Complex changes in land use, land cover, climate, and demographics are combining to stress water security for millions of people in the region.
land use
Posted inNews
Climate Change Threatens the Future of Wild Rice
As a precious plant struggles to thrive in the U.S. Upper Midwest, researchers are taking steps to understand the reasons for its decline.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Urban Greening Could Help Achieve Carbon Neutrality Goals
A new modeling framework highlights that urban greening is a sustainable solution to achieve environmental co-benefits in mitigating heat and carbon emissions.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Earth’s Critical Zone Remains a Mystery Without its People
Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals may only be possible if human activities are central to critical zone science.
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Natural Floodplains Are Quickly Vanishing
From 1992 to 2019, 600,000 square kilometers of natural floodplains were lost globally due to land conversion.
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Tracking Land Use and Deforestation in the Amazon
A new study mapped 2 decades of deforestation in the Amazon and concluded that some types of land management are more effective than others.
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Conserving Biodiversity Could Alter Crop Production
Researchers examined the land use trade-offs that could come with protecting at-risk species. But some scientists question what should be prioritized.
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Mapping Wetland Loss Across Three Centuries
Millions of square kilometers of wetlands have been drained or converted to make room for crops, pastures, or development. In some places, up to 80% are gone.
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Satellites Show Magnitude of Human Influence on River Sediment Flux
Dam-building has decreased the amount of sediment transported by rivers, while land use changes have increased the amount.
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Peeking at Peatlands: Satellite Data Fuel New Findings
Researchers are combining hard-to-get field measurements with satellite imagery to gain new insight into where peatlands are and how they work.