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Land Use Change

Understanding how landscapes change, why those changes occur, and what they mean for ecosystems, communities, and the sustainable management of natural resources.

Understanding Landscape Change

Landscapes are constantly changing.

Land use and land cover change are shaped by interactions between environmental conditions, human decisions, economic forces, institutions, and resource-management practices. At the IHED Lab, land-use change research examines these dynamics through an integrative perspective that connects landscape patterns with human and environmental systems. This work includes examining changes across watersheds, agricultural landscapes, urban areas, forests, and post-mining environments.

Explore our research focus →

Land-use decisions can reshape ecological processes, resource availability, and community conditions across landscapes.

Research Focus

Studying change from landscape patterns to human decisions.

Our land-use research connects spatial patterns with the ecological and social processes that produce them.
01 · LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS

Land Use & Land Cover Change

Examining how land-use and land-cover patterns change through time and across different landscapes.
02 · SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Landscape Patterns

Using spatial perspectives to understand where land-use changes occur and how patterns vary across regions.
03 · HUMAN DIMENSIONS

People & Land Decisions

Considering the human dimensions behind land-use decisions, resource management, and changing landscapes.
04 · WATERSHEDS

Watershed Change

Investigating land-cover dynamics and recovery across watersheds, including priority and non-priority areas.
05 · RESTORATION

Reclaimed Landscapes

Examining land-cover recovery and environmental change in landscapes affected by surface mining and reclamation.
06 · ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES

Land Change & Ecosystem Services

Exploring how changes in land cover can influence ecosystem functions and the benefits that people receive from environmental systems.

Connecting spatial data with environmental and social systems.

Understanding land-use change requires more than identifying what changed. It also requires understanding the spatial, environmental, and human processes associated with that change. The lab’s research draws on geospatial and interdisciplinary approaches to examine land-use dynamics across different landscapes.
Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis Remote sensing and land-cover change detection Land-use change modeling Landscape and watershed analysis Field-based environmental research Integration of social and natural science perspectives
Research Questions

What can changing landscapes tell us?

Identifying spatial and temporal patterns of landscape change across different regions and land-use contexts.
Examining environmental, social, economic, and institutional dimensions associated with changing landscapes.
Investigating relationships between changing landscapes, ecosystem processes, and ecosystem services.
Examining recovery patterns in landscapes receiving different levels of restoration attention and investment.

Selected Research

Land-use research in practice.

Examples of documented research and presentations connected to land-use and landscape change at Kentucky State University.

Eastern Kentucky

Priority and Non-Priority Watersheds

Research examined patterns of land-use and land-cover change in priority and non-priority watersheds of Eastern Kentucky, providing insight into landscape recovery and watershed management.
Pandeya · Gyawali · Upadhaya · Zourarakis · Gebremedhin

Sandy River Basin

Recovery & Restoration

Research presented through Kentucky State University examined how targeted watershed prioritization and restoration efforts relate to land-cover recovery in the Big Sandy River Basin.
IHED Lab · Watershed Research

Regional Landscapes

Spatial Analysis of Landscape

IHED Lab researchers have presented work examining temporal and spatial landscape change, including vegetation dynamics, land-cover change, and geospatial analysis.
GIS · Remote Sensing · Spatial Analysis

Urban & Agricultural Systems

Change Beyond Rural Landscapes

Related research has examined urban growth, urban sprawl, agricultural technology adoption, and the interactions between changing land systems and human decisions.
Human Dimensions · Sustainability