Synthesis in land change science: methodological patterns, challenges, and guidelines.

ABSTRACT: Global and regional economic and environmental changes are increasingly influencing local land-use, livelihoods, and ecosystems. At the same time, cumulative local land changes are driving global and regional changes in biodiversity and the environment. To understand the causes and consequences of these changes, land change science (LCS) draws on a wide array synthetic and meta-study techniques to generate global and regional knowledge from local case studies of land change. Here, we review the characteristics and applications of synthesis methods in LCS and assess the current state of synthetic research based on a meta-analysis of synthesis studies from 1995 to 2012. Publication of synthesis research is accelerating, with a clear trend toward increasingly sophisticated and quantitative me

SUBMITTER: Magliocca NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4372122 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature