Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data
Post-WWII displacements in the Polish Carpathians resulted in widespread land abandonment. Most of the pre-war agricultural areas are now covered with secondary forests, which will soon reach the felling age. Mapping their exact cover is crucial to investigate succession–regeneration processes and t...
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doaj-cc14c07b75f24297b34bd959983ce1dc2021-06-01T00:37:46ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922021-05-01132018201810.3390/rs13102018Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing DataZofia Jabs-Sobocińska0Andrzej N. Affek1Ireneusz Ewiak2Mihai Daniel Nita3Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warsaw, PolandInstitute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, PolandFaculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warszawa, PolandDepartment of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, 1 Sirul Beethoven, 500 123 Brasov, RomaniaPost-WWII displacements in the Polish Carpathians resulted in widespread land abandonment. Most of the pre-war agricultural areas are now covered with secondary forests, which will soon reach the felling age. Mapping their exact cover is crucial to investigate succession–regeneration processes and to determine their role in the landscape, before making management decisions. Our goal was to map post-agricultural forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians using archival remote sensing data, and to assess their connectivity with pre-displacement forests. We used German Flown Aerial Photography from 1944 to map agricultural lands and forests from before displacements, and Corona satellite images to map agricultural lands which converted into the forest as a result of this event. We classified archival images using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and compared the output with the current forest cover derived from Sentinel-2. Our results showed that mature (60–70 years old) post-agricultural forests comprise 27.6% of the total forest area, while younger post-agricultural forests comprise 9%. We also demonstrated that the secondary forests fill forest gaps more often than form isolated patches: 77.5% of patches are connected with the old-woods (forests that most likely have never been cleared for agriculture). Orthorectification and OBIA classification of German Flown Aerial Photographs and Corona satellite images made it possible to accurately determine the spatial extent of post-agricultural forest. This, in turn, paves the way for the implementation of site-specific forest management practices to support the regeneration of secondary forests and their biodiversity.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/10/2018post-agricultural forestGerman Flown Aerial PhotographyCorona spy satellitePolish Eastern Carpathians |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Zofia Jabs-Sobocińska Andrzej N. Affek Ireneusz Ewiak Mihai Daniel Nita |
spellingShingle |
Zofia Jabs-Sobocińska Andrzej N. Affek Ireneusz Ewiak Mihai Daniel Nita Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data Remote Sensing post-agricultural forest German Flown Aerial Photography Corona spy satellite Polish Eastern Carpathians |
author_facet |
Zofia Jabs-Sobocińska Andrzej N. Affek Ireneusz Ewiak Mihai Daniel Nita |
author_sort |
Zofia Jabs-Sobocińska |
title |
Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data |
title_short |
Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data |
title_full |
Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data |
title_fullStr |
Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping Mature Post-Agricultural Forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians with Archival Remote Sensing Data |
title_sort |
mapping mature post-agricultural forests in the polish eastern carpathians with archival remote sensing data |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Remote Sensing |
issn |
2072-4292 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Post-WWII displacements in the Polish Carpathians resulted in widespread land abandonment. Most of the pre-war agricultural areas are now covered with secondary forests, which will soon reach the felling age. Mapping their exact cover is crucial to investigate succession–regeneration processes and to determine their role in the landscape, before making management decisions. Our goal was to map post-agricultural forests in the Polish Eastern Carpathians using archival remote sensing data, and to assess their connectivity with pre-displacement forests. We used German Flown Aerial Photography from 1944 to map agricultural lands and forests from before displacements, and Corona satellite images to map agricultural lands which converted into the forest as a result of this event. We classified archival images using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and compared the output with the current forest cover derived from Sentinel-2. Our results showed that mature (60–70 years old) post-agricultural forests comprise 27.6% of the total forest area, while younger post-agricultural forests comprise 9%. We also demonstrated that the secondary forests fill forest gaps more often than form isolated patches: 77.5% of patches are connected with the old-woods (forests that most likely have never been cleared for agriculture). Orthorectification and OBIA classification of German Flown Aerial Photographs and Corona satellite images made it possible to accurately determine the spatial extent of post-agricultural forest. This, in turn, paves the way for the implementation of site-specific forest management practices to support the regeneration of secondary forests and their biodiversity. |
topic |
post-agricultural forest German Flown Aerial Photography Corona spy satellite Polish Eastern Carpathians |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/10/2018 |
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