Andrzej Mizgajski

Historical changes of energy input into agroecosystems and their landscape ecological consequences, the Lingen/Emsland County (West Germany) case study☆

Abstract The present work attempts to associate landscape development with the amount of energy that reaches an agro-ecosystem. An analysis has been made of energy introduced into the system at three historical stages in the agricultural intensification of winter grain production. The energetic inputs needed to transform the ecosystem in connection with afforestation, water amelioration and soil improvement through deep ploughing have been estimated. The results show that energy inputs increase with increasing intensification of agriculture, but so also does the effectiveness of their utilisation. At the same time there is a decrease in the input-output ratio of the energetic value of organic matter. The amount of kinetic energy introduced annually to change the ecosystem is markedly smaller than that of thermal energy associated with grain production. It is kinetic energy, however, that is of primary importance for landscape development, as the flux of this energy, introduced into the agro-ecosystem by man, considerably exceeds the kinetic energy of natural processes. In contrast, the thermal energy introduced by man, is only a fraction of the natural thermal energy reaching the agro-ecosystem and hence is of minor significance as a cause of permanent changes of the landscape.

Determinants of the Quality of Life in the Communes of the Poznań Agglomeration: A Quantitative Approach

Abstract Since the 1990s, large urban agglomerations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have shown highly dynamic functional and spatial changes resulting from the transformation of their political systems. The aim of this study is to present differences in social, economic and environmental living conditions among the communes of a single agglomeration. This, in turn, allows a discussion, in the first place, of local factors, assuming that national and regional conditions in a given area are uniform. The study focused on the agglomeration of Poznań, which consists of the city of Poznań and 17 surrounding communes (Polish: gmina) forming the district, or ‘poviat’ (Polish: powiat) of Poznań. The analysis of variations in living conditions uses a set of nine indicators reflecting the local level of development in social, economic and environmental terms. The results lead to the conclusion that the development of urbanisation processes in suburban areas over the past 20 years has had a significant share in improving the living conditions of their inhabitants. In some communes they are, in fact, better than in the central city of Poznań