Land Cover Changes in Evrytania Prefecture (Greece)

Abstract

To record land cover changes over time, geographic information systems software was used for selecting and studying sampling surfaces in ortho-aerial photographs. In particular, ortho-aerial photographs of the years 1945 and 2015 were used to record changes in land cover. A total of 103 test surfaces were obtained, which consisted of 25 cells each. The results showed that the area and density of forest cover have increased significantly during the study period. Changes in land cover, and in particular forest cover, are mainly attributed to (a) the gradual decline of the population, and therefore to the decline in man-made interventions such as crops, nomadic herd grazing, and logging, and to (b) natural species competition. Moreover, the effect of climatic change and the reduction in human presence on fir treelines was examined. Based on the results, no clear evidence about treeline changes was found. Also, the effect of soil and topographic factors on land cover changes, as well as the prediction capability of land cover changes, were examined using an artificial neural network. Promising results came out that could provide substantial explanations for land cover changes and quantify the effect of environmental factors on vegetation evolution.