Integrating Landscape Ecology and Geoinformatics to Decipher Landscape Dynamics for Regional Planning |
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Authors: | Angela Dikou Evangelos Papapanagiotou Andreas Troumbis |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, 81100, Greece;(2) Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Sciences, University of Thessaly, Volos, 38446, Greece |
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Abstract: | We used remote sensing and GIS in conjunction with multivariate statistical methods to: (i) quantify landscape composition
(land cover types) and configuration (patch density, diversity, fractal dimension, contagion) for five coastal watersheds
of Kalloni gulf, Lesvos Island, Greece, in 1945, 1960, 1971, 1990 and 2002/2003, (ii) evaluate the relative importance of
physical (slope, geologic substrate, stream order) and human (road network, population density) variables on landscape composition
and configuration, and (iii) characterize processes that led to land cover changes through land cover transitions between
these five successive periods in time. Distributions of land cover types did not differ among the five time periods at the
five watersheds studied because the largest cumulative changes between 1945 and 2002/2003 did not take place at dominant land
cover types. Landscape composition related primarily to the physical attributes of the landscape. Nevertheless, increase in
population density and the road network were found to increase heterogeneity of the landscape mosaic (patchiness), complexity
of patch shape (fractal dimension), and patch disaggregation (contagion). Increase in road network was also found to increase
landscape diversity due to the creation of new patches. The main processes involved in land cover changes were plough-land
abandonment and ecological succession. Landscape dynamics during the last 50 years corroborate the ecotouristic-agrotouristic
model for regional development to reverse trends in agricultural land abandonment and human population decline and when combined
with hypothetical regulatory approaches could predict how this landscape could develop in the future, thus, providing a valuable
tool to regional planning. |
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Keywords: | |
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