Jerzy Solon

Abstract

Recently, marginal lands have been attracting attention as areas of high cultural and natural value that are undergoing profound, uncontrolled transformations. These changes are seen as a threat to the cohesion and identity of existing landscapes. However, ongoing processes are often difficult to interpret and evaluate without a long-term historical perspective. Here, we focused on understanding the long-term landscape dynamics in the depopulated and economically marginalized Wiar River basin, where 87% of inhabitants were displaced after World War II. A detailed, spatially explicit land-cover analysis based on eight series of topographic data (dating from 1780 to 2017), in line with the review of archival sources and literature, allowed us for identification of patterns and drivers of change. We linked the driving forces and the resulting landscape properties to four distinct historical periods (i.e. pre-industrial, industrial, socialist, and free-market). We demonstrated how the landscape of 25 villages, dominated for centuries by open farmland, shifted after WWII into extensively forested, and that not all regions in Europe follow the pattern of increasing rate of land-cover change.

Keywords: land-cover change, spatially explicit, driving forces, resettlement action, land abandonment, old maps, South-east Poland

Andrzej Affek [a.affek@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Maria Zachwatowicz [m.zachwatowicz@uw.edu.pl], Department of Geoecology, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies University of Warsaw Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warsaw: Poland
Jerzy Solon [j.solon@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

The programme of identification, cataloguing and evaluation of Polish landscapes, part of the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, has caused an increase in interest in physico-geographical regionalisation over recent years. The commonly accepted regionalisation of Poland developed by J. Kondracki (Kondracki & Richling 1994) is sufficient for work at an overview scale (e.g. 1:500,000), whereas its spatial accuracy is too low to make use of it for the purpose of Polish landscape cataloguing. The aim of this article is to present a more up-to-date and detailed division of Poland into mesoregions, adjusted to the 1:50,000 scale. In comparison with older work, the number of mesoregions has increased from 316 to 344. In many cases, somefar-reaching changes in meso- and macroregions were made. Nevertheless, in most cases the previous system of units was maintained, with more detailed adjustment of boundaries based on the latest geological andgeomorphological data and the use of GIS tools for the DEM analysis. The division presented here is a creatively developing new work aligning the proposals of the majority of Polish researchers. At the same time, it is a regionalisation maintaining the idea of the work developed by J. Kondracki as well as his theoretical assumptions and the criteria used to distinguish units, which makes it a logical continuation of his regional division.

Keywords: regionalisation, spatial units, boundaries of regions, Poland

Jerzy Solon [j.solon@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Jan Borzyszkowski, Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute Krucza 5/11d, 00-548 Warsaw: Poland
Małgorzata Bidłasik, Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute Krucza 5/11d, 00-548 Warsaw: Poland
Andrzej Richling, Warsaw University
Krzysztof Badora, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology Opole University Oleska 48, 45-052 Opole: Poland
Jarosław Balon, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management Jagiellonian University Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków: Poland
Teresa Brzezińska-Wójcik, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Kraśnicka 2 D, 20-718 Lublin: Poland
Łukasz Chabudziński, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Kraśnicka 2 D, 20-718 Lublin: Poland
Radosław Dobrowolski, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Kraśnicka 2 D, 20-718 Lublin: Poland
Izabela Grzegorczyk, Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute Krucza 5/11d, 00-548 Warsaw: Poland
Miłosz Jodłowski, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management Jagiellonian University Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków: Poland
Mariusz Kistowski [mariusz.kistowski@ug.edu.pl], Faculty of Oceanography and Geography University of Gdańsk Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk: Poland
Rafał Kot, Faculty of Earth Sciences Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toruń: Poland
Paweł Krąż, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management Jagiellonian University Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków: Poland
Jerzy Lechnio, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies University of Warsaw Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw: Poland
Andrzej Macias, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań: Poland
Anna Majchrowska, Faculty of Geographical Sciences University of Łódź Narutowicza 88, 90-139 Łódź: Poland
Ewa Malinowska, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies University of Warsaw Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw: Poland
Piotr Migoń [piotr.migon@uwr.edu.pl], Institute of Geography and Regional Development University of Wrocław Pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław: Poland
Urszula Myga-Piątek, University of Silesia Faculty of Earth Sciences Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
Jerzy Nita, University of Silesia Faculty of Earth Sciences Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland
Elżbieta Papińska, Faculty of Geographical Sciences University of Łódź Narutowicza 88, 90-139 Łódź: Poland
Jan Rodzik, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Kraśnicka 2 D, 20-718 Lublin: Poland
Małgorzata Strzyż, Department of Environment Protection and Environmental Development Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce Żeromskiego 5, 25-349 Kielce: Poland
Sławomir Terpiłowski, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Kraśnicka 2 D, 20-718 Lublin: Poland
Wiesław Ziaja, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management Jagiellonian University Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków: Poland

Abstract

Identifying the potential of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services (ES) is largely dependent on the detailand completeness of the base ecosystem map. The existing guidelines for the construction of this type of mapinclude only a few basic types of ecosystems that work only at a national or international scale and are insufficient to identify the full potential of ecosystem services at local or regional scales. The aim of the study was to develop a comprehensive map of ecosystem types for mapping ecosystem services at a local and regionalscale in three selected communes located within young glacial landscape (NE Poland). As a result, a detailedmap of ecosystems has been constructed containing 42 ecosystem types including age and habitat categories.This original map is the first detailed cartographic work that can be successfully used to determine thepotential for ecosystem services to be provided by areas analysed in large scales. The proposed approach hasa universal character and can be also applied to any area analysed at similar spatial scales.

Keywords: ecosystem services, ecosystem, mapping, GIS, Poland

Bogusława Kruczkowska [boguslawa_kruczkowska@sggw.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Jerzy Solon [j.solon@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Jacek Wolski [j.wolski@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

Presented here is a map of Poland drawn up to show differences in values obtained for the Shannon DiversityIndex, as calculated using Corine Land Cover data for the 2012 situation regarding the country’s landscape.The level of detail is that of the Polish commune (gmina – unit of local-government administration), so theanalysis may prove to be of practical value. The same method gained previous use in depicting issues relevantto Poland’s 2011 National Spatial Development Concept 2030.

Keywords: landscape diversity, landscape typology, land use, Corine Land Cover, Shannon Diversity Index, anthropogenic landscape transformation

Przemysław Śleszyński [psleszyn@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Jerzy Solon [j.solon@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland