A framework model for current land condition in Iceland
Iceland border the Arctic with cold maritime climate and a large proportion of the land placed at highland plateaus. About 1100 years of human disturbance, such as grazing and wood harvesting, has left much of the island’s ecosystems in a poor state, ranging from barren deserts to areas with altered...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 |
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 2024-05-19T07:36:28+00:00 A framework model for current land condition in Iceland Arnalds, Ólafur Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís Brink, Sigmundur Helgi Þórsson, Jóhann Canário, João 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 7, page e0287764 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2023 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 2024-05-01T06:59:40Z Iceland border the Arctic with cold maritime climate and a large proportion of the land placed at highland plateaus. About 1100 years of human disturbance, such as grazing and wood harvesting, has left much of the island’s ecosystems in a poor state, ranging from barren deserts to areas with altered vegetative composition and degraded soils. We constructed a novel resilience-based model (RBC-model) for current land condition in Iceland to test which and how factors, including elevation, slope characteristics, drainage, and proximity to volcanic activity, influence the resilience and stability of ecosystems to human disturbances. We tested the model by randomly placing 500 sample areas (250 x 250 m) all over the country and obtaining values for each factor and current land conditions for each area from existing databases and satellite images. Elevation and drainage explained the largest portions of variability in land condition in Iceland, while both proximity to volcanic activity and the presence of scree slopes also yielded significant relationships. Overall, the model explained about 65% of the variability. The model was improved (R 2 from 0.65 to 0.68) when the country was divided into four broadly defined regions. Land condition at the colder northern peninsulas was poorer at lower elevations compared to inland positions. This novel RBC model was successful in explaining differences in present land condition in Iceland. The results have implication for current land use management, especially grazing, suggesting that management should consider elevation, drainage, slopes and location within the country in addition to current land condition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Iceland PLOS PLOS ONE 18 7 e0287764 |
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English |
description |
Iceland border the Arctic with cold maritime climate and a large proportion of the land placed at highland plateaus. About 1100 years of human disturbance, such as grazing and wood harvesting, has left much of the island’s ecosystems in a poor state, ranging from barren deserts to areas with altered vegetative composition and degraded soils. We constructed a novel resilience-based model (RBC-model) for current land condition in Iceland to test which and how factors, including elevation, slope characteristics, drainage, and proximity to volcanic activity, influence the resilience and stability of ecosystems to human disturbances. We tested the model by randomly placing 500 sample areas (250 x 250 m) all over the country and obtaining values for each factor and current land conditions for each area from existing databases and satellite images. Elevation and drainage explained the largest portions of variability in land condition in Iceland, while both proximity to volcanic activity and the presence of scree slopes also yielded significant relationships. Overall, the model explained about 65% of the variability. The model was improved (R 2 from 0.65 to 0.68) when the country was divided into four broadly defined regions. Land condition at the colder northern peninsulas was poorer at lower elevations compared to inland positions. This novel RBC model was successful in explaining differences in present land condition in Iceland. The results have implication for current land use management, especially grazing, suggesting that management should consider elevation, drainage, slopes and location within the country in addition to current land condition. |
author2 |
Canário, João |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arnalds, Ólafur Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís Brink, Sigmundur Helgi Þórsson, Jóhann |
spellingShingle |
Arnalds, Ólafur Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís Brink, Sigmundur Helgi Þórsson, Jóhann A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
author_facet |
Arnalds, Ólafur Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís Brink, Sigmundur Helgi Þórsson, Jóhann |
author_sort |
Arnalds, Ólafur |
title |
A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
title_short |
A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
title_full |
A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
A framework model for current land condition in Iceland |
title_sort |
framework model for current land condition in iceland |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 |
genre |
Arctic Iceland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Iceland |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 7, page e0287764 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287764 |
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PLOS ONE |
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18 |
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7 |
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e0287764 |
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