Environmental consequences of the rural abandonment – a pilot survey of gardens in a Hungarian ghost village

Abstract

This study aims to detect the environmental changes subsequent to village abandonment in a hilly region with the investigation of vegetation. The examined village has been deserted over a 40-year period; so it is observable how the vegetation, mainly trees and shrubs reclaim the former human-used sites. The impacts of the rural abandonment on the environment are discussed, there are scenarios which emphasize the negative effects of these processes e.g. the homogenization of traditionally diversified landscapes, whilst others characterize it as a possibility to restore the natural conditions of a given area. In our study 14 sites (ruined buildings with their surrounding gardens) were subjected to detailed botanical survey in May 2018. In each site, woody vegetation was recorded in three categories: a) cultivated fruit, b) ornamental and c) wild-growing trees and shrubs. Spontaneous reforestation did not happen following abandonment, but a long term survival of certain cultivated fruit trees were striking, and the immigration of wild-growing berry shrub species was also remarkable.