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Land
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Modelling Land Use in Challenging Terrains
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Modelling Land Use in Challenging Terrains

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Systems and Global Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 7701

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Livia Rasche

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Unit Sustainability and Global Change, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Universität Hamburg, 20144 Hamburg, Germany
Interests: land use and land use change; impacts of climate change on agricultural systems; modelling crop-pest interactions
Dr. Kerstin Jantke

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Universität Hamburg, 20144 Hamburg, Germany
Interests: land use modelling; mitigation of climate change; adaptation to climate change; sustainable land use
Dr. R. A. J. Taylor

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Entomology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA
Interests: entomology; crop modelling; climate change impacts

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

Humans use land for food, fodder, fiber, and bioenergy production, in even the most challenging of terrains, from the high valleys in the Himalayas to the dry sandy soils in Namibia and the flood plains of Bangladesh. Modelling biomass production in these terrains and climates often poses a challenge to scientists, as accurate climate data can be difficult to produce and/or obtain, or information on local management practices may not be readily available. Input data or data for calibration/validation purposes may come from different sources of varying quality and not match well. Specific soil, hydrological or pest and disease processes that are required may not yet be implemented in traditional crop or forest growth models, or may not be straightforward to portray. The challenges faced by modelers can be manifold. Therefore, in this Special Issue, we wish to explore these challenges, show ways to deal with the issues, or report on failures in order to identify areas where innovations are needed.

Dr. Livia Rasche
Dr. Kerstin Jantke
Dr. R. A. J. Taylor
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • crop modelling
  • forest ecosystem modelling
  • watershed modelling
  • data issues
  • management practices
  • soil processes
  • hydrological processes
  • land use
  • land management
  • land use modelling

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 9057 KiB  
Article
Biogeophysical Effects of Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in South Asia: An Analysis of CMIP6 Models
by Juliana Freitas Santos, Udo Schickhoff, Shabeh ul Hasson and Jürgen Böhner
Land 2023, 12(4), 880; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040880 - 13 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1899
Abstract
The identification of the biogeophysical effects due to land-use, land-cover, and land- management changes (LULCC) is yet to be clearly understood. A range of factors, such as the inclusion of an interactive ocean model component, representation of land management, transient LULCC, and accountability [...] Read more.
The identification of the biogeophysical effects due to land-use, land-cover, and land- management changes (LULCC) is yet to be clearly understood. A range of factors, such as the inclusion of an interactive ocean model component, representation of land management, transient LULCC, and accountability for atmospheric feedback, potentially shifts how models may detect the impacts of the land surface on the climate system. Previous studies on the biogeophysical effects of LULCC in South Asia have either neglected one of those factors or are single model results. Therefore, we analyzed the outputs from 11 models, participants of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project in its Sixth Phase (CMIP6), which derived from experiments with and without LULCC and compared the two simulations with respect to changes in near-surface temperature and total precipitation means. The CMIP6 simulations, to a certain extent, accounted for the elements previously overlooked. We examined the grid cells that robustly indicated a climatic impact from LULCC. Additionally, we investigated the atmospheric feedback and the dominant fluxes with their associated land surface variables involved in the changes in temperature and precipitation. Our results indicated that the biogeophysical effects from LULCC favored surface net cooling and surface net drying over the robust areas at all seasons. The surface net cooling was strongly influenced by the decrease in available energy and the increase in latent heat and total evapotranspiration. Surface net drying was highly promoted by local hydrological processes, especially in areas outside the monsoon core. The study also revealed that non-local sources might influence precipitation in some parts of South Asia, although this was inconclusive. Our research presented similar results to previous studies but with different magnitudes, which highlighted the added value of CMIP6-GCMs simulations but also their pitfalls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling Land Use in Challenging Terrains)
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23 pages, 25182 KiB  
Article
Simulating Future Land Use and Cover of a Mediterranean Mountainous Area: The Effect of Socioeconomic Demands and Climatic Changes
by Diogenis A. Kiziridis, Anna Mastrogianni, Magdalini Pleniou, Spyros Tsiftsis, Fotios Xystrakis and Ioannis Tsiripidis
Land 2023, 12(1), 253; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010253 - 13 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1845
Abstract
Land use and cover (LUC) of southern European mountains is dramatically changing, mainly due to observed socioeconomic demands and climatic changes. It is therefore important to understand LUC changes to accurately predict future landscapes and their threats. Simulation models of LUC change are [...] Read more.
Land use and cover (LUC) of southern European mountains is dramatically changing, mainly due to observed socioeconomic demands and climatic changes. It is therefore important to understand LUC changes to accurately predict future landscapes and their threats. Simulation models of LUC change are ideal for this task because they allow the in silico experimentation under different socioeconomic and climatic scenarios. In the present study, we employed the trans-CLUE-S model, to predict for 2055 the LUC of a typical southern European sub-mountainous area, which has experienced widespread abandonment until recently. Four demand scenarios were tested, and under each demand scenario, we compared three climatic scenarios, ranging from less to more warm and dry conditions. We found that farmland declined from 3.2% of the landscape in 2015 to 0.4% in 2055 under the business-as-usual demand scenario, whereas forest further increased from 62.6% to 79%. For any demand scenario, differences in LUC between maps predicted under different climatic scenarios constituted less than 10% of the landscape. In the less than 10% that differed, mainly farmland and forest shifted to higher elevation under a warmer and drier climate, whereas grassland and scrubland to lower. Such insights by modelling analyses like the present study’s can improve the planning and implementation of management and restoration policies which will attempt to conserve ecosystem services and mitigate the negative effects of socioeconomic and climatic changes in the mountainous regions of southern Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling Land Use in Challenging Terrains)
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25 pages, 7098 KiB  
Article
Model-Based Yield Gap Assessment in Nepal’s Diverse Agricultural Landscape
by Amit Kumar Basukala and Livia Rasche
Land 2022, 11(8), 1355; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11081355 - 19 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2727
Abstract
Rice, wheat, maize, millet, and barley are the five major staple cereal crops in Nepal. However, their yields are low, and imports are needed to meet domestic demand. In this study, we quantify the gap between current and potentially attainable yields in Nepal, [...] Read more.
Rice, wheat, maize, millet, and barley are the five major staple cereal crops in Nepal. However, their yields are low, and imports are needed to meet domestic demand. In this study, we quantify the gap between current and potentially attainable yields in Nepal, estimate how much additional fertilizer and irrigation are required to close the gap, and assess if self-sufficiency can thus be achieved. For this, we first test the ability of the crop model EPIC to reproduce reported yields in 1999–2014 accurately. On average, simulated and reported yields at the national level were in the same range, but at the district level, the error was large, as the resolutions of the available climate and soil input data were not high enough to depict the heterogenic conditions in Nepal adequately. In the main study, we show that average yield gaps in Nepal amount to 3.0 t/ha (wheat), 2.7 t/ha (rice), 2.9 t/ha (maize), 0.4 t/ha (barley), and 0.5 t/ha (millet). With additional irrigation and fertilization, yields can be increased by 0.1/2.3 t/ha (wheat), 0.4/1.3 t/ha (rice), 1.6/1.9 t/ha (maize), 0.1/0.3 t/ha (barley), and 0.1/0.4 t/ha (millet), respectively. The results show that providing reliable and affordable access to fertilizer should be a priority for closing yield gaps in Nepal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling Land Use in Challenging Terrains)
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