A detailed assessment of the land cover development in a territory with dispersed settlement area (case study Hriňová – Snohy, Slovakia)

This study focuses on the development of the landscape during a period of significant social changes in Central Europe from the middle of the 20th century, and evaluates the impact of the selected natural factors on landscape dynamics in the Snohy dispersed settlement area (cadaster of Hriňová, Slovakia). During the periods of feudalism and the democratic Czechoslovak Republic after 1918, private ownership of land prevailed on the territory of Slovakia. After 1948, in the period of the socialist establishment, the municipality was one of the few localities without collectivisation. We focused on the state and changes to the landscape structure based on remote sensing data analysis (1949, 2003, and 2018), as well as field research and archive photographs inspection. The study area is a part of the proposed Special Area of Conservation SKUEV4026 Meadows of Poľana and is situated near the border between the transition and buffer zones of the Poľana Biosphere Reserve. The state of land cover and its changes have been evaluated using a CORINE Land Cover modification at the 5th level. Results showed that the influence of the slope on agricultural extensification, deforestation, and afforestation, was the most pronounced. Since 1949, more than half of the land cover has changed across the study area. The most extensive changes were recorded in the spatial structure and composition of forest communities

Vineyard zonation based on natural terroir factors using multivariate statistics – Case study Burgenland (Austria)

Aim: The aim of the study was to explicitly develop a methodology of delineation of natural Protected Designation of Origins (PDO) terroir regions for Austria, where PDO viticulture regions reflect natural conditions only in a formal manner. Methods and results: There is increasing competition in the wine market from globalized trends, where the European Union (EU) and non-EU wine producers have adopted different market strategies to promote their wines and gain larger market share. The EU has therefore established protective agricultural product categories such as PDO and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) based on the terroir concept which contrasts with USA strategies. Here, we first collected and derived as many as possible relevant physical geographical data for a total of 66,673 officially registered vineyard areas in Burgenland (Austria). Next, we applied factor analysis to these data with the aim to shrink their size and reduce their dimensionality. For each vineyard plot was derived a factor score which was used for performing k-means clustering. The best count of clusters, k-parameter, was estimated using five internal validity indices. Five homogenous management zones were created as a result of clustering. Correctness and accuracy of the clustering was evaluated by multidimensional discriminant analysis. The final zones were compared to current Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) of Burgenland. Conclusion: It was found by the comparison of DAC regions of Burgenland and our drafted zones that some of the DAC regions do not respect natural terroir zones, while these regions were created as PDO regions which should respect their natural terroir. Significance and impact of the study: The presented methodology can be applied all over Austria and, with some modifications caused by different input data, to each EU member country where it is necessary to revise PDO regions’ borders

Comparison of CORINE Land Cover Data with National Statistics and the Possibility to Record This Data on a Local Scale—Case Studies from Slovakia

Monitoring of land cover (LC) provides important information of actual land use (LU) and landscape dynamics. LC research results depend on the size of the area, purpose and applied methodology. CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data is one of the most important sources of LU data from a European perspective. Our research compares official CLC data (third hierarchical level of nomenclature at a scale of 1:100,000) and national statistics (NS) of LU in Slovakia between 2000 and 2018 at national, county, and local levels. The most significant differences occurred in arable land and permanent grassland, which is also related to the recording method and the development of agricultural land management. Due to the abandonment of agricultural areas, a real recorded increase in forest cover due to forest succession was not introduced in the official records of Land register. New modification of CLC methodology for identifying LC classes at a scale of 1:10,000 and fifth hierarchical level of CLC is firstly applied for local case studies representing lowland, basin, and mountain landscape. The size of the least identified and simultaneously recorded area was established at 0.1 ha the minimum width of a polygon was established at 10 m, the minimum recorded width of linear elements such as communications was established at 2 m. The use of the fifth CLC level in the case studies areas generated average boundary density 17.2 km/km2, comparing to the 2.6 km/km2 of the third level. Therefore, when measuring the density of spatial information by the polygon boundary lengths, the fifth level carries 6.6 times more information than the third level. Detailed investigation of LU affords better verification of national statistics data at a local level. This study also contributes to a more detailed recording of the current state of the Central European landscape and its changes

Influences of Environmental Drivers on Land Cover Structure and its Long-Term Changes: a Case Study of the Villages of Malachov and Podkonice in Slovakia / Vliv Environmentálních Podmínek Na Strukturu Krajinného Pokryvu A Její Dlouhodobé Změny: Případová Studie Obcí Malachov A Podkonice Na Slovensku

