Land-use changes and natural reforestation in the Eastern Central Alps

Tasser, Erich; Walde, Janette; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Teutsch, Alexandra; Noggler, Werner

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2006.05.004

Cited by 358 publications

(265 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In this respect, the chosen study area seems to be representative of the valleys and mountain villages, the mountain forests, and the low-alpine mountains of Norway (Puschmann 2005). Similar findings from the Swiss Alps document the importance of land abandonment for recent forest expansion in areas near the forest limits (Motta et al 2006;Gehrig-Fasel et al 2007;Tasser et al 2007;Albert et al 2008;Gellrich et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Abandonment of felling, mowing and outfield scything, and also the reduction in domestic grazing is believed to explain much of the large-scale expansion of mountain birch, Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in many subalpine areas of Norway (Aas & Faarlund 1995;Wehberg et al 2005;Wielgolaski 2005;Bryn 2006). The same processes have taken place in the European Alps and other populated mountain regions, although with other tree species (Bowen et al 2007;Tasser et al 2007;Albert et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation?

Bryn¹

2008

Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography

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Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation? ANDERS BRYN Bryn, A. 2008. Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation? Norsk Geografisk TidsskriftÁNorwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 62, 251Á270. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951.The forest limits of south-east Norway have expanded to higher altitudes. Two main processes are believed to cause these changes: regrowth after abandonment of human utilisation and recent climate changes. The article aims at separating the effects of these two processes on the upper forest limits and recent forest expansion. Four datasets representing 161.5 km 2 have been used: climate data, downscaled climate change scenario data, forest height growth, and four vegetation maps. The maps represent the years 1959 and 2001, potential natural vegetation (PNV), and a climate change scenario (CCS). The recent upper potential climatic and edaphic forest limit (UPCEFL) was used to define the potential for forest regrowth after the abandonment of human utilisation. Forest height growth and climate data were then used to analyse any supplementary effect of recent climate change. The projected future forest limits were based on the IPCC IS92a scenario for 2020Á2049. The results show that raised forest limits and forest range expansion often attributed to recent climate change is rather the product of regrowth, a process that was climatically retarded from 1959 to 1995. For the period 1995Á2006, the data indicate a preliminary effect of climate change escalating the regrowth and probably pushing the future forest limits to higher altitudes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation?

Bryn¹

2008

Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography

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“…For example, in the European Alps over the past decades, land use in many valley bottoms was intensified, but large areas of mountain grasslands were abandoned and subsequently reforested (Tasser et al 2007;Rutherford et al 2008), influencing agricultural services and particularly regulating and cultural services (Briner et al 2013;Schirpke et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They deliver food and shelter (crops, fodder, water, fuels, materials) (Cooper et al 2009;Briner et al 2013), protection and health (prevention of soil erosion, climate regulation, medical plants) (Ruiz-Mirazo et al 2011;Bernstein 2014) or pleasure (recreational experiences in landscapes, cultural heritage, enjoyment of appealing landscapes) (Sayadi et al 2009;LindemannMatthies et al 2010;Schirpke et al 2016). However, they are facing a number of serious and growing challenges because of a variety of human activities: increased urbanization (Wang and Mountrakis 2011); agricultural ex-or intensification (Tasser et al 2007;Terrasson et al 2015); increased economic pressure from globalized land management directions ; and rapid changes in tourism activities and developments (Geneletti 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using land use/land cover trajectories to uncover ecosystem service patterns across the Alps

et al. 2017

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Managing multiple ecosystem services (ES) in agricultural landscapes is a challenging task, especially in regions with complex topographical and agro-ecological conditions. These challenges require ES assessment approaches that go beyond the case study level and provide multi-temporal information at a transnational level. We used a spatiotemporal approach to examine the impact of specific land use/land cover (LULC) trajectories on eight ES for the past 150 years. We show how a spatially explicit ES upscaling procedure, from case study to an Alpine-wide level, based on topographical, agro-ecological and socioeconomic parameters, can improve our understanding of ES dynamics and bundles. Our results indicated that the provision of multiple ES was not stable during the 150 years surveyed, mainly depending on the prevailing land management type and the biophysical conditions. ES bundle mapping enabled us to identify landscapes with consistent socioecological characteristics that are most likely to either enhance or diminish the provision of specific types of services. By introducing a spatiotemporal perspective into ES assessment, we provide clear evidence of the dynamic nature of ES provision and contribute to identifying processes and drivers behind these interactions. Our results emphasize that mountain ES supply is particularly sensitive to long-term LULC change, to biophysical characteristics and to regional socioeconomic conditions. They indicate the benefit of integrating of ES bundles into environmental policies at national and transnational level.

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“…Often people appreciate small-scale landscapes that originate from long-term farming histories above wilderness areas given their variation, identity and heritage functions (Soliva et al 2008;van Berkel et al 2011). Abandonment of agriculture followed by re-wilding of such heterogeneous landscapes in mountain areas in Europe has given rise to various efforts to support the continuation of farming in these regions to preserve landscape quality (MacDonald et al 2000;Tasser et al 2007;Kuemmerle et al 2008).…”

Section: Landscape Ecology and Environmental Changementioning

confidence: 99%

The representation of landscapes in global scale assessments of environmental change

Verburg¹,

Asselen²,

Zanden³

et al. 2012

Landscape Ecol

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Landscape ecology has provided valuable insights in the relations between spatial structure and the functioning of landscapes. However, in most global scale environmental assessments the representation of landscapes is reduced to the dominant land cover within a 0.5 degree pixel, disregarding the insights about the role of structure, pattern and composition for the functioning of the landscape. This paper discusses the contributions landscape ecology can make to global scale environmental assessments. It proposes new directions for representing landscape characteristics at broad spatial scales. A contribution of landscape ecologists to the representation of landscape characteristics in global scale assessments will foster improved information and assessments for the design of sustainable earth system governance strategies.

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Land-use changes and natural reforestation in the Eastern Central Alps

Cited by 358 publications

References 36 publications

Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation?

Recent forest limit changes in south-east Norway: Effects of climate change or regrowth after abandoned utilisation?

Using land use/land cover trajectories to uncover ecosystem service patterns across the Alps

The representation of landscapes in global scale assessments of environmental change

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