Abstract
Because of their intense vegetation and the fact that they include areas of coastline, deltas situated in the vicinity of big cities are areas of greet attraction for people who wish to get away from in a crowded city. However, deltas, with their fertile soil and unique flora and fauna, need to be protected. In order for the use of such areas to be planned in a sustainable way by local authorities, there is a need for detailed data about these regions. In this study, the changes in land use of the Balçova Delta, which is to the immediate west of Turkey’s third largest city Izmir, from 1957 up to the present day, were investigated. In the study, using aerial photographs taken in 1957, 1976 and 1995 and an IKONOS satellite image from the year 2005, the natural and cultural characteristics of the region and changes in the coastline were determined spatially. Through this study, which aimed to reveal the characteristics of the areas of land already lost as well as the types of land use in the Balçova delta and to determine geographically the remaining areas in need of protection, local authorities were provided with the required data support. Balçova consists of flat and fertile wetland with mainly citrus-fruit orchards and flower-producing green houses. The marsh and lagoon system situated in the coastal areas of the delta provides a habitat for wild life, in particular birds. In the Balçova Delta, which provides feeding and resting for migratory birds, freshwater sources are of vital importance for fauna and flora. The settlement area, which in 1957 was 182 ha, increased 11-fold up to the year 2005 when it reached 2,141 ha. On the other hand, great losses were determined in farming land, olive groves, forest and in the marsh and lagoon system. This unsystematic and rapid urbanization occurring in the study region is not only causing the loss of important agricultural land and wetland, but also lasting water and soil pollution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J. S., Lu, K. S., & Potts, T. D. (1999). A GIS-based analysis and prediction of parsel land-use change in coastal tourism destination area. Paper presented at the 1999 World Congress on Coastal and Marine Tourism, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Bolca, M., Altınbaş, Ü., Kurucu, Y., & Esetlili, M. T. (2005). Determination of change detection of landscape of the Kuçuk Menderes delta using GIS and the remote sensing techniques. Asian Network for Scientific Information Journal of Applied Sciences, 5(4), 659–665. ISSN 1812–5654.
Civaş, N. (2001). A research on the bird species in around of çakalburnu lagoon (Balçova-Izmir) (pp. 71–73). Master thesis, Ege University, Department of Biological Science, Izmir-Turkey.
Chopra, R., Verma, V. K., & Sharma, P. K. (2001). Mapping, monitoring and conservation of Harike wetland ecosystem, Punjab India. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 1, 89–98.
Elmore, J. A. (2000). Land use and land cover change in Owens valley, CA. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University.
Eva, H., & Lambin, F. E. (2000). Monitoring and assessing fire impacts and land-cover change in tropical and subtropical ecosystems using satellite remote sensing and GIS techniques. Journal of Biogeography, 27, 765–776, Blackwell Science.
Geomedia (2000). Professional Version 04.00.19.12. Copyright 1996–2000. Huntsville, AL: Intergraph Corporation.
Ghatak, T. (2006). Adoption of GIS technology in land use planning for development authority geophysicist, environment cell. CMDA Government of West Bengal, India.
Holdgate, M. W. (1993). The sustainable use of tourism: a key conservation issue. Ambio, 22, 481–482.
Image Analyst (1997). Image Analyst Program, Summit Software Company. Huntsville, AL: Intergraph Corporation.
Kapadnis, N. R. (2003). Application of GIS for Land Use Planning- A Case Study of Nashik City (India), Land Use Analyses Technical Sessions, Conference Proceedings of Map Asia 2003. India.
Kutiel, P., Cohen, O., Shoshany, M., & Shub, M. (2004). Vegetation establishment on the southern Israeli coastal sand dunes between the years 1965 and 1999. Landscape and Urban Planning, 67, 141–156.
Microstation (1995). Microstation 95 version Intergraphs aster file formats (Bentley System, Summit Software Company). Huntsville, AL: Intergraph Corporation.
Munyati, C. (2000). Wetland change detection on the Kafue Flats, Zambia, by classification of a multitemporal remote sensing image dataset. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 9, 1787–1806.
Oetter, D. R., Cohen, W. B., Berterretche, M., Maiersperger, T. K., & Kennedy, R. E. (2001). Land cover mapping in an agricultural setting using multiseasonal Thematic Mapper data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 76, 139–155.
Sayler, K., Dwyer, J., & Zylstra, G. (1996). Landsat pathfinder data sets for landscape change analysis. Proceedings of International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Lincoln, NE.
Türkyılmaz, B. (1996). A report of natural and cultural protection (Turkish Government Report). Izmir, Turkey.
Xia, L., & Gar-On, A. (2004). Analyzing spatial restructuring of land use patterns in a fast-growing region using remote sensing and GIS. Landscape and Urban Planning, 69, 335–354.
Van der Meulen, F., & Salman, A. H. P. M. (1996). Management of Mediterranean coastal dunes. Ocean & Coastal Management, 30, 177–195.
Yıldırım, H., Özel, M. E., Divan, N. J., & Akça, A. (2001). Satellite monitoring of land cover/land use change over 15 years and its impact on the environment in Kocaeli – TURKEY. Turkish Journal of Agricultural Forestry, 26, 161–170.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bolca, M., Turkyilmaz, B., Kurucu, Y. et al. Determination of Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land and Wetland Land Use in Balçovas’ Delta by Remote Sensing and GIS Technique. Environ Monit Assess 131, 409–419 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-9486-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-9486-0