Remote Sensing and GIS for Monitoring Land Use Change and Its Ecological Effects

Dear Colleagues,

Land use change (LUC) is a cause and a result of global changes in the environment. It provides essential food, feed, fuel, and ecosystem services for human social systems, while increasingly affects the biogeochemical processes of the Earth, such as material exchange, energy balance, carbon and water cycles, and climate change. In the current "Anthropocene" era, land use has undergone unprecedented changes and intensification to meet the demands of the growing population for goods and services, and has caused negative impacts such as deforestation, land degradation, habitat reduction, biodiversity loss, non-point source pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. In order to alleviate these negative impacts and improve land use efficiency and sustainability, it is essential to optimize the structure, function, and pattern of land use. To achieve this goal, remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) can provide large-scale, real-time, accurate, and consistent ground information, as well as the high-performance capability to compute, analyze, and display multi-source data. These technologies have been widely used in monitoring LUC and its ecological effects. Therefore, it is imperative to integrate RS and GIS to reveal the spatiotemporal processes, driving mechanisms, multi-functions, and optimization patterns of LUC. This will support the scientific basis and practical implications necessary for sustainable land use planning, environmental quality improvements, and coordinated human–Earth system developments.

The aim of this Special Issue is to advance novel theories and methods that contribute new knowledge to various aspects of LUC. The results of this Special Issue are expected to provide scientific methodologies, systematic insights, and policy recommendations for effective land use management and regional sustainable development. By addressing these critical themes of LUC, this Special Issue will contribute to the advancement of knowledge and provide practical guidance for stakeholders and policymakers seeking to optimize land use for the benefits of society and the environment.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews that include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Monitoring the spatiotemporal patterns and processes of typical LUCs, including cropland reclamation and abandonment, crop type adjustment, rural construction and restructure, urban sprawl and compactness, and ecological land protection;
• Reveal the coupled natural and anthropogenic driving mechanisms of LUC;
• Quantifying the multi-functions associated with LUC, such as economic benefits, resident livelihoods, food production, agricultural non-point source pollution, ecosystem services, and ecological risks, and analyze their trade-offs and synergies;
• Assessing the vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability of different land use patterns in the human–Earth system;
• Simulating and optimizing LUC under different development scenarios to create adaptation strategies for future challenges.

Dr. Yaqun Liu

Dr. Wei Song

Prof. Dr. Jieyong Wang

Dr. Kangwen Zhu

Dr. Xuanchang Zhang

Dr. Cong Ou

Guest Editors

Dr. Yaqun Liu
Dr. Wei Song
Dr. Jieyong Wang
Dr. Kangwen Zhu
Dr. Xuanchang Zhang
Dr. Cong Ou
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. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• • land use change
• • cropland reclamation and abandonment
• • rural land consolidation
• • urban land expansion
• • ecological land protection
• • agricultural non-point source pollution
• • ecosystem services
• • food and ecological security
• • sustainable land management
• • human–Earth system.