Determination of landscape hotspots of Slovenia

Abstract

Based on digital data on relief, rock, and vegetation, the most significant elements of the internal structure of Slovenian landscapes, and their external appearance, a geographic information system was used to calculate landscape diversity of Slovenia. Areas with high landscape diversity are landscape hotspots, and areas with low landscape diversity are landscape coldspots. One-tenth of Slovenia with the highest landscape diversity was defined as landscape hotspots, and one-tenth of Sloveniawith the lowest landscape diversity was defined as landscape coldspots. Most landscape hotspots are located in the Alpine part of Slovenia (more than two-thirds of their total area), and most landscape coldspots in the Dinaric part of Slovenia (almost half of their total area).