Changes in forest cover in Sudety Mountains during the last 250 years: patterns, drivers, and landscape-scale implications for nature conservation

Abstract

Historical ecology gives a reference point to explain the contemporary state of particular ecosystems as well as entire landscapes. In this study, we examined the quantitative changes in forest cover in the central part of the Sudety Massif (area ca. 1,120 km 2 ) during the last 250 years. The information regarding forest patch distribution and its changes was derived by comparison of maps from 1747 and the 1970s drawn at scales of 1:33,000 and 1:25,000, respectively. To examine the effect of environmental variables (topography and soil conditions) and human population density on forest patch distribution and its changes (afforestation, deforestation), a set of 100 circular plots with a diameter of 1 km was established. The influence of explanatory variables was examined using regression tree methods. Changes at the level of the entire landscape were tested using a set of 25 landscape windows (5 × 5 km each). We found that the overall forest cover increased to 36.4% in the twentieth century from 30.4% in the middle of the eighteenth century. The ancient forests constituted 59% of the total forest area existing more recently. The forests in the eighteenth century occurred mostly on steep slopes, deep valley bottoms, and summits. The land relief explains more than half of the total variation in forest distribution (R 2 = 0.56). The effects of soil type and human population density were negligible. The contemporary forest pattern results from both land relief and the historical pattern of human population density in the middle of the eighteenth century (R 2 = 0.64), while the effect of soil type was negligible. The pattern of deforestation (R 2 = 0.53) and afforestation (R 2 = 0.36) results from both land relief as well as recent and nineteenth-century human population density. About 83% of the recent forest area is in physical contact with patches of the ancient forest, which provides an optimistic outlook for the migration of ancient forest species into new areas. Furthermore, changes in landscape structure reveal increased connectivity among forest patches, with potential benefits for the migration of forest species with long-range dispersal.

Forest Landscape Change and Preliminary Study on Its Driving Forces in Ślęża Landscape Park (Southwestern Poland) in 1883–2013

“…Land cover analyses showed that the area covered by forests within the present limits ofŚlęża Landscape Park increased from 29.32% at the end of the 19th century to 33.80% in 2013. Szymura et al indicate that forest area increased of the entire Sudeten area from 30.4% in the 18th century to 36.4% in the 20th century [56]. The same situation has also been observed in other mountainous areas in Poland.…”

“…The slopes ofŚlęża and surrounding hills have been covered with forests for years, and settlement areas are developing in the foothills, while arable land dominate in flat areas. Weak soil is mentioned in literature as the basic driving force behind changes in forest landscapes [63]; however, as shown by Szymura et al [56], in the Sudety area, the soil type has not had a significant impact on landscape changes. Analyses of the driving forces of changes in forest landscapes have mainly concerned the Carpathian area [19,60,64], with its Polish part investigated less frequently [60,65].…”

“…Therefore, three of such kind factors (elevation, slope, and hillside exposure) were taken into account. Based on reference data [51,56], variables like natural disasters and type of soils were considered insignificant and not considered in this study. Socioeconomic factors also play important roles in landscape changes [38].…”

Driving Forces of Forest Landscape Change in Ślęża Landscape Park (Southwestern Poland) in Period 1883-2013

“…Within the research area no natural phenomena were observed in the analyzed period that could direct affect landscape changes, except for small local floods caused by heavy rains in 1964, 1997 and 2013. Type of soil did not affect the changes in forest landscapes in the whole Sudety and Przedgorze Sudeckie area [52] that's why we did not take this factor into account. Therefore, due to the kind of the research area, we assumed that among natural driving forces, the topography could be one of those that most influenced the forest landscape changes in analyzed period of time.…”

Drivers of the Distribution of Ecological Species Groups in Temperate Deciduous Managed Forests in the Western Carpathian Mountains

“…On the other hand, growth managed forests in Central Europe occupy a significant area and certain parts of them are both economically and environmentally valuable. Despite the ecological research mainly focusing on the remnants of primeval forests or forest habitats with lower human impact [29][30][31], some local studies also deal with various aspects of managed temperate forests ecology [32][33][34]. As indicated in some studies [35,36], there are ESGs of herbaceous species in lowland coppice forests.…”