6533b854fe1ef96bd12af372

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Anthropogenic Influences in Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Mediterranean Forest Landscapes in Sicily

Donato Salvatore La Mela VecaS. SferlazzaFederico Guglielmo MaetzkeSebastiano Cullotta

subject

climate changesSettore AGR/05 - Assestamento Forestale E Selvicoltura010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciencesClimate changesocioeconomic factorsLand cover010501 environmental sciences01 natural sciencesShrublandlcsh:AgricultureRegional planninglandscape dynamiclandscape dynamicsland use/land cover changes; landscape dynamics; climate changes; human-dominated landscape; socioeconomic factors; forest management modelshuman-dominated landscape0105 earth and related environmental sciencesNature and Landscape ConservationGlobal and Planetary ChangegeographyForest inventorygeography.geographical_feature_categoryEcologyLand usebusiness.industryEcologysocioeconomic factorlcsh:Sland use/land cover changeForestryland use/land cover changeslanguage.human_languageforest management modelsclimate changelanguageLand developmentbusinessSicilian

description

This paper analyzes and quantifies the land use/land cover changes of the main forest and semi-natural landscape types in Sicily between 1955 and 2012. We analyzed seven representative forest and shrubland landscapes in Sicily. These study areas were chosen for their importance in the Sicilian forest panorama. We carried out a diachronic survey on historical and current aerial photos; all the aerial images used to survey the land use/land cover changes were digitalized and georeferenced in the UTM WGS84 system. In order to classify land use, the Regional Forest Inventory 2010 legend was adopted for the more recent images, and the CORINE Land Cover III level used for the older, lower resolution images. This study quantifies forest landscape dynamics; our results show for almost all study areas an increase of forest cover and expansion, whereas a regressive dynamic is found in rural areas due to intensive agricultural and pasturage uses. Understanding the dynamics of forest landscapes could enhance the role of forestry policy as a tool for landscape management and regional planning.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2016-01-26Land
https://doi.org/10.3390/land5010003