Post-socialist land use change in the Carpathians [Elektronische Ressource] / eingereicht von Tobias Kümmerle

Tobias Kuemmerle

Informations

• Publié par: humboldt-universitat_zu_berlin
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 50 Mo

Extrait

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Geographisches Institut
Dissertation
Post-socialist Land Use Change
in the Carpathians
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
doctor rerum naturalium

eingereicht von
Tobias Kümmerle
an der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschafltichen Fakultät II
der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dekan: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy
Gutachter:
1. Prof. Dr. Patrick Hostert
2. Prof. Dr. Volker C. Radeloff
3. Prof. Dr. Martin Schlerf
Eingereicht am 01. August 2007
Datum der Promotion: 26. September 2007 Acknowledgments
There are many people who encouraged me and helped me along the way. Completing this
thesis without their support would certainly not have been possible, and I am deeply
grateful to all of them. In addition to the people that are thanked in the individual chapters,
I would like to express my special gratitude to a few persons:
Patrick Hostert and Volker Radeloff whose ideas, patience, encouragement, and time were
invaluable. Thank you for inspiring and guiding me while giving me the freedom to follow
my own interests, for countless scientific and non-scientific advice, and for creating a
unique environment to learn and grow. Patrick, I am deeply grateful for your ongoing
motivation, for supporting the Carpathian project wherever possible, for numerous hours in
front of the screen and in the field, and in general for your admirable commitment as a
supervisor. It has been great to participate in the developments of the last years! Volker,
thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to spend time in Madison, for sharpening
my scientific thinking and writing, for encouraging me to think a little bit bigger, and most
importantly for reviving my ecological and biogeographical roots. I have been truly
privileged to have both of you as supervisors.
Jacek Kozak and Martin Schlerf, for valuable comments and for being available as referees
for this thesis.
Kajetan Pezanowski and Ivan Kruhlov, for collaborating, for sharing data, providing me
with precious advice, and for reviewing my manuscripts.
Per Angelstam, Oleh Chaskovskyy, and Marine Elkabidze, for sharing your knowledge of
Carpathian land use change and landscape ecology.
My colleagues Alexander, Ellen, Frank E., Frank S., Jan, Katja, Magdalena, Oli, Ruth,
Sebastian, Simone, and everybody else at the Geomatics Department for their continuing
support, helpful discussions, and for creating a motivating and fun working environment. I
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really enjoyed these years with you! Special thanks are due to the student collaborators,
particularly Patrick, Theresa, Thomas, and Tom, who contributed at various stages of this
thesis.
The people at SILVIS Lab and the Forest Landscape Ecology Lab at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, especially Camilo, Grego (my Belgian twin-brother), Jordan, Maxim,
Nick, Patrick, Sasha, Todd, and Véro. I learned so much from being in Madison and I am
grateful to all of you for valuable discussions, for reviewing my manuscripts, and most
importantly for your warm hospitality, potlucks, nights at the terrace, and, of course, the
Russian-Latin telenovela. Sara, Todd, Véro, and James: I am sincerely grateful for your
generosity and for letting me stay with you! Sasha and Camilo: thank you for a well-
organized and adventurous trip to the Carpathians.
Wilfried Endlicher, for discussions and for establishing links with collaborators in Ukraine.
Joachim Hill, Samuel Bärisch, Henning Buddenbaum, Achim Röder, Johannes Stoffels, and
Thomas Udelhoven, for all their support, especially in the first phase of this thesis, and for
much appreciated data processing tips.
Doris Dransch, for continuing support and for allowing me to assign research the highest
priority from the start.
Bogdan, Marcin, and Magda, for helping in the data acquisition and for insightful advice.
Magda, you were an invaluable help in the field and during your stay in Berlin!
Daniel Müller and Wolfgang Schwanghart. for fruitful discussions in Friedrichshain’s
coffee shops and for friendship.
Pära, for sharing all your bitterness and for giving me hope that bitter will eventually
become (bitter-)sweet.
