Land use types at the boundaries between settlements and open landscape in suburbanised settlements on the example of the Czech Republic from the perspective of the potential for planting tall vegetation

Abstract

Background and aimsSettlement boundaries in suburbanised areas represent a specific environment connecting the settlements with the surrounding open landscape. Traditionally, tall vegetation (such as orchards planted in the backyards) used to form this boundary, providing a gradual transition as well as a wide range of ecosystem services. With suburbanisation, however, there appears to be a trend towards sharper boundaries between the open landscape and the settlement. The degree of the effect of suburbanisation on the boundary has, however, not been thoroughly explored yet. In this paper, the current character of such boundaries is evaluated from the perspective of land use and potential for tall vegetation. In addition, possible impacts of such changes are discussed, and measures for preventing these impacts are proposed. MethodsOn 50 suburbanised settlements in the Czech Republic, the land use types, water permeability, and suitability for the growth of tall vegetation within an 80 m belt enveloping the boundary between the settlement and open landscape were analysed using ArcGIS tools and artificial intelligence algorithms. ResultsThe dominant land use types were Residential on the inner side of the margins and Farmland on the outside of the margins, with a few meters of the transitional zone. These homogeneous land use types represented approx. 70 % of land use types at a distance of 10 m or more from the boundary. The representation of water-absorbing areas on the residential side of the boundary declined from 80 % at the settlement boundary to approx. 55 % at 40 m inside the settlement; this drop was even more pronounced for areas suitable for tall vegetation (from 90 % at 20 m outside of the boundary to 70 % at the boundary and 35 % at 40 m within the settlement). However, the potential for planting tall vegetation at the outer margins is underutilised. ConclusionsThe dominance of farmland in the immediate vicinity of the boundary between suburbanised settlements and open landscape and the underutilisation of the potential for planting tall vegetation on the outer margins deprive the settlements of ecosystem services of such ecotone and lead to the loss of habitats for wild animal and plant species.