scholarly journals Cropland Abandonment in Slovakia: Analysis and Comparison of Different Data Sources

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
Juraj Lieskovský ◽  
Dana Lieskovská

This study compares different nationwide multi-temporal spatial data sources and analyzes the cropland area, cropland abandonment rates and transformation of cropland to other land cover/land use categories in Slovakia. Four multi-temporal land cover/land use data sources were used: The Historic Land Dynamics Assessment (HILDA), the Carpathian Historical Land Use Dataset (CHLUD), CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data and Landsat images classification. We hypothesized that because of the different spatial, temporal and thematic resolution of the datasets, there would be differences in the resulting cropland abandonment rates. We validated the datasets, compared the differences, interpreted the results and combined the information from the different datasets to form an overall picture of long-term cropland abandonment in Slovakia. The cropland area increased until the Second World War, but then decreased after transition to the communist regime and sharply declined following the 1989 transition to an open market economy. A total of 49% of cropland area has been transformed to grassland, 34% to forest and 15% to urban areas. The Historical Carpathian dataset is the more reliable long-term dataset, and it records 19.65 km2/year average cropland abandonment for 1836–1937, 154.44 km2/year for 1938–1955 and 140.21 km2/year for 1956–2012. In comparison, the Landsat, as a recent data source, records 142.02 km2/year abandonment for 1985–2000 and 89.42 km2/year for 2000–2010. These rates, however, would be higher if the dataset contained urbanisation data and more precise information on afforestation. The CORINE Land Cover reflects changes larger than 5 ha, and therefore the reported cropland abandonment rates are lower.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 358
Author(s):  
Iwona Cieślak ◽  
Andrzej Biłozor ◽  
Anna Źróbek-Sokolnik ◽  
Marek Zagroba

This article analyzes the applicability of spatial data for evaluating and monitoring changes in land use and their impact on the local landscape. The Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) Land Cover database was used to develop a procedure and an indicator for analyzing changes in land cover, and the continuity of different land use types. Changes in land use types were evaluated based on land cover data. The results were analyzed over time to track changes in the evaluated region. The studied area was the Region of Warmia and Mazury in Poland. The preservation of homogeneous land cover plays a particularly important role in areas characterized by high natural value and an abundance of forests and water bodies. The study revealed considerable changes in land cover and landscape fragmentation in the analyzed region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnese Turchi ◽  
Federico Di Traglia ◽  
Tania Luti ◽  
Davide Olori ◽  
Iacopo Zetti ◽  
...  

This study focuses on the July-August 2019 eruption-induced wildfires at the Stromboli island (Italy). The analysis of land cover (LC) and land use (LU) changes has been crucial to describe the environmental impacts concerning endemic vegetation loss, damages to agricultural heritage, and transformations to landscape patterns. Moreover, a survey was useful to collect eyewitness accounts aimed to define the LU and to obtain detailed information about eruption-induced damages. Detection of burnt areas was based on PLÉIADES-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, and field surveys. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and Relativized Burn Ratio (RBR) allowed mapping areas impacted by fires. LC and LU classification involved the detection of new classes, following the environmental units of landscape, being the result of the intersection between CORINE Land Cover project (CLC) and local landscape patterns. The results of multi-temporal comparison show that fire-damaged areas amount to 39% of the total area of the island, mainly affecting agricultural and semi-natural vegetated areas, being composed by endemic Aeolian species and abandoned olive trees that were cultivated by exploiting terraces up to high altitudes. LC and LU analysis has shown the strong correlation between land use management, wildfire severity, and eruption-induced damages on the island.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 3763-3775 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
A. Walter ◽  
...  

Abstract. Snow processes might be one important driver of soil erosion in Alpine grasslands and thus the unknown variable when erosion modelling is attempted. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as a soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a subalpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide depositions, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). RUSLE permits the evaluation of soil loss by water erosion, the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved, and the measurement of snow glide deposition sediment yield can be directly related to snow-glide-induced erosion. Further, cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter of 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area and long-term average winter precipitation (1959–2010) with the spatial snow glide model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance confirmed the presence of snow gliding and ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values on the north-facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is an important information with respect to conservation planning and expected and ongoing land use changes in the Alps. Snow glide erosion estimated from the snow glide depositions was highly variable with values ranging from 0.03 to 22.9 t ha−1 yr−1 in the winter of 2012/2013. For sites affected by snow glide deposition, a mean erosion rate of 8.4 t ha−1 yr−1 was found. The difference in long-term erosion rates determined with RUSLE and 137Cs confirms the constant influence of snow-glide-induced erosion, since a large difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for sites with high snow glide rates and vice versa. Moreover, the difference between RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.64; p < 0.005) and to the snow deposition sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values under different land uses and land cover types. The resulting map highlighted the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding appears to be a crucial and non-negligible process impacting soil erosion patterns and magnitude in subalpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1088
Author(s):  
Fernando Martins Pimenta ◽  
Allan Turini Speroto ◽  
Marcos Heil Costa ◽  
Emily Ane Dionizio

Western Bahia is a critical region in Brazil’s recent expansion of agricultural output. Its outstanding increase in production is associated with strong growth in cropland area and irrigation. Here we present analyses of Western Bahian historical changes in land use, including irrigated area, and suitability for future agricultural expansion that respects permanent protection areas and the limits established by the Brazilian Forest Code in the Cerrado biome. For this purpose, we developed a land use and land cover classification database using a random forest classifier and Landsat images. A spatial multicriteria decision analysis to evaluate land suitability was performed by combining this database with precipitation and slope data. We demonstrate that between 1990 and 2020, the region’s total agricultural area increased by 3.17 Mha and the irrigated area increased by 193,480 ha. Throughout the region, the transition between the different classes of land use and land cover followed different pathways and was strongly influenced by land suitability and also appears to be influenced by Brazil’s new Forest Code of 2012. We conclude that even if conservation restrictions are considered, agricultural area could nearly double in the region, with expansion possible mostly in areas we classify as moderately suitable for agriculture, which are subject to climate hazards when used for rainfed crops but are otherwise fine for pastures and irrigated croplands.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 084596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongchang Sun ◽  
Xinwu Li ◽  
Wenxue Fu ◽  
Yingkui Li ◽  
Dongsheng Tang

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Vancutsem ◽  
Eduardo Marinho ◽  
François Kayitakire ◽  
Linda See ◽  
Steffen Fritz

2018 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 02017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jatuwat Wattanasetpong ◽  
Uma Seeboonruang ◽  
Uba Sirikaew ◽  
Walter Chen

Soil loss due to surface erosion has been a global problem not just for developing countries but also for developed countries. One of the factors that have greatest impact on soil erosion is land cover. The purpose of this study is to estimate the long-term average annual soil erosion in the Lam Phra Phloeng watershed, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand with different source of land cover by using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and GIS (30 m grid cells) to calculate the six erosion factors (R, K, L, S, C, and P) of USLE. Land use data are from Land Development Department (LDD) and ESA Climate Change Initiative (ESA/CCI) in 2015. The result of this study show that mean soil erosion by using land cover from ESA/CCI is less than LDD (29.16 and 64.29 ton/ha/year respectively) because soil erosion mostly occurred in the agricultural field and LDD is a local department that survey land use in Thailand thus land cover data from this department have more details than ESA/CCI.


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