Evolution trends of land use/land cover in a Mediterranean forest landscape in Italy

Abstract

To understand the evolution trends of landscape, in particular those linked to urban/rural relations, is crucial for a sustainable landscape planning. The main goal of this paper is to interpret the forest landscape dynamics occurred over the period 1955/2006 in the municipality of Serra San Bruno (Calabria, Italy), an area of high environmental interest. The peculiarity of the analysis is the high level of detail of the research (minimum mapping unit 0.2 ha). Data were obtained through the digitisation of historical aerial photographs and digital orthophotos by homogenising Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) maps according to the Corine Land Cover legend. The investigated period was divided into four significant time intervals, which were specifically analysed to detect LULC changes. The use of thematic overlays and transition matrices enabled a precise identification of the LULC changes that had taken place over the examined period. As a result, detailed description and mapping of the landscape dynamics occurred over the same period were obtained. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.