The landscape is continually changing across the globe. Some of these changes may be considered advantageous, while others are a detriment to ecosystem health, water and air quality, wildlife habitat, and the socioeconomic services provided by the affected landscape. There are numerous drivers of land cover change, including the proximate drivers of fire, invasive plants, and herbivory along with the overarching and ultimate driver; the influence of the anthropic forces of land management.
Savanna ecosystems occupy 20% of the world’s land surface and provide numerous important socioeconomic services to our communities. These ecosystems, like so many others across the globe, are a witness to tremendous land cover change, including those noted above, as well as a transition from natural to agrarian or urban systems.
I invite you to participate in this very Special Edition of Remote Sensing and share your land cover change research in savanna ecosystems.
Guest Editor Keith Weber
Keywords: Land cover change, Savanna, Savannah, Remote sensing, Fire, Invasive plants, Herbivory, Land management, Urbanization