Předkládaná studie hodnotí vliv environmentálních podmínek na dlouhodobé změny krajinného pokryvu ve dvou horských obcích na středním Slovensku, a to s využitím krabicových grafů, jednoduché logistické regrese a generalizovaných lineárních modelů (GLM). S využitím klasifikace CORINE Land Cover je analyzován krajinný pokryv na historických katastrálních mapách a leteckých snímcích v pěti historických horizontech od r. 1860 do současnosti. Hypotéza, že větší sklon, nadmořská výška a vzdálenost k sídlům je příčinou menší intenzity využívání krajiny byla do značné míry potvrzena, avšak k významným faktorům patřilo i geologické podloží. Modely nejlépe vysvětlitelnou třídou krajinného pokryvu byly lesy; lokalizace orné půdy a travních porostů byla v některých zkoumaných obdobích rovněž značně ovlivněna zkoumanými podmínkami, zatímco lesokřoviny na nich byly prakticky nezávislé. Velikosti ploch změn krajinného pokryvu byli pomocí GLM relativně méně vysvětlitelné

Assessing and forecasting the influence of environmental controls on windstorm disturbances in the Central Low Tatras, through regression models

Nowadays, the large-scale disturbance and subsequent temporary deforestation of mountain forests are widely discussed phenomena. In this study, we built both a logistic regression model (LRM) and a generalised additive model (GAM), in order to understand the drivers of deforestation after the Elisabeth windstorm (2004) in the Central Low Tatras, Slovakia. A set of topographic and biotic characteristics was selected as explanatory variables, while the presence of deforestation was a response variable. The results show that the most prone to windstorm-driven damage are forests growing at a high elevation, in the ridge’s surroundings, and on gentle slopes exposed to the wind during the disturbance. Moreover, the stands with a high proportion of Norway spruce and with medium-diameter trees, which are under forest management, were identified as more vulnerable. Additionally, both models were used to identify those stands, which would be most susceptible to damage by future windstorms. According to its explanatory power and building efficiency, we propose using of LRM rather than GAM in similar large-scale studies. The addressed methods can be used in local forest management, as scientifically based decision-making appears to be crucial for maintaining mountain forests resistant to gusty winds, as well as other disturbing agents

Changes in land cover in the area of Vyšné Hágy - Starý Smokovec, impacted by the wind calamity in november 2004 (Slovakia)

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Vliv environmentálních podmínek na strukturu krajinného pokryvu a její dlouhodobé změny :případová studie obcí Malachov a Podkonice na Slovensku

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Driving forces of main landscape change processes from past 200 years in Central Europe - differences between old democratic and post-socialist countries

The article compares and points out differences in driving forces of four main landscape change processes that shaped post-socialist countries and old democratic countries of Central Europe during the last two centuries. Studying landscape change processes and corresponding driving forces helps in understanding patterns of present landscape and can help among others in better prediction of future landscape change trends. Here, the presented results are based on review of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2014. Driving forces affecting these processes were grouped into four categories. Economic forces drove mainly agricultural intensification; agricultural land abandonment and urbanisation and were pronounced especially in the second half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. Technological driving forces affected agricultural intensification especially in the 19th century and the second half of the 20th century while cultural driving forces had the biggest impact on urbanisation at the beginning of the 21st century. Political driving forces affected agricultural intensification, urbanisation as well as agricultural land abandonment and were pronounced mainly during the second half of the 20th century in the post-socialist countries. Political forces in the form of subsidies drove agricultural extensification at the beginning of the 21st century. The drivers for the agricultural intensification as well as urbanisation seem to be similar for both old democratic and post-socialist countries. In contrast, agricultural land abandonment in the old democratic countries was driven by technological, cultural and economic driving forces while in the post-socialist countries the political driving forces were mainly responsible. Changes in systems for subsidies and changes in the agricultural commodity markets are also responsible for different frequencies and rates of extensification of agriculture between the two groups of countries

Actual vegetation of cultural landscape in northern Slovakia (study area in the Poprad basin)

ABSTRACT This paper reviews actual vegetation of a cultural landscape in northern Slovakia, under High Tatra Mountains National Park -UNESCO Biospere Reserve. We identified amount of types of actual vegetation units based on CORINE Biotopes methodology supplemented with geobotanical research. We noticed many abandoned biotopes in agricultural landscape before used as mown meadows, pastures or arable land. Forest zones on borders of the study area -parts of bigger nature areas appear highly fragmented and their species composition is far from potential natural vegetation. Chosen area should also fill a function of national park's buffer zone, therefore there should be paid more attention for proposals for agricultural landscape structure optimization in the central part of the study area and biodiversity restoration in peripheral forests

Evaluation of land cover changes after extraordinary windstorm by using the land cover metrics : a case study on the High Tatras foothill =Hodnotenie zmien krajinnej pokrývky po mimoriadnej víchrici s využitím krajinnoekologických indexov : príkladová štúdia úpätia Vysokých Tatier

On the 19th November 2004, a wind disaster caused extensive damages, especially in the forests of the Tatra National Park. Despite that windstorm consequences of natural processes impact the spatial structure of landscape excessively, their studies have been subject only to a minor interest so far. The aim of this paper is to characterize the land cover changes in the Štrbské Pleso - Tatranská Lesná area, before the wind disaster and after its impacts have been processed. We also analyze the relationship between wind-caused damages to the vegetation and the natural landscape structure, using various landscape metrics.15617