Wilderness areas in a changing landscape: changes in land use, land cover, and climate.

ABSTRACT: Wilderness areas are not immune to changes in land use, land cover, and/or climate. Future changes will intensify the balancing act of maintaining ecological conditions and untrammeled character within wilderness areas. We assessed the quantitative and spatial changes in land use, land cover, and climate predicted to occur in and around wilderness areas by (1) quantifying projected changes in land use and land cover around wilderness areas; (2) evaluating if public lands surrounding wilderness areas can buffer future land-use change; (3) quantifying future climate conditions in and around wilderness areas; and (4) identifying wilderness areas expected to experience the most change in land use, land cover, and climate. We used projections of land use (four variables), land cover (five varia

SUBMITTER: Aycrigg JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9285566 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature