Publication Date:
2016-05-27
Description:
Land cover and land change were monitored continuously between 1985 and 2011 at 30 m resolution across New England in the Northeastern United States in support of modeling the terrestrial carbon budget. It was found that the forest area has been decreasing throughout the study period in each state of the region since the 1980s. A total of 386 657 ± 98 137 ha (95% confidence interval) of forest has been converted to other land covers since 1985. Mainly driven by low density residential development, the deforestation accelerated in the mid-1990s until 2007 when it plateaued as a result of declining new residential construction and in turn, the financial crisis of 2007–08. The area of forest harvest, estimated at 226 519 ± 66 682 ha, was mapped separately and excluded from the deforestation estimate, while the area of forest expansion on non-forested lands was found to not be significantly different from zero. New England is often held as a principal example of a forest transition ...
Print ISSN:
1748-9318
Electronic ISSN:
1748-9326
Topics:
Biology
,
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
