What does a land cover map show?
Land cover indicates the physical land type such as forest or open water whereas land use documents how people are using the land. By comparing land cover data and maps over a period of time, coastal managers can document land use trends and changes.
What are the nine major types of land cover?
For this indicator, the 16 land cover classes were aggregated into seven major land cover types: forest, herbaceous/grassland, shrubland, developed, agriculture, wetlands, and other (includes ice/snow, barren areas, and open water). See the definitions page for a detailed description of each land cover category.
Why is mapping land cover important?
Land cover therefore acts as an input to General Circulation Models of climate as well as global biogeochemical and hydrological models. Land cover and use therefore affect the carbon, nitrogen, energy, and water cycles at all spatial scales, but are also important for a range of other applications too.
What are some examples of naturally occurring disturbances that affect land cover?
Over shorter time scales, land cover can be affected by naturally occurring disturbances (e.g., storms, floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, insects, landslides) and human activities (such as population change, industrial and urban development, deforestation or reforestation, water diversion, and road building).
What is land cover List three examples of land cover?
What are three examples of land cover and their use? rangeland- grazing livestock, cropland- growing plants for food and fiber, urbanland- residences, other buildings, and roads.
How does climate change affect land cover?
Conversely, climate change can also influence land cover, resulting in a loss of forest cover from climate-related increases in disturbances, the expansion of woody vegetation into grasslands, and the loss of beaches due to coastal erosion amplified by rises in sea level.