My Berlin friends, Utan der Orangene, René, Jens, Angelika, Matilda, Frank, Oli, Anja,
for your company in the last years and for reminding me every now and then that at the end
of the day, science is rather unimportant.
My family, for their love, care and support, Lena and Rolle for providing a triplett of
harmony, jazz, and köttbullar during my stays in Sweden.
Alma, soulmate – there are no words to describe the help you have been. Thank you for
your love and for giving us Bowet.
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iv Abstract
Broad-scale political and socio-economic conditions are powerful determinants of land use
change. Yet, their relative importance is unclear. The main goal of this thesis was to
increase the understanding of such broad-scale drivers of land use change by studying how
Eastern Europe’s landscapes were affected by the political and socio-economic transition
after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The border triangle of Poland, Slovakia, and
Ukraine in the Carpathians was selected as a study area, because cross-border comparisons
of land use change allow for decoupling overall trends in the transition period from country
specific changes. Moreover, the Carpathians are of exceptional ecological value, but little
is known about land use effects on these ecosystems after 1989. Post-socialist land use
change was quantified based on Landsat TM/ETM+ images by (1) comparing
contemporary (year 2000) landscapes among countries, and (2) using images from 1986 to
2000 to investigate whether differences originated from socialist or post-socialist land use
change. Results indicated that forest change, farmland abandonment, and farmland
parcelization were widespread in the transition period, likely due to worsening economic
conditions, weakened institutions, and societal change. However, land use trends also
differed strongly among the three countries due to dissimilar land ownership patterns, land
management practices, and land reforms. Poland and Slovakia converged in the transition
period in terms of land cover, while Ukraine clearly diverged. This thesis provided
compelling evidence of the importance of economic and institutional change for land use
change and underpinned the pivotal role of ownership patterns and land management
policies. These factors were important to understand land use change in Eastern Europe,
and they are likely equally important elsewhere.
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vi Zusammenfassung
Politische und sozioökonomische Rahmenbedingungen haben entscheidenden Einfluss auf
Landnutzungswandel; die relative Bedeutung dieser Faktoren untereinander ist jedoch
oftmals unklar. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, durch die Untersuchung der Auswirkungen der
politischen und sozioökonomischen Transformation auf Landnutzungswandel in Osteuropa
zu einem besseren Verständnis solcher übergreifenden Einflussfaktoren beizutragen. Am
Beispiel des Dreiländerecks Polen-Slowakei-Ukraine in den Karpaten wurden hierzu
grenzüberschreitende Landschaftsvergleiche durchgeführt, da solche Vergleiche die
Entkopplung der Faktoren allgemeiner Landnutzungstrends von Faktoren
länderspezifischer Veränderungen ermöglichen. Darüber hinaus sind die Auswirkungen
postsozialistischen Landschaftswandels auf die Karpaten, einem Gebiet mit einzigartigem
ökologischen Wert, bisher weitestgehend unerforscht. Mit Hilfe von Landsat TM/ETM+
Satellitendaten aus dem Jahr 2000 wurden rezente Landschaftsunterschiede zwischen
Ländern quantifiziert. Auf der Basis von Bildern von 1986-2000 wurde anschliessend
überprüft, ob Länderunterschiede auf sozialistischen oder post-sozialistischen
Landschaftswandel zurückführbar sind. Die Ergebnisse dieser Analysen zeigten weit
verbreiteten Landnutzungswandel nach 1989 als Folge von sich verschlechternden
wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen, geschwächten Institutionen und gesellschaftlichem Wandel.
Die Länder unterschieden sich jedoch auch deutlich hinsichtlich Forstveränderungen,
Brachfallung und Parzellierung von Ackerland. Diese Unterschiede lassen sich durch
verschiedene Besitzverhältnisse, Bewirtschaftungsformen und Landreformen erklären.
Während sich Polen und die Slowakei landschaftlich seit 1989 annähern, entfernt sich die
Ukraine zunehmend. Diese Arbeit unterstreicht die Bedeutung ökonomischer und
institutioneller Veränderungen für Landschaftswandel und zeigt, wie unterschiedliche
Besitzstrukturen und Landreformen Landschaftswandel beeinflussen.
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