Land Cover Flow Research Articles

Ecosystem services contributing to local economic sectors – conceptual framework of linking ecosystem services, benefits and economic sectors

The paper introduces the principles of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting. The aim of the work is to present the application of the conceptual framework of linking ecosystem services, benefits and economic sectors. The analysis relates to years 2012 and 2018. The case study area represents five municipalities that cross borders with the Ślężański Landscape Park and its buffer zone in the Lower Silesia region in Poland. Results show that cropland-related ecosystem services contribute to 17% and 14 % percent of all companies operating in the case study area. The direct link between agricultural benefits and five economic sectors was established. The ecosystem extent account is created, and the land cover flows analysed. The applicability of ecosystem accounting to local governance is discussed.

Land cover flows and land use intensity in the three decades of the post-communist Czechia: Changing trends and driving forces

The land system faces many pressures from the provision of biomass resources and space to the economy. The need to understand land use and cover changes and its drivers is of high importance. This work presents an innovative approach by applying a transdisciplinary approach combining the methods of spatial analysis Land Cover Flows with the methods from the concept of socio-economic metabolism, Material and Energy Flow Accounting, Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) and Final Energy Return on Investment (FEROI). Our main aim is to identify the main land use changes and land cover flows, link them to the underlying socio-economic processes and interpret them in a historical context. Our results show that the overall land use intensity is growing although the positive trends of growing grasslands and forests started after the collapse of communism. The growing intensity of agricultural production with increasing suburbanization reversed these trends. Until the 2000s the HANPP decreased but at the end of the period increased from 55% in 2012 to 70% in 2018. Volumes of the extraction of agricultural biomass are growing while the area of agricultural land has decreased. FEROI grew and stabilized to around 1.0 in the last period (2012–2018) comparable to the value found in the year 2001. The suburbanization rates peaked after the year 2000 at 250 m2/km2/yr.

Integrating food provisioning ecosystem services and foodshed relocalisation targets with edible green infrastructure planning. A case study from Lisbon city region

Landscape changes and agricultural land take affect the spatial pattern of ecosystem services (ES) provision in city regions. The relevance of these areas for Green Infrastructure has recently received increasing interest as sources for local food supply and for functionally connecting urban and rural areas.The main objective of this study is to propose an Edible Green Infrastructure (EGI) at landscape level, in the peri‑urban and rural contexts, and to analyse food system relocalisation in the Lisbon city region. This paper examines land cover flows (LCF), performs the EGI mapping and landscape planning and assesses food provisioning ES supply, budgets, footprint, and the loss of land biocapacity due to land take.The global ES budget achieved for the potential foodshed is about 82% of food provisioning demand, with 68% of the food provisioning footprint (FPF) located in the Green Infrastructure. The loss of land biocapacity for the period 2000–2018 due to land take is per year equal to the area needed for the FPF of 1.23% of the region's population.Results are of use to support the integration of food system planning into spatial planning, and the adoption of specific policies that aim to develop city region food systems.

Landscape Changes in Protected Areas in Poland

Land-Use Cover Changes (LUCCs) are one of the main problems for the preservation of landscapes and natural biodiversity. Protected Areas (PAs) do not escape this threat. Poland is among the European leaders in terms of the variety of landscapes and the share of an area designated as a protected area. However, as many as 78% of the habitats have poor or bad conservation status based on EEA reports. This article analyzes the LUCCs between 2000 and 2018 in various types of the Polish legal forms of nature protection areas and the European Natura 2000 network within the country. The research material was: the data of Corine Land Cover (CLC), the Central Register of Nature Protection Forms, and high-resolution layers, such as HRL and orthophotos. The results were compiled according to the CLC class and forms of protection. The matrix of transformations showed that the most frequently transformed CLC class was 312 (coniferous forest). It was transformed into class 324 (transitional woodland shrubs). The changes in PAs were usually smaller than in the surrounding buffer zones, which may indicate their effectiveness. The exception was the areas of the European Natura 2000 network. The scale of land-cover flows (LCFs) changed within particular forms of protected areas, though afforestation and deforestation predominating in all area types. National reserves and parks were the most stable in terms of land cover structures. However, human settlements increased around the protected areas, potentially increasing threats to their ecological integrity.

