THE INFLUENCE OF NATURAL CONDITIONS ON CHANGES IN LANDSCAPE USE: A CASE STUDY OF THE LOWER PODOUBRAVI REGION (CZECH REPUBLIC)

摘要

This study observes and evaluates the changes in landscape use during the last 230 years in an old farming land in Central Bohemia. As background materials, maps of the 1~(st), 2~(nd) and 3~(rd) military mapping from the 18~(th) and 19~(th) centuries were used. The study analyzes the influence of natural conditions on land use in detail. Changes are observed and evaluated in different natural units delimited by the main soil types, geobotanical units of potential vegetation, biogeographic units, catchment areas and geomorphological units. Special attention is given to land use changes in al-luvial plains and flood areas. The studied territory, where fertile soils predominate, has experienced an intensification of land use, an increase in the percentage of arable land, and a loss of ponds and permanent grassland. During the observed period, most historical landscape structures were de-stroyed and the land-use has become homogenized. Differences ceased to exist between the use of alluvial plains and surrounding loess plateaus whereby the ecological stability of the landscape has decreased and the overall development from a landscape ecology perspective is considered negative. However, increasing afforestation of low fertile sand soils is one rational and ecologically positive feature of this development. Overall results here show a significant impact of natural conditions, particularly in soil fertility, on landscape use and on its historical changes.