Indicators of the Human Pressure on the Environment in the Bălăciţa Piedmont

Abstract

The Bălăciţa Piedmont represents the western subdivision of the Getic Piedmont, being located in south-western Romania.The unit under study is an early inhabited space and, at the same time, an area of active development of numerous geodynamic phenomena. The man-induced changes had significant influences upon the environment and especially upon the relief, the increased vulnerability of the terrains to the dangerous geomorphologic phenomena being one of the most important problems that the local communities have to face nowadays. The present study aims to assess the human influence upon the emergence of environmental unbalances and especially the human actions that influence the risk geomorphologic processes. A relevant means in the process of evaluating the type and dimension of the human intervention within a given territorial unit concerns the computation of certain synthetic indicators that characterize the degree of landscape transformation. The assessment has been realized through the analysis of statistical data at the level of the administrative-territorial units that overlap the Bălăciţa Piedmont. The general research regards an interval of thirty years (1977 -2007), while the focus was laid upon the transition period (1992, 2002, and 2007).

Impact of anthropic activities on the geographic landscapes’ state in the area of Republic of Moldova in XXI century

“…Landscape naturality index (Inat) represents the ratio between the total value of the forests area and the green belts to the total area of the spatial unit (thus determining the degree of afforestation). Considering the values obtained from the calculation of this index, some authors (Ionuș et al, 2011) had classified the degree of damage to the landscape into 6 categories:…”

“…The category of landscapes at the limit of ecological balance is more widely represented in the plateau areas, less numerous in the lowlands, but also in several plains' areas, where forest landscapes are represented by pockets of "ditch forests" (Ionuș et al, 2011). The number of landscapes at the limit of the ecological balance is over 90 communes, including 35 communes in the Codri Plateau area.…”

Landscape Quality Assessment in Almăj Land Rural System from the Mountainous Banat (Romania), during the 1990-2010 period

“…The naturality index (NI) was calculated with the help of the proportion between the forests surface and the total surface of the considered territorial unit (Pătru-Stupariu, 2011;Ionuş et al, 2011), reflecting the forestation degree of the purely rural regional system of Almăj Land and from each commune. The calculation of this indicator is very important because the presence of the forest on extended surfaces ensures the ecological balance of the ecosystem.…”

“…Its calculation was necessary to highlight the ecological state of Almăj Land rural system, including the degree of afforestation and offering the possibility to compare this rural region with other geographic regions from Romania: the Sub-Carpathian sector of the Prahova Valley (Armaș et al, 2003), Mostiștea Plain (Apostol, 2004), Oltenia Plain (Dumitrașcu, 2006, the Sub-Carpathians between the Râmnicul Sărat and the Buzău Valleys (Pătroescu & Niculae, 2010), Bran-Rucăr-Dragoslavele Corridor (Pătru-Stupariu, 2011), Bălăcița Piedmont (Ionuș et al, 2011, Bâsca Chiojdului river basin (Zarea & Ionuș, 2012). Other indicators that were determined are: human pressure indexespopulation density (D) and the human pressure through the use and occupation of the agricultural (Pa), non-agricultural (Pna) and forest (Pf) lands; (Pătroescu et al, 1999(Pătroescu et al, -2000Dumitrașcu, 2006;Pătroescu &Niculae, 2010;Pătru-Stupariu, 2011;Ionuş et al, 2011). The last calculated index was the environmental transformation index (Itre) that best emphasizes the relation between the natural surfaces and the anthropogenic ones.…”