Landscape metrics as indicator for ecological significance: assessment of Sitno Natura 2000 sites, Slovakia
Résumé
The study area is Sitno Nature 2000 Site. The “Natura 2000” framework focuses on conservation of valuable landscapes and nature, aims at the sustainable conservation of Europe’s biodiversity and species richness across Europe. The development of a Natura 2000 ecological network is important policy initiative in support of protected sites. Sitno Natura 2000 study area is located in central Slovakia. It has been selected for the richness of its natural environment and anthropogenic impacts. For the last 30 years the areas has been used for the tourism and transmitting of digital and analogue data by army and commercial sphere. Therefore, there was built and developed technical infrastructure. The highest place of the study area called Sitno peak (1009 m), which is very popular and attractive tourism (walking and climbing). Presently, the area is under high priority nature and landscape protection. The area is needed to be zoned separately for human usage and for conservation. Ecological significance of landscape should be the zonation tool in terms of the framework Nature 2000. It is an objective approach to determine ecological values owners, local communities and state organizations. This paper analyses landscape components (habitats), where human impacts are detected due to the intensive tourism. The landscape elements can be defined by attributes of the Earth’s surface as well as by ecological significance of each one land's surface elements. Landscape represents biophysical unit – an aspect of landscape which is determined by its natural components: geological and geomorphologic structure, soil, water, climate, flora and vegetation, fauna. In contrast to the biophysical unit, the term landscape describes elements that are determined by natural conditions as well as human impacts. The main purpose of this study is therefore to measure and interpret landscape's habitats of the study area. Methodological framework of ecological signification is based on quantifying habitats and their patches. Each landscape element can be measured by landscape metrics, e.g. size, density, shape, edge, diversity. The outputs values from landscape metrics directly indicate the quality of the on-going ecological processes at different levels. The result of the quantification process is interpreted by the degree of ecological significance of the landscape elements. The basis of the methodological framework is measurement of landscape elements according to principles of landscape metrics. Most of the landscape metrics are based on the mathematical–statistical approach that measures area, perimeter, length and shape. On the base of the measured variables each habitat's patches were interpreted towards a quality of the on-going ecological processes. The output of the interpretation is determined by the level of ecological significance in the following levels: 1) Very significant land cover patches 2) Significant land cover patches 3) Moderately significant land cover patches 4) Almost insignificant land cover patches 5) Insignificant land cover patches.
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Klauco_etal_2014_LANDSCAPE METRICS_Minsk_BGU_85-90.pdf (394.67 Ko)
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