Using ArcGIS for the evaluation of land use in a grassland area of the Jizerske hory Mts.

摘要

In the second half of the 20th century many changes occurred in agricultural practices in Central Europe. In the 1950s intensive agricultural management was applied and it lasted till the end of the 1980s. It was usually accompanied by a decrease in grassland area, because many highly productive grasslands were ploughed and transformed into arable land. The goal of our research was to study historical changes in land use on the landscape level in an upland area (280 ha) of the village Oldfichov v Hajich in the Jizerske hory Mts. (Czech Republic) by using theArcGIS~R 9 software. The duration of the study was divided into several periods based on important changes in land use. From 1950 to 1968 there was a majority of arable land. During the period 1968-1974 a large part of the arable land was sown with productive grassland mixtures and transformed into intensively managed meadows and pastures. The grasslands were fertilised and renovated in five-year cycles. The period from 1989 to 1992 (after the political changes known as the "Velvet Revolution") was characterised by a successive reduction of the intensive management, reducing the doses of fertiliser and intensity of cutting. After 1993, a dramatic reduction in the number of cattle occurred and many grasslands were without any management or managed by extensive cutting or mulching only. The ArcGIS~R 9 software package seems to be a convenient tool for the historical monitoring and analysis of land use.