Semi-natural grassland continuity, long-term land-use change and plant species richness in an agricultural landscape on Öland, Sweden

Two hundred years of land-use change in the South Swedish Uplands: comparison of historical map-based estimates with a pollen-based reconstruction using the landscape reconstruction algorithm

“…Combinations of pollen-based reconstructions of past landscape, including the LRA-and QAD-based approaches, together with the historical maps enabled us to evaluate the reliability of the local vegetation and land-use estimates (Berglund 1991;Nielsen 2004;Dahlström 2008;Hellman et al 2009b). Historical maps and aerial photographs were invaluable to describe spatiotemporal dynamics of land-use patterns in detail, for a better understanding of the effects of the past land-use practices on the modern landscape (Skånes and Bunce 1997;Cousins 2001;Johansson et al 2008). On the other hand the historical maps are restricted to specific periods and cannot provide a continuous record of land-use and vegetation (Dahlström 2008).…”

Classification of Grassland Successional Stages Using Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery

“…Detailed information on the historical land use within the study area is available [49]. Whereas the study area was dominated by grasslands during the 18th century [49], most (>80%) of the ancient grasslands have been transformed to arable land during the last 300 years [49].…”

“…Whereas the study area was dominated by grasslands during the 18th century [49], most (>80%) of the ancient grasslands have been transformed to arable land during the last 300 years [49]. Approximately 15% of the current grasslands have developed during the last 50 years on previously arable land [49].…”

“…Using historical and present-day land-use maps, aerial photographs [49] and field inventories, we identified 299 grazed grassland sites that were separated from each other and the surrounding landscape by walls or fences. With the help of geographic information system (GIS) overlay analysis of the land-use maps and aerial photographs, the sites were categorized according to their grazing continuity (grassland age) and assigned to one of three age-classes within the arable-to-grassland succession; 5-15 (young grasslands), 16-50 (intermediate-aged grasslands), and >50 (old grasslands) years of grassland continuity ( Figure A1).…”

“…In total 239 grassland sites (89 Figure 1B). Of the 17 "old" sites, 13 sites had a management continuity of >280 years [49]: the vegetation in these sites falls within the Natura 2000 habitat type "Fennoscandian lowland species-rich dry to mesic grasslands".…”