ABSTRACT
Land cover is the biophysical material on the surface of the earth. Land-cover types include grass, shrubs, trees, barren, water, and man-made features. Land cover changes continuously. The rate of change can either be dramatic and abrupt, such as the changes caused by logging, hurricanes, and ‡re, or subtle and gradual, such as regeneration of forests and damage caused by insects (Verbesselt et al., 2010). Previous studies have shown that land cover has changed dramatically during the past several centuries and that these changes have severely affected our ecosystems (Foody, 2010; Lambin et al., 2001). Lambin and Strahlers (1994b) summarized ‡ve types of causes for land-cover changes: (1) long-term natural changes in climate conditions, (2) geomorphological and ecological processes, (3) human-induced alterations of vegetation cover and landscapes, (4) interannual climate variability, and (5) human-induced greenhouse effect. Tools and techniques are needed to detect, describe, and predict these changes to facilitate sustainable management of natural resources.
