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Land use and land cover changes in small Carpathian catchments between the mid-19th and early 21st centuries and their record on the land surface

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Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes and their impact on the mountain environment were studied in six catchments (~10 km2 each) in the Polish Western Carpathians from the mid-19th century to the early 21st century. The analysis of cadastral and orthophoto maps indicates that during the investigated period, the forest area increased, quantified by an annual change index (Annch), between +0.12% to +0.27%, with a decrease of arable land index to–0.45% and–2.28% in the analysed catchments. LULC changes were accompanied by a continuous increase in settlement developments (residential and farming houses) by 50%-140% as well as significant changes related to their spatial distribution. Abandonment of arable land and forest succession have resulted in the geomorphological transformation of hillslopes, which predominantly includes a decrease in used road density, their transformation to road cuts and gorges. Overpopulation and the domination agriculture in the past caused the expansion of unpaved roads density and then the fragmentation of hillslopes, as well as the development of agricultural terraces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Podchorążych 2, 30 084, Kraków, Poland

    Rafał Kroczak, Joanna Fidelus-Orzechowska & Tomasz Bryndal

  2. Department of Geoenvironmental Research, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jana 22, 31 018, Kraków, Poland

    Anna Bucała-Hrabia

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  1. Rafał Kroczak
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  2. Joanna Fidelus-Orzechowska
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  3. Anna Bucała-Hrabia
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  4. Tomasz Bryndal
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Correspondence to Rafał Kroczak.

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Kroczak, R., Fidelus-Orzechowska, J., Bucała-Hrabia, A. et al. Land use and land cover changes in small Carpathian catchments between the mid-19th and early 21st centuries and their record on the land surface. J. Mt. Sci. 15, 2561–2578 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5095-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5095-y

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