Land Change in the Carpathian Region Before and After Major Institutional Changes

• Published in: Land-Cover and Land-Use Changes in Eastern Europe after the Collapse of the Soviet Union In 1991 pp. 57 - 90
• Main Authors: Munteanu, Catalina, Radeloff, Volker, Griffiths, Patrick, Halada, Lubos, Kaim, Dominik, Knorn, Jan, Kozak, Jacek, Kuemmerle, Tobias, Lieskovsky, Juraj, Müller, Daniel, Ostapowicz, Katarzyna, Shandra, Oleksandra, Stych, Premysl
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2016; Springer International Publishing
• Subjects: Common Agricultural Policy; EARTH SCIENCES; Forest Cover; Land Cover; Land Cover Change; Land Cover Type; Plant ecology; REGIONAL & AREA PLANNING
• ISBN: 9783319426365; 3319426362
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42638-9_4

The CarpathianCarpathian region represents an ideal showcase of several land change theories and their implications for conservation because this region shares the long geo-political and socio-economic history of Eastern Europe while also being a biodiversityBiodiversity hotspot. With a long history of abrupt socio-economic and institutional shiftsShifts, the Carpathians exemplify how ecosystems may or may not be pushed into an alternative stable stateAlternative stable state following shocks such as the collapse of empires, world wars or the collapse of socialism. Furthermore, ecosystem changes may or may not experience time-lags in response to shocksShocks, and over long time periods, historic land-useHistoric land-use practices may produce land-use legacies that persist on the landscapes for decades or centuries. Here, we analyze the long-term drivers of land change and their land-use outcomes in the Carpathian region, with a particular focus on forestsForests, agricultureAgriculture and grasslandsGrasslands, and provide examples of how ecosystems respond to shocks using examples of alternative stable states, time-lagsTime-lags and land-use legaciesLand-use legacies. Understanding how and why land change patterns vary over time and space is important for balancing land-use decisions, especially in biodiverse regions with a high conservationConservation value.