Landscape Changes of Rural Protected Landscape Areas in Czechia: From Arable Land to Permanent Grassland – From Old to New Unification?

Abstract The Czech rural landscape is a subject of research because it is affected by both intensification and extensification of land cover. This landscape was influenced in recent decades by political and socio-economic changes; we studied how these changes were reflected in the land cover development in protected areas. We selected ten Protected landscape areas (PLAs) with a significant share of open agricultural landscape and focused on land cover changes from the 1950s till the present with four milestones (1950s, 1990, 2004-2006, 2016-2019). Based on vectorised land cover data, analyses of land cover changes, land cover flows and landscape structure were performed. More than one third of the studied area had changed. Forests dominated and enlarged its extent (from 39 % to 47 %); land cover flow (LCF) from arable land to permanent grassland was the largest process during study period (17% of study area) and it expanded after 1990. Other major LCF is forest spreading on permanent grassland (5 %) and arable land (3 %). Trends of landscape metrics describing landscape structure are ambiguous and differ between PLAs. In total, Shannon’s diversity index (SDI), Shannon’s evenness index (SEI), and Mean Patch Size (MPS) increased and Number of Patches (NumP) decreased. SDI and SEI show improvement through time; however increasing anthropogenic areas are considered as factor contributing to this positive trend, despite the negative role of these categories in ecological stability. MPS and NumP show ongoing homogenization and unification of the landscape; however it differs between PLAs, with some having more favourable conditions and trends towards higher landscape heterogeneity. To conclude, homogenous landscape structure remains present in Czech rural PLAs; however, there has been a huge shift to more extensive agricultural land cover, which is similar to some European protected areas.

Land Consumption, Ecosystem Services and Urban Planning Policies: Preliminary Results of Research Undertaken in the Tuscany Region

In the contemporaneity, the issues of land or soil consumption and of the protection of areas that, within the urban areas, provide ecosystem services (ESs) is becoming increasingly important also in relation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The concept of "Ecosystem Service" appears, in this respect, a fruitful support to define the land consumption effects on the loss of functionality and of settlement quality. Following this considerations the paper presents the first results of a research developed in Tuscany and commissioned by the Regional Government. The research aims to measure the loss of ESs in connection with land use/land cover transformations, and to verify the contribution of soil consumption to these variations. The research use methodologies for elaborating of the geographical data required for territorial governance, LUCL 2010/2016 and Land Cover Flow (LCF) model, and the theoretical model of the “Capacity matrix” to provide ecosystem services.

Mapping of the Land Cover Changes in High Mountains of Western Carpathians between 1990–2018: Case Study of the Low Tatras National Park (Slovakia)

At present, the protection of nature and landscape in the high mountains of the Western Carpathians, protected as national parks, is becoming increasingly at the forefront of society’s interests in connection with the development of their economic use and the development of mass tourism. Our research was focused on analyzing the extent and character of land cover changes in the Low Tatras National Park in Slovakia over the last 30 years (1990–2018) using CORINE land cover (CLC) data. The period captures almost the entire existence of the Slovak Republic. Therefore, it was possible to evaluate the landscape changes in the protected area and to identify barriers and possibilities of its long-term sustainable development. Based on computer modeling, the main areas of the land cover changes were identified, and on the basis of historical-geographical and field research, land cover flows were determined and justified in the studied landscape of the national park. Changes were monitored using three methods: by comparing CLC maps over the years, by analyzing land cover flows, and by comparing landscape metrics obtained through the PatchAnalyst. Land cover changes occurred on up to 20% of the national park area in the given period. The most significant change was observed in the CLC class coniferous forests, with almost a 12% decrease. Conversely, there was an increase of more than 11% in the CLC class transitional woodland-shrub.

Modeling change of Land use on Hydrological Response of River by Remedial Measures using Arc SWAT: Case of Weib Catchment, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has altered natural ecosystems through experiencing a huge amount of land use change has effect on the hydrological condition. Therefore, this study was initiated to compare the past and potential future change of land use with its effect the hydrological response of the Weib catchment which is found in the upper Genale Dawa River basin which covers a total area of 7407.42km2. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool model was used to compare the impact of land use change on stream flow of the study area. The study was used model by using readily available spatial and temporal data and calibrated against measured discharge. The analysis of land use change has shown that the Settlement area has increased from 12.8% to 30.8%, cultivated land from 10.8% to 39.1% between 1986 and 2010, while area of Forest has reduced from 32.5% to 9.4 % and Grassland from 20.9% to 12.3%. The performance of the model was evaluated based on performance rating criteria, coefficient of determination, Nash and Sutcliff efficiency values for monthly runoff were 0.85 and 0.81during calibration, 0.88 and 0.87 during validation, respectively. The evaluation of the model response to changes indicated that the mean wet monthly flow for 2010 land cover enlarged by 40.7 % from 1986 land cover. Similarly, the 1986 land cover mean month flow was higher by 10% than the 1995 land cover flow for wet months. The dry average monthly flow was less by 45.2 %, for 2010 and 26 % for 1995 land covers when compared to that of 1986 land cover. The rapid conversion of Forest and Grassland cover to Urban and cultivated land resulted in higher peak flow and less base flow on Weib river hydrology.

Climatic and socioeconomic effects on land cover changes across Europe: Does protected area designation matter?

Land cover change is a dynamic phenomenon driven by synergetic biophysical and socioeconomic effects. It involves massive transitions from natural to less natural habitats and thereby threatens ecosystems and the services they provide. To retain intact ecosystems and reduce land cover change to a minimum of natural transition processes, a dense network of protected areas has been established across Europe. However, even protected areas and in particular the zones around protected areas have been shown to undergo land cover changes. The aim of our study was to compare land cover changes in protected areas, non-protected areas, and 1 km buffer zones around protected areas and analyse their relationship to climatic and socioeconomic factors across Europe between 2000 and 2012 based on earth observation data. We investigated land cover flows describing major change processes: urbanisation, afforestation, deforestation, intensification of agriculture, extensification of agriculture, and formation of water bodies. Based on boosted regression trees, we modelled correlations between land cover flows and climatic and socioeconomic factors. The results show that land cover changes were most frequent in 1 km buffer zones around protected areas (3.0% of all buffer areas affected). Overall, land cover changes within protected areas were less frequent than outside, although they still amounted to 18,800 km2 (1.5% of all protected areas) from 2000 to 2012. In some parts of Europe, urbanisation and intensification of agriculture still accounted for up to 25% of land cover changes within protected areas. Modelling revealed meaningful relationships between land cover changes and a combination of influencing factors. Demographic factors (accessibility to cities and population density) were most important for coarse-scale patterns of land cover changes, whereas fine-scale patterns were most related to longitude (representing the general east/west economic gradient) and latitude (representing the north/south climatic gradient).

Recent land cover change after the Kyrill windstorm in the Šumava NP

Mountain forests in Central Europe are mostly disturbed by windstorms and subsequently by insect outbreaks. Disturbances play a key role in forest composition, structure, ecosystem functioning or species richness and consequently in general land cover changes. The Šumava National Park was affected by a windstorm known as Kyrill in January 2007. This event initiated dynamic period of large scale land cover changes from 2006 to 2012. The main goal of this study is to analyse and quantify the development of land cover changes caused by the disturbance with the use of detailed airborne data. We recorded a spatial-temporal classification of changes by so-called land cover flows, which detect changes among defined land cover types.Layers of land cover for each year were collected in GIS software (ArcGIS 10.3) and they were used as inputs for the Land Change Modeler for ArcGIS software. The results show relatively small direct effects of the Kyrill windstorm, windfalls subsequently (in the year 2007) increased their proportion by 4.73 km2, e.g. 0.69% of the Šumava National Park area in 2007. Area of coniferous forest decreased from 56.55% to 48.27% (between 2006 and 2012) of the National Park area and from 2008 this decrease was the dominant change. In neighbourhood of windfalls, new dead-standing forest in 2008 originated. Differences in management in particular zones of the national park resulted in an increase of clear-cuts and clear-cuts with dead wood in the intervention zone. Coniferous forest was widely changed into dead-standing forest in non-intervention areas. This pattern of change was the most intensive between 2008 and 2011. Changes were spatially clustered and dead-standing forest work as a main driver of subsequent dynamics. During the bark beetle infestation period (2008–2011), more than 80% of new dead-standing forest occur within 100 m distance from patches of dead-standing forest from previous year. During the last period (2011–2012) these processes slowed down and large-scale regeneration took place within the focus area.

Assessing and analysing the impact of land take pressures on arable land

Abstract. Land, and in particular soil, is a finite and essentially non-renewable resource. Across the European Union, land take, i.e. the increase of settlement area over time, annually consumes more than 1000 km2 of which half is actually sealed and hence lost under impermeable surfaces. Land take, and in particular soil sealing, has already been identified as one of the major soil threats in the 2006 European Commission Communication Towards a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection and the Soil Thematic Strategy and has been confirmed as such in the report on the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use in a given region with the actual land use. This allows evaluating whether land (especially the soil dimension) is used according to its (theoretical) potential. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to urban development on soils with good, average, and poor production potentials were assessed and mapped. Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of arable land lost between the years 2000 and 2006 was identified. In addition, areas with high productivity potential around urban areas, indicating areas of potential future land use conflicts for Europe, were identified.

The changes that occurred in land cover in postcommunist countries in Central Europe

Central European landscape has undergone dramatic changes during the last decades. Big changes in the political and economic systems resulted in a large-scale transformation in land use, especially in the agricultural and silvicultural sectors. At the same time, significant changes in urban regions were recorded. In order to quantify and compare the most important processes in land cover changes, we analyzed so-called land cover flows within four post-communist countries in Central Europe – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary – using CORINE Land Cover databases for 1990, 2000 and 2006. Contradictory processes in landscape change were recorded such as large scale agricultural extensification vs. intensification, or afforestation vs. deforestation. Moreover, there are significant regional differences in the changes in spatial patterns.

Map presentation of changes in Europe’s artificial surfaces for the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2006

AbstractThe landscapes of the world are constantly changing under the influence of human activities leading to the growth of artificial surfaces. The covering of soil by artificial surfaces is referred to as soil sealing. Aerial and satellite images or data derived from them (for instance CORINE land cover — CLC data used here) provide important information that makes it possible to assess the occurrence, area and rate of soil sealing. As the term sealed soil cannot be wholly identified with the content of the appropriate CLC classes, the term land cover flow urbanization (LCFU) will be used here. The essence of this study is the demonstration and documentation of the trends of the LCFU in Europe for the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2006 on a single map. This may contribute to a better spatial awareness of the ongoing transformation of landscape under the effects of human activities in an pan-European context. Changes in the LCFU can be seen on a map, compiled from 3 × 3 km squares at an all-European scale, using colours and their hues, to fulfil the role both of identification and classification. The colour method employed makes it possible to perceive three groups of LCFU changes on two time horizons, that is, whether the rate of LCFU in 2000–2006 increased or remained the same (hues of red); or dropped compared to the 1990–2000 period (hues of light to dark blue). The third group represents the LCFU with rates higher or lower than the average (countries with changes recorded in only one time horizon are presented in dark and light magenta colours).

Changes in land cover and vegetation carbon stocks in Andalusia, Southern Spain (1956–2007)

Land use has significantly changed during the recent decades at global and local scale, while the importance of ecosystems as sources/sinks of C has been highlighted, emphasizing the global impact of land use changes. Land use changes can increase C loss rates which are extremely difficult to reverse, in the short term, opposite to organic carbon (OC) which accumulates in soil in the long-term. The aim of this research is to improve and test methodologies to assess land cover change (LCC) dynamics and temporal and spatial variability in C stored in vegetation at a wide scale. LCCs between 1956 and 2007 in Andalusia (Southern Spain) were selected for this pilot study, assessed by comparison of spatial data from 1956 to 2007 and were reclassified following land cover flows (LCFs) reported in major areas in Europe. Carbon vegetation densities were related to land cover, and C vegetation stocks for 1956 and 2007 were calculated by multiplying C density for each land cover class with land cover areas. The study area has supported important changes during the studied period with significant consequences for vegetation C stocks, mainly due to afforestation and intensification of agriculture, resulting in a total vegetation C stock of 156.08 Tg in 2007, with an increase of 17.24 Tg since 1956. This study demonstrates the importance of LCC for C sequestration in vegetation from Mediterranean areas, highlighting possible directions for management policies in order to mitigate climate change as well as promoting land conservation. The methodologies and information generated in this project will be a useful basis for designing land management strategies helpful for decision makers.