TY - JOUR

T1 - Analysis of land-use change in a sector of Upper Franconia (Bavaria, Germany) since 1850 using land register records

AU - Bender, Oliver

AU - Boehmer, Hans Juergen

AU - Jens, Doreen

AU - Schumacher, Kim P.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the Institute of Development Research on the Rural Area of Upper and Central Franconia (Institut für Entwicklungsforschung im ländlichen Raum Ober-und Mittelfrankens e. V.), Heiligenstadt, Bavaria, for financial support. In addition, we would like to thank Birgit Felinks, Dagmar Haase, Dieter Mueller-Dombois, Laura O. Petrov, Alison R. Sherwood, Ann M. Wieben, and three annonymous reviewers for help comments on the manuscript.

PY - 2005/2

Y1 - 2005/2

N2 - This study analyses changes in the landscape of a sector of Upper Franconia (Bavaria, Germany) by comparing land use changes over four time periods (1850, 1900, 1960, 2000). Geodetic and other data derived from the Bavarian real estate tax and land register were entered into various temporal layers of a land register-based vector GIS. This multitemporal GIS permits a precise analysis of the historical structure and development of landscapes on the basis of land plots. In 1850, the study area was almost exclusively agricultural in structure. Woodlands made up only 18% of the total surface. Rough pastures and wastelands, which covered about 9% of the total surface, were used for grazing. During the first half of the 20th century, the proportion of wooded areas increased considerably. The rough pastures that had formerly been a typical feature of the region nearly disappeared during this period. Agricultural use declined to less than 50% of the total area. In the course of the period between 1960 and 2000, the livestock industry has become an almost exclusively indoor activity. Village development has started spilling over into the adjacent fields. The causes and background of these changes are discussed in detail. From an ecological standpoint, the land use categories surveyed in this analysis of landscape change can be regarded as vegetation types, thereby constituting habitats for specialized biota. The intensity and frequency of any type of land use creates a certain disturbance regime, which disrupts and controls the succession in a certain way. The concept of categories of change incorporated into the GIS helps to evaluate these habitat types and the rate of change more accurately, e.g. for nature conservation purposes.

AB - This study analyses changes in the landscape of a sector of Upper Franconia (Bavaria, Germany) by comparing land use changes over four time periods (1850, 1900, 1960, 2000). Geodetic and other data derived from the Bavarian real estate tax and land register were entered into various temporal layers of a land register-based vector GIS. This multitemporal GIS permits a precise analysis of the historical structure and development of landscapes on the basis of land plots. In 1850, the study area was almost exclusively agricultural in structure. Woodlands made up only 18% of the total surface. Rough pastures and wastelands, which covered about 9% of the total surface, were used for grazing. During the first half of the 20th century, the proportion of wooded areas increased considerably. The rough pastures that had formerly been a typical feature of the region nearly disappeared during this period. Agricultural use declined to less than 50% of the total area. In the course of the period between 1960 and 2000, the livestock industry has become an almost exclusively indoor activity. Village development has started spilling over into the adjacent fields. The causes and background of these changes are discussed in detail. From an ecological standpoint, the land use categories surveyed in this analysis of landscape change can be regarded as vegetation types, thereby constituting habitats for specialized biota. The intensity and frequency of any type of land use creates a certain disturbance regime, which disrupts and controls the succession in a certain way. The concept of categories of change incorporated into the GIS helps to evaluate these habitat types and the rate of change more accurately, e.g. for nature conservation purposes.

KW - Cadastral maps

KW - Cultural landscape

KW - Disturbance regime

KW - Germany

KW - Grazing

KW - Human disturbance

KW - Landscape history

KW - Multitemporal GIS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=21644433114&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10980-003-1506-7

DO - 10.1007/s10980-003-1506-7

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:21644433114

VL - 20

SP - 149

EP - 163

JO - Landscape ecology

JF - Landscape ecology

SN - 0921-2973

IS - 2

ER -