Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece)
To record land cover changes over time, geographic information systems software was used for selecting and studying sampling surfaces in ortho-aerial photographs. In particular, ortho-aerial photographs of the years 1945 and 2015 were used to record changes in land cover. A total of 103 test surface...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Forests |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/7/1462 |
| _version_ | 1797589215161090048 |
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| author | Spyridon Kaloudis Maria Glykou Stavroula Galanopoulou Georgios Fotiadis Constantine Yialouris Dimitrios Raptis |
| author_facet | Spyridon Kaloudis Maria Glykou Stavroula Galanopoulou Georgios Fotiadis Constantine Yialouris Dimitrios Raptis |
| author_sort | Spyridon Kaloudis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To record land cover changes over time, geographic information systems software was used for selecting and studying sampling surfaces in ortho-aerial photographs. In particular, ortho-aerial photographs of the years 1945 and 2015 were used to record changes in land cover. A total of 103 test surfaces were obtained, which consisted of 25 cells each. The results showed that the area and density of forest cover have increased significantly during the study period. Changes in land cover, and in particular forest cover, are mainly attributed to (a) the gradual decline of the population, and therefore to the decline in man-made interventions such as crops, nomadic herd grazing, and logging, and to (b) natural species competition. Moreover, the effect of climatic change and the reduction in human presence on fir treelines was examined. Based on the results, no clear evidence about treeline changes was found. Also, the effect of soil and topographic factors on land cover changes, as well as the prediction capability of land cover changes, were examined using an artificial neural network. Promising results came out that could provide substantial explanations for land cover changes and quantify the effect of environmental factors on vegetation evolution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:03:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0af7dc6a30f74b5689aba5f219570013 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:03:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-0af7dc6a30f74b5689aba5f2195700132023-11-18T19:24:41ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072023-07-01147146210.3390/f14071462Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece)Spyridon Kaloudis0Maria Glykou1Stavroula Galanopoulou2Georgios Fotiadis3Constantine Yialouris4Dimitrios Raptis5Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University Athens, Demokratias 3, 36100 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University Athens, Demokratias 3, 36100 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University Athens, Demokratias 3, 36100 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University Athens, Demokratias 3, 36100 Athens, GreeceInformatics Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, School of Applied Economics and Social Sciences, Agricultural University Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 11855 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Forestry and Natural Environment 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, International Hellenic University, 66100 Drama, GreeceTo record land cover changes over time, geographic information systems software was used for selecting and studying sampling surfaces in ortho-aerial photographs. In particular, ortho-aerial photographs of the years 1945 and 2015 were used to record changes in land cover. A total of 103 test surfaces were obtained, which consisted of 25 cells each. The results showed that the area and density of forest cover have increased significantly during the study period. Changes in land cover, and in particular forest cover, are mainly attributed to (a) the gradual decline of the population, and therefore to the decline in man-made interventions such as crops, nomadic herd grazing, and logging, and to (b) natural species competition. Moreover, the effect of climatic change and the reduction in human presence on fir treelines was examined. Based on the results, no clear evidence about treeline changes was found. Also, the effect of soil and topographic factors on land cover changes, as well as the prediction capability of land cover changes, were examined using an artificial neural network. Promising results came out that could provide substantial explanations for land cover changes and quantify the effect of environmental factors on vegetation evolution.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/7/1462land cover changesclimate changegeographic information systemsremote sensingneural networks |
| spellingShingle | Spyridon Kaloudis Maria Glykou Stavroula Galanopoulou Georgios Fotiadis Constantine Yialouris Dimitrios Raptis Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) Forests land cover changes climate change geographic information systems remote sensing neural networks |
| title | Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) |
| title_full | Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) |
| title_fullStr | Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) |
| title_short | Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece) |
| title_sort | land cover changes in evrytania prefecture greece |
| topic | land cover changes climate change geographic information systems remote sensing neural networks |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/7/1462 |
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