregorio Ignacio Gavier-Pizarro, Yann Le Polain de Waroux, Maria Piquer-Rodriguez, Asuncion Semper-Pascual, Tobias Kuemmerle
Summary: Agricultural expansion into subtropical and tropical forests causes significant environmental damage, with forest-dependent smallholders being particularly affected. Research shows that forest smallholders occupy over 45% of all Chaco forests and are increasingly coming into conflict with expanding commodity agriculture. This knowledge is crucial for informing policies aimed at sustainable land use and supply chains.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Florian Poetzschner, Matthias Baumann, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Georgina Conti, Dante Loto, Maria Piquer-Rodriguez, Tobias Kuemmerle
Summary: Tropical dry forests have significant carbon stocks but are rapidly disappearing due to agriculture. In this study, researchers used a novel Gradient Boosted Regression framework to map biomass in these forests. They found that combining optical, radar, and lidar data can improve the accuracy of above-ground biomass mapping in tropical dry forests.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Teresa De Marzo, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Eric F. Lambin, Tobias Kuemmerle
Summary: This study attributes forest disturbances in the Argentine Dry Chaco based on Landsat image time series, revealing that partial clearing is the most widespread type of disturbance. Results show that partial clearing is becoming more prevalent over time, while fires are declining. Factors such as roads and fields are associated with the spatial patterns of disturbances.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Matthias Baumann, Ignacio Gasparri, Ana Buchadas, Julian Oeser, Patrick Meyfroidt, Christian Levers, Alfredo Romero-Munoz, Yann le Polain de Waroux, Daniel Mueller, Tobias Kuemmerle
Summary: Agricultural expansion into tropical and subtropical forests can have significant social-ecological trade-offs. This study developed and mapped a novel set of metrics to quantify agricultural frontier processes, providing unprecedented spatial and temporal detail. The study found that agricultural expansion has been rampant in the South American Chaco, with major changes in land-use trajectories and regional variations. The study also identified recurrent frontier types that can guide land governance and policies.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Beatriz Gobbi, Anton Van Rompaey, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Veerle Vanacker
Summary: This study evaluated the extent to which information on forest degradation can be derived using UAV-SfM techniques. The research focused on the Dry Chaco ecosystem in Argentina, where anthropogenic disturbances have had a long-term impact on subtropical broadleaf dry forests. The results showed that objective criteria derived from UAV-SfM 3D canopy models can effectively differentiate forests in good condition from those that have undergone various levels of degradation.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fernandez Pedro David, Gartner Phillipp, Nasca Jose Andres, Rojas Tobias, Gasparri Nestor Ignacio
Summary: Cattle ranching has increased globally, and this study proposes polyethylene silage bags as a spatial indicator of cattle intensity using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The study finds that silage bags accurately map cattle density and performance at various scales. Additionally, incorporating silage supplementation in cattle ranching regional analyses leads to significant differences in environmental and productive estimations.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Teresa De Marzo, Marie Pratzer, Matthias Baumann, Nestor Ignacio Gasparri, Florian Poetzschner, Tobias Kuemmerle
Summary: Tropical dry forests are widespread and important for carbon storage, biodiversity, and livelihoods. However, our understanding of how different disturbances impact forest structure and recovery is limited. Using remote-sensing indicators, we studied the effects of various disturbances on biomass and woody cover in the Argentine Dry Chaco. Our findings show that different disturbance agents have diverse impacts on forest structure and recovery rates, with natural disturbances having higher values and faster recovery compared to anthropogenic disturbances. This highlights the long-lasting effects of human disturbances on these valuable forests.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Laura B. Rodriguez, Silvia S. Torres Robles, Marcelo F. Arturi, Juan M. Zeberio, Andres C. H. Grand, Nestor Gasparri
Summary: This study aimed to estimate the above-ground biomass (AGB) of semi-arid woody vegetation in Northeast Patagonia, Argentina, and to explore the feasibility and accuracy of using plant cover estimation to estimate AGB. The results showed that total plant cover allowed for a reliable estimation of local AGB, and no significant improvement in fit was achieved by incorporating other structure variables.
JOURNAL OF ARID LAND
(2021)
Article
Geography
M. Piquer-Rodriguez, V. Butsic, P. Gaertner, L. Macchi, M. Baumann, G. Gavier Pizarro, J. N. Volante, I. N. Gasparri, T. Kuemmerle
Article
Ecology
Narendra Nelli, Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Olivier Masson, Mamadou Sow, Emmanuel Bosc
Summary: This study investigates the changes in the atmospheric electric field (Ez) during foggy conditions in the hyperarid region of the United Arab Emirates. The results show that as fog persists, Ez becomes more variable due to the absorption and redistribution of charges by the fog, which alters the ion balance and affects electrical conductivity in the atmosphere.
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Ezra Hadad, Amir Balaban, Jakub Z. Kosicki, Reuven Yosef
Summary: This study investigated whether the prey of striped hyenas has adapted to the change in the natural environment caused by human activities, particularly artificial light at night (ALAN). The results showed that ALAN had no impact on the diet or den distribution of the hyenas in central Israel. The study also found that domestic animals were the most common prey, and there were also some vegetative species in their diet. Overall, the feeding behavior of striped hyenas is influenced by geographical region, habitat, and human activities.
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2024)
Article
Ecology
Rahim Najafi Tireh Shabankareh, Pardis Ziaee, Mohammad Javad Abedini
Summary: This study evaluated the IMERG satellite-based precipitation product in the Fars province of Iran using daily rain gauges as reference data. The results showed that the product tends to overestimate light rainfall and underestimate heavy rainfall, with the best performance in the 40-80 mm/day range. The accuracy of the product varies by month and is less biased in months with milder temperatures. Additionally, there was a higher correlation in mid-elevated areas, positive bias in low-elevated areas, and negative bias in high-elevated areas. Longer time scales showed considerable improvement in the IMERG estimates.
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2024)