Decrease in Danish semi-natural grassland: a social construct or a real-world change?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Decrease in Danish semi-natural grassland

T2 - a social construct or a real-world change?

AU - Svenningsen, Stig Roar

AU - Levin, Gregor

AU - Jepsen, Martin Rudbeck

N1 - doi: 10.1080/00167223.2015.1070276

PY - 2015/7/3

Y1 - 2015/7/3

N2 - During the past century, the western hemisphere has seen a general trend of agricultural expansion on the behalf of semi-natural habitat types, such as heathlands and meadows. This has been documented in numerous studies of land use change. This trend is reflected in today?s European rural landscapes, which are dominated by intensive agriculture. However, many of these studies are based on cartographical sources, such as topographical and thematic maps, and thus prone to uncertainties regarding classification systems over time, variations in definitions of land use categories and lacking documentations of land use definitions. For this study, we conducted two change detection studies, covering the same four study areas in Denmark. The first study was based on topographic maps, and indicates a strong decline in the amount of semi-natural grassland (SNG). This was contrasted by the second study, which was based on an interpretation of aerial photos, and which indicated a much less pronounced reduction of SNGs. Year to year comparisons of these two analyses also revealed large discrepancies in the coverage of SNGs. Our results indicate that change detection studies must account for uncertainties in classifications and results should be interpreted with caution.

AB - During the past century, the western hemisphere has seen a general trend of agricultural expansion on the behalf of semi-natural habitat types, such as heathlands and meadows. This has been documented in numerous studies of land use change. This trend is reflected in today?s European rural landscapes, which are dominated by intensive agriculture. However, many of these studies are based on cartographical sources, such as topographical and thematic maps, and thus prone to uncertainties regarding classification systems over time, variations in definitions of land use categories and lacking documentations of land use definitions. For this study, we conducted two change detection studies, covering the same four study areas in Denmark. The first study was based on topographic maps, and indicates a strong decline in the amount of semi-natural grassland (SNG). This was contrasted by the second study, which was based on an interpretation of aerial photos, and which indicated a much less pronounced reduction of SNGs. Year to year comparisons of these two analyses also revealed large discrepancies in the coverage of SNGs. Our results indicate that change detection studies must account for uncertainties in classifications and results should be interpreted with caution.

U2 - 10.1080/00167223.2015.1070276

DO - 10.1080/00167223.2015.1070276

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0016-7223

VL - 115

SP - 157

EP - 166

JO - Geografisk Tidsskrift/Danish Journal of Geography

JF - Geografisk Tidsskrift/Danish Journal of Geography

IS - 2

ER -