The DOI matches its Crossref record; 26 of the 26 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Synthesis of Information on Rapid Land-cover Change for the Period 1981–2000
Abstract
This article presents a synthesis of what is known about areas of rapid land-cover change around the world over the past two decades, based on data compiled from remote sensing and censuses, as well as expert opinion. Asia currently has the greatest concentration of areas of rapid land-cover changes, and dryland degradation in particular. The Amazon basin remains a major hotspot of tropical deforestation. Rapid cropland increase, often associated with large-scale deforestation, is prominent in Southeast Asia. Forest degradation in Siberia, mostly related to logging activities, is increasing rapidly. The southeastern United States and eastern China are experiencing rapid cropland decrease. Existing data do not support the claim that the African Sahel is a desertification hotspot. Many of the most populated and rapidly changing cities are found in the tropics.
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“Indeed, no clear consensus exists as to the extent of degraded land, not only globally, but even within a particular country (Bindraban et al., 2012;FAO, 2008;Lepers et al., 2005).”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Lepers et al., 2005
Citations
Cites
Dynamics of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Tropical Regions
Lambin, É. F., Geist, H., & Lepers, E. (2003) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.28.050302.105459 · Cited by 3,117
Development of a global land cover characteristics database and IGBP DISCover from 1 km AVHRR data
Loveland, T. R., Reed, B. C., Brown, J. F., Ohlen, D. O., Zhu, Z., Yang, L., & Merchant, J. W. (2000) · International Journal of Remote Sensing · doi:10.1080/014311600210191 · Cited by 2,584
Estimating historical changes in global land cover: Croplands from 1700 to 1992
Ramankutty, N., & Foley, J. A. (1999) · Global Biogeochemical Cycles · doi:10.1029/1999gb900046 · Cited by 2,074
Self-citationDetermination of Deforestation Rates of the World's Humid Tropical Forests
Achard, F., Eva, H. D., Stibig, H.-J., Mayaux, P., Gallego, J., Richards, T., & Malingreau, J.-P. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1070656 · Cited by 1,993
Tropical Deforestation and Habitat Fragmentation in the Amazon: Satellite Data from 1978 to 1988
Skole, D., & Tucker, C. (1993) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.260.5116.1905 · Cited by 1,590
World Atlas of Desertification
Pye, N., Middleton, N. J., & Thomas, D. S. G. (1994) · Geographical Journal · doi:10.2307/3060098 · Cited by 1,495
Estimating global land use change over the past 300 years: the HYDE database
Goldewijk, K. K. (2001) · Global Biogeochemical Cycles · doi:10.1029/1999gb001232 · Cited by 984
Forest Resources of the United States, 2002
Smith, W. B., Miles, P. D., Vissage, J. S., & Pugh, S. A. (2004) · doi:10.2737/nc-gtr-241 · Cited by 900
DeFries, R., Houghton, R. A., Hansen, M. C., Field, C. B., Skole, D. L., & TOWNSHEND, J. R. G. (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.182560099 · Cited by 715
Carbon in live vegetation of major world ecosystems
Olson, J. S., Watts, J. A., & Allison, L. J. (1983) · Cited by 588
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Kust, 2002, Arid Ecosystems, 8, 7
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Farming the planet: 1. Geographic distribution of global agricultural lands in the year 2000
Ramankutty, N., Evan, A. T., Monfreda, C., & Foley, J. A. (2008) · Global Biogeochemical Cycles · doi:10.1029/2007gb002952 · Cited by 1,942
“, 2002b], an assessment of the regions of the world undergoing the most rapid land cover changes over the last decade [Lepers et al., 2005], global carbon cycle modeling [McGuire et al.”
BackgroundSelf-citationGlobal desertification: Drivers and feedbacks
D’Odorico, P., Bhattachan, A., Davis, K. F., Ravi, S., & Runyan, C. W. (2012) · Advances in Water Resources · doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.01.013 · Cited by 1,063
“Even though some of these figures may overestimate the real extent of the problem [109], there is a general consensus that desertification is happening at an alarming pace, contributing to the depletion of soil resources in arid and semiarid rangelands and cultivated land ([53,54,171].”
BackgroundTrends in Global Agricultural Land Use: Implications for Environmental Health and Food Security
Ramankutty, N., Mehrabi, Z., Waha, K., Jarvis, L., Kremen, C., Herrero, M., & Rieseberg, L. H. (2018) · Annual Review of Plant Biology · doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040256 · Cited by 954
“Thus, while rapid clearing of tropical forests and savannas for agriculture continues (92), these rates are small compared to those affecting temperate latitudes between 1850 and 1950 (Figure 2).”
BackgroundSelf-citationBoisvenue, C., & Running, S. W. (2006) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01134.x · Cited by 953
“…problem applies particularly to satellite-based estimates of production, where land classification further confounds the mechanistic and spatial uncertainties of NPP estimates (Greer et al., 1998; Houghton et al., 1999; FAO, 2000; Innes & Peterson, 2001; Pacala et al., 2001; Lepers et al., 2005).”
BackgroundLand use/land cover changes and climate: modeling analysis and observational evidence
Pielke, R. A., Pitman, A. J., Niyogi, D., Mahmood, R., McAlpine, C., Hossain, F., Goldewijk, K. K., Nair, U. S., Betts, R., Fall, S., et al. (2011) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.144 · Cited by 920
Metadata
- Authors
- LEPERS, E., LAMBIN, E. F., JANETOS, A. C., DeFRIES, R., ACHARD, F., RAMANKUTTY, N., & SCHOLES, R. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Venue
- BioScience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 115
- ISSN
- 0006-3568 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2095702129
- Cited by
- 478
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 28.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- BioScience (publishedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- DIAL (Catholic University of Leuven) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Environmental Changes in China
- Keywords
- deforestation, cropland expansion, dryland degradation, desertification, forest degradation, logging, tropical forests, Amazon basin, Southeast Asia, Siberia, Sahel, urbanization
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A Synthesis of Information on Rapid Land-cover Change for the Period 1981–2000. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055%5B0115:asoior%5D2.0.co;2
- The paper
- LEPERS, E., LAMBIN, E. F., JANETOS, A. C., DeFRIES, R., ACHARD, F., RAMANKUTTY, N., & SCHOLES, R. J. (2005). A Synthesis of Information on Rapid Land-cover Change for the Period 1981–2000. BioScience. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055%5B0115%3Aasoior%5D2.0.co%3B2
