S.J. Manchester

Land cover change in Europe between 1950 and 2000 determined employing aerial photography.

BIOPRESS (‘Linking Pan-European Land Cover Change to Pressures on Biodiversity’), a European Commission funded ‘Global Monitoring for Environment and Security’ project, produced land cover change information (1950—2000) for Europe from aerial photographs and tested the suitability of this for monitoring habitats and biodiversity. The methods and results related to the land cover change work are summarized. Changes in land cover were established through 73 window and 59 transect samples distributed across Europe. Although the sample size was too small and biased to fully represent the spatial variability observed in Europe, the work highlighted the importance of method consistency, the choice of nomenclature and spatial scale. The results suggest different processes are taking place in different parts of Europe: the Boreal and Alpine regions are dominated by forest management; abandonment and intensification are mainly encountered in the Mediterranean; urbanization and drainage are more characteristic of the Continental and Atlantic regions.

The use of digital aerial photography and CORINE-derived methodology for monitoring recent and historic changes in land cover near UK Natura 2000 sites for the BIOPRESS project

BIOPRESS – Linking pan‐European land cover change to pressures on biodiversity – is a European Community Framework 5 project, which aims to develop a standardised product that will link quantified historical (1950–2000) land cover change to pressures on biodiversity. It exploits archived historic and recent aerial photographs (a data source that has remained consistent over the last 60 years) to assess land cover change around Natura 2000 sites within 30×30 km windows and 15×2 km transects. The CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) land cover mapping methodology has been adapted for use with aerial photographs. Sample sites are mapped to CORINE Land Cover (CLC) classes, and then backdated to assess change. Results from eight UK transects (and associated windows) are presented. Changes in land cover classes are interpreted as pressures: urbanisation, intensification, abandonment, afforestation, deforestation and drainage. Urbanisation was the major pressure in all but two transects (both in the uplands), and intensification was of similar importance in most transects. Afforestation was a significant pressure in two transects. In six out of the eight transects, annual change was greater in the 1990–2000 period than in the 1950–1990 period. The methodology has been demonstrated to provide quantitative results of long‐term land cover change in the UK rural landscape at a spatial scale that is relevant to management decisions. The methods are transferable and applicable to a wide range of landscape studies.