Characterizing degradation gradients through land cover change analysis in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorMunch, Zahnen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorOkoye, Perpetua I.en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGibson, Lesleyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMantel, Sukhmanien_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPalmer, Anthonyen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-23T12:50:51Z
dc.date.available2018-01-23T12:50:51Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.descriptionCITATION: Munch, Z., et al. 2017. Characterizing degradation gradients through land cover change analysis in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa. Geosciences, 7(1):7, doi:10.3390/geosciences7010007.en
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.mdpi.com
dc.description.abstractLand cover change analysis was performed for three catchments in the rural Eastern Cape, South Africa, for two time steps (2000 and 2014), to characterize landscape conversion trajectories for sustained landscape health. Land cover maps were derived: (1) from existing data (2000); and (2) through object-based image analysis (2014) of Landsat 8 imagery. Land cover change analysis was facilitated using land cover labels developed to identify landscape change trajectories. Land cover labels assigned to each intersection of the land cover maps at the two time steps provide a thematic representation of the spatial distribution of change. While land use patterns are characterized by high persistence (77%), the expansion of urban areas and agriculture has occurred predominantly at the expense of grassland. The persistence and intensification of natural or invaded wooded areas were identified as a degradation gradient within the landscape, which amounted to almost 10% of the study area. The challenge remains to determine significant signals in the landscape that are not artefacts of error in the underlying input data or scale of analysis. Systematic change analysis and accurate uncertainty reporting can potentially address these issues to produce authentic output for further modelling.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/7/1/7
dc.description.versionPublisher's version
dc.format.extent22 pages : illustrations
dc.identifier.citationMunch, Z., et al. 2017. Characterizing degradation gradients through land cover change analysis in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa. Geosciences, 7(1):7, doi:10.3390/geosciences7010007
dc.identifier.issn2077-1444 (online)
dc.identifier.otherdoi:10.3390/geosciences7010007
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/103085
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.rights.holderAuthors retain copyright
dc.subjectLand use -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditionsen_ZA
dc.subjectLand reform -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditionsen_ZA
dc.subjectRemote sensing -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditionsen_ZA
dc.subjectObject-based Image Analysisen_ZA
dc.subjectOBIAen_ZA
dc.subjectLand cover -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditionsen_ZA
dc.titleCharacterizing degradation gradients through land cover change analysis in rural Eastern Cape, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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