Theme 1: Monitoring Land Use and Land Cover Change. Observations of the patterns of landscape change, where we use earth observations satellites to monitor land cover change on global and regional scales, and includes both large-area analyses as well as field-level work. Satellite data allow us to determine land cover type as well as characteristics of the vegetation.  The information obtained from these observations provides the data for the next two. 

Theme 2: Causes of Land Use and Land Cover Change. The drivers of change and the specific human processes (e.g. economic, demographic, social and institutional factors) which cause land use and land cover change result in the patterns of land cover change in Theme 1. This work is conducted across a range of scales from the local (e.g. farmer) to the global, and includes a heavy field component. 

Theme 3: Effects of Land Use and Land Cover Change. The social and environmental effects and outcomes of land cover change, including climate change (from changes in the global carbon cycle), biodiversity (due to habitat fragmentation), food and agriculture, and other related issues. 

Theme 4: New Methods and Sensors. Research and development into ways to continuously improve our measurements of land cover change, through the development of new satellite systems, new global and regional monitoring programs, and new methods and analytical techniques. 

Theme 5: Information Technology. Research and implementation of advances in technology as the means to improve the delivery of information to research, policy, and educational purposes. We develop new ways to acquire, process, and distribute large quantities of data, using information systems such as Internet-2, the Web, and internet-based GIS.