Historical cadastral maps as a tool for identifying key biotopes in the cultural landscape

摘要

GIS was used to refine information from a cadastral map of a Western Norwegian farm and a supplementary written protocol, both from 1874, and to identify areas of meadow presumed to be species-rich. To do this, information on hay meadows of low production capacity and meadows with stony soil was extracted from the cadastral map. The cadastral map was transformed onto a modern coordinate system and linked with a vegetation survey carried out in 2002. This enabled us to investigate how far areas identified from the 1874 map coincided with the meadow types existing today. The results reveal that 85% of the biologically most interesting hay meadows found in the area today coincide with areas identified as presumably interesting from the 1874 cadastral map. Information from the cadastral map and the protocol also make it possible to construct specific historical profiles for the different hay meadow types. These seem to be a good tool for differentiating between meadow types and explaining some of the vegetation variation